THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



65 



sands on hand and being short of room, 

 put the flats into coldframes that had 

 been excavated two feet below the sur 

 face. With the use of mats the plants 

 kept in excellent condition the entire win 

 ter, and were not watered once from No 

 vember to April, but frequently must 

 have been frozen. If kept very cool or 

 exposed to frost, the soil must be dry 

 and at all times avoid drip. No doubt 



cies metallica would also be for its 

 grand leaves. A cold dampness is all 

 that will hurt them. 



Some of the species do not make off 

 shoots, or not in quantity enough to 

 propagate sufficiently fast. The leaves 

 can be pulled off when perfectly ma 

 ture and very slightly inserted in sand 

 and kept dry; on the ends or base of 

 the leaf small plants will form, which 



Croton Reidii 



most of the echeveria section will endure 

 a severe freezing. 



C. Peacockii, is perhaps the most orna 

 mental of all, and much less common 

 than most others. 



C. Kuthenicum, good for rockery; quite 

 hardy. 



C. Verlottii, a pretty species, and 

 hardy. 



C. rosea, a fine form; suitable for 

 large designs in carpet bedding. 



C. retusa, is the only one we ever 

 have grown as a flowering plant for 

 fall and winter sales. It sends up sev 

 eral flowering stems thickly covered with 

 very pretty flowers. Being a succulent, 

 it is a most satisfactory house plant, and 

 twenty years ago we grew it largely. It 

 is well worth growing. Plants that have 

 flowered should be cut down within a few 

 inches of the ground and from the stem 

 you will get several cuttings, which will 

 root quickly in the sand and can be 

 potted, and when there is no longer dan 

 ger of frost, planted out of doors a foot 

 apart in good rich earth. You want 

 these plants to grow, unlike those you 

 have crowded into the carpet beds. They 

 will grow fast, and if inclined to flower 

 too early, pinch out the flowering stem 

 till September. They lift, of course, 

 with the greatest ease. We like to put 

 them into a 5-inch pot. For inside ar 

 rangements of plants, such as are often 

 seen in the dining-rooms of hotels, this 

 plant is of especial value, and the spe- 



when of sufficient size can be potted 

 and started growing. 



You frequently see the bedding spe 

 cies used on the margins of beds where 

 the edge of the bed is nearly perpendicu 

 lar. Ordinary soil would wash down at- 

 the first rain. For these positions a 

 mixture of clay and cow manure is used, 

 and the plants put in when it is moist. 



CRINUM. 



These amarylhs-like plants are grand 

 subjects for both outside decoration in 

 large pots or tubs and for the conserva 

 tory. Some are evergreen, some decidu 

 ous, several species will thrive in our 

 southern winters. The only kinds of 

 value to the commercial florist are ten 

 der. The bulbs of the deciduous species 

 and varieties are imported from Holland 

 and Belgium. 



After the deciduous varieties have 

 flowered there should be no neglect of 

 watering until the foliage shows signs 

 of ripening, and they should be kept in 

 the same soil all winter, starting them 

 again in early spring. 



The evergreen species should only 

 be little reduced in water supply. 

 They can be grown several years with 

 out shifting. An inch of top dressing 

 should be applied and liquid manure 

 given previous to flowering. Most of 

 them bear seed freely and can be rapidly 

 increased. 



Handsome bulbous plants that they are 

 for the conservatory, they will not be 

 found profitable for the commercial man. 



A rough, turfy loam with a fourth of 

 cow manure and some broken up char 

 coal is a good compost, and the pots 

 should be well drained. 



CROCUS. 



This pretty little flower is alluded to 

 in the article on bulbs. It is not really 

 a bulb; it is a corm, but we always class 

 it among the Dutch bulbs. We have 

 never forced them profitably, but they 

 are of course the most easy of any of 

 the bulbs to force. In small pans they 

 are the most salable; the demand for 

 them, however, is very small and not 

 worth bothering about. A great many 

 crocus are sold every fall for planting in 

 cemeteries, where they are dropped into 

 holes four or five inches below the sur 

 face and will grow and flower every 

 spring for years. They are not suitable 

 for grouping with the tulips and hya 

 cinths, being much too early. In fact, 

 they appear as soon as the snow disap 

 pears and are often caught in a snow 

 storm after they are in bloom. 



They will thrive in any soil that is 

 not too retentive of moisture. Dotted 

 into the grass or in beds under the wall 

 of a house they brighten up the first 

 days of spring. Annuals can be grown 

 over them during summer without any 

 harm if you don t disturb the soil too 

 deep. There is no need of transplant 

 ing them; they will take care of them 

 selves for years. 



The varieties which we grow are 

 named, but the color is sufficient, and of 

 that we have yellow, purple, blue, white 

 and striped. 



CROTON. 



These highly ornamental leaved plants 

 can best be described by calling them 

 hothouse evergreen shrubs or trees, 

 which they really are. As large decora 

 tive plants for the conservatory they 

 have few equals. In the latitude of 

 .fniladelphia and southward they make 

 beautiful beds out of doors, or add 

 greatly to the appearance of the sub 

 tropical or mixed bed, but even in that 

 latitude they should be in protected situ 

 ations. 



For decorations they are valuable, but 

 not in cold weather, for a chill (even a 

 low temperature) soon takes off their 

 beauty, and a croton must be in perfect 

 condition or it is useless. They also dis 

 like to have their roots chilled with cold 

 water, and repeated doses of cold water 

 will soon show by a drooping of the 

 foliage. 



They are rapidly propagated from the 

 tips of the young growths in warm sand 

 in March and April. The sand must be 

 kept moist and sun and draughts kept 

 from the cuttings. Growers of large 

 quantities plant out on a bench in five 

 or six inches of good rich soil, the young 

 plants in a light house, where during the 

 summer months they make a fine, quick 

 growth and in the fall they are lifted 

 and potted, and when established are 

 readv for sale. 



