THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



87 



in September a plant of E. Amazonica 

 in an 8-inch pot that had nine flower 

 stalks bearing a total of thirty-three 

 flowers and buds; so it can be done, and 

 is worth while. 



Mealy bug often bothers the leaves. 

 As the plants want and thrive with 

 any amount of syringing, there is little 



EUPHORBIA. 



In almost every private collection of 

 greenhouse plants of years ago you 

 would be sure to see a plant of E. 

 splendens and E. fulgens, generally 

 known as E. jacquiniaeflora. The poin- 

 settia also belongs to the euphorbias, 



by a casual observer the bracts are 

 mistaken for petals. 



E. splendens can be dismissed by 

 saying that it is of no value to the 

 commercial man. It is easily grown, 

 rather slow of growth, should be stood 

 out of doors in the hottest months, and 

 needs a warm temperature in winter. 

 The stems are covered with sharp 

 thorns. The plant needs training on 

 stakes or a trellis. When in flower 

 its bright red clustered bracts make the 

 plant very showy. But leave it to the 

 private establishment. 



E. fulgens is a beautiful plant and 

 twenty years ago was one of our stand 

 ard winter flowering plants, thought 

 then to be indispensable. When bas 

 kets were made of a variety of flowers 

 it was a favorite with us for an edg 

 ing, and it is a rich-looking, graceful 

 flower wherever you use it. It makes 

 annually long growths, and the flowers, 

 which are orange scarlet, are placed 

 close to the stem, forming long, hand 

 some wreath-like flowers. Plants that 

 have flowered during winter can be 

 cut up into cuttings. Anything but the 

 old, hard wood will root. If cut back 

 in April young shoots will start, which, 

 of course, root the quickest. April and 

 May are good months to put in the cut 

 tings, and keep them wet and shaded. 

 Be careful when potting off to not let 

 them wilt from sun or dryness. 



Grow on in a warm, light house, and 

 in July plant them on the bench in 



excuse for that. Here is a plant that 

 when growing should never be watered 

 with our hydrant water, which is too 

 often near ice water. The water in win 

 ter should be 60 degrees always. This, 

 I believe, is a valuable point in their 

 culture. 



EUPATORIUM. 



A large genus of herbaceous or 

 shrubby plants. A few of them are 

 native, hardy plants, but not of any 

 value to the florist, although some years 

 ago, in the absence of better flowers, 

 some of the species were largely grown 

 to supply white material for designs, 

 etc. 



The species riparium is the most 

 valuable for the florist, but the quality 

 and value of its flowers are not suffi 

 cient to pay for the trouble and the 

 space under glass. 



After flowering in March cut back 

 the stems and from the young growths 

 make cuttings, which root most easily. 

 After frost is gone plant out eighteen 

 inches apart. Pinch the shoots as they 

 grow during summer. They grow free 

 ly in any soil. In early October or be 

 fore frost appears lift with a ball of 

 earth and plant on the bench in five 

 inches of soil. 



As before stated, the panicles of pure 

 white flowers would be useful if we 

 did not have other flowers of more 

 beauty. It has not the beauty or fin 

 ish of the bouvardia, and occupies the 

 benches for too long a time to be profit 

 able. 



A Florist s Store and Conservatory at Easter. 



but it is so generally known as poin- 

 settia that under that name I have de 

 scribed it. 



The peculiarity of the euphorbias, at 

 least those we grow, is that the flower 

 proper is very inconspicuous, but the 

 bracts, scarcely noticeable in many 

 flowers, are in the euphorbias highly 

 developed both in size and color, and 



four or five inches of good, rich soil, 

 eight to ten inches apart. In a warm, 

 unshaded house they will make a good 

 growth during summer and should be 

 stopped two or three times, to produce 

 more shoots. They should not have a 

 less temperature than 60 degrees at 

 night at any time. If the sprays are 

 cut at Christmas they will break and 



