THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



not pay us all to be raising our young 

 ferns, and unless you are in it with all 

 facilities, leave it to the specialist. 

 Ferns that are small, compact growing, 

 would be too slow in growing to be 

 profitable, so it is small plants of quick 

 growing, larger kinds that are mostly 

 used for this purpose. The spores are 

 sown in winter or early spring and the 

 plants delivered to us from 2-inch pots 

 in the fall months. 



A night temperature of 60 degrees, 

 with a cool bottom and partial shade, 

 is the place to grow on the young 

 ferns. You don t want them to grow 

 fast, but to fill up and be strong and 

 robust. An eastern firm which raises sev 

 eral hundred thousand young ferns for 

 this purpose gave me the following list 

 as those best suited for the purpose, the 

 first four being most useful in the 

 center: Pteris cretica magnifica, Pteris 

 cretica albo-lineata, Pteris Victoria? 

 (variegated), Pteris argyraea, Cyrto- 

 mium falcatum, Aspidium angulare, 

 Blechnum occidentale, Blechnum Brazil- 

 iense, Davallia stricta, Lomaria ciliata, 

 Lomaria Gibba, Lastrea opaca, Lastrea 

 chrysoloba, Lastrea artistata variegata, 

 Nephrodium hertypes, Onychium Japoni- 

 cum, Polystichum corianum, Polystichum 

 setosum, Polystichum pubescens, Pteris 

 biaurita argentea, Pteris serrulata, 

 Pteris cristata, Pteris nana compacts, 

 Pteris voluta, Pteris cretica Mayii 

 (variegated), Selaginella Emiliana (for 

 edging). 



Conclusion. 



With the exception of the list last 

 quoted, in which the names of some 

 varieties may not be correct, but by 

 which they are best known, I have fol 

 lowed out the nomenclature of Hooker 

 and Baker, as used in the &quot;Book of 

 Choice Ferns,&quot; as those names will 

 eventually prevail. In doing so, however, 

 I found with my limited knowledge of 

 ferns that names have been much 

 changed in forty years. What we knew 

 as Lastrea felix-mas is now Nephrodium 

 felix-mas, and many less familiar cases. 



In conclusion, if you are not brought 

 in contact with any class of plants you 

 cannot quickly memorize their names, 

 but all plants under your care or that 

 you handle you should know correctly. 

 To ask the name in a botanic garden or 

 at your neighbor s and forget it the next 

 moment is waste of time and an annoy 

 ance. &quot;Let me see; what is that fern? 

 I forgot.&quot; The professor says, &quot;That 

 is Onychium Japonicum. &quot; &quot; Oh, yes, 

 yes, yes, of course; and what s that?&quot; 

 And before you have got to the door 

 you have forgotten the very sound of the 

 name. 



To be reminiscent once more. Some 

 where about the year 60 of last cen 

 tury the writer had the first serious 

 attack of the &quot;tender passion.&quot; The 

 cause of the attack and outbreak was 

 much his senior, and having no funds 

 to buy an album or a volume of By 

 ron, he made a collection of British 

 ferns, dried them in a book, and pre 

 sented them, named, and the collection 

 without varieties was almost complete 

 with the exception, perhaps, of ten spe- 



Gymnogramme Decomposita. 



cies. Now, I have forgotten what size 

 glove that young woman wore, or whether 

 her hair was in curls or brushed back 

 a la the Empress Eugenie, but I will 

 never forget how to write Asplenium 

 Euta-muraria, although I have not seen 

 Euta-muraria or the old woman nigh 

 on to forty years. Look at a plant and 

 write it down ; once written and spelt 

 correctly, you will never forget. The 

 writer has a fair memory for anecdotes, 

 because they can be filled in as you go 

 along, but no good for names unless 

 he writes them down ; then they stick 

 in that laboratory which is a mystery 

 to all of us. 



FERTILIZERS AND MANURES. 



As we use the words in gardening 

 operations, they include any substance, 

 animal or mineral, that will add quan 

 tity, weight, vigor and size to our crops. 

 I shall not attempt to give you any 

 learned discourse on chemical manures, 

 because, first. I am not able, and, sec 

 ondly, you can easily obtain a report 

 from the many state agricultural and 

 horticultural stations giving the analyses 

 of the several manures and the quantities 

 used, as well as their effect on different 

 soils and plani?. 



The paper read at the Cleveland con 

 vent i. 11 of the S. A. F., in August, 1896, 



by Prof. B. C. Kedzie, M. A., of the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, was very 

 instructive. He said &quot;Potassium, phos 

 phorus and nitrogen are of the highest 

 importance to florists for four reasons: 

 First, they are absolutely indispensable 

 to vegetable life, because no plant can 

 grow in the absence of any one of them; 

 second, because in available form they 

 are found in smaller amounts than other 

 food elements; third, because they are 

 soonest exhausted by cultivation; fourth, 

 because they are especially concerned 

 in the early growth of plants up to and 

 including the period of flowering.&quot; For 

 their great value, not only to the farmer, 

 but to the gardener, the professor called 

 them &quot;The Chemical Tripod in Flori 

 culture.&quot; 



The fertilizer that is a favorite witfr 

 all florists is what we call bone dust 

 or flour. There is sometimes confusion 

 about the names of these grades. With 

 us the bone dust is ground up about 

 as fine as Scotch oatmeal, but there 

 are too many coarse pieces in it to b& 

 available to the plants in one season. 

 If the plant? were to grow two or three 

 years in the same pot or bench, then 

 the coarser particles would be all right, 

 because the coarser particles would be 

 gradually dissolving and giving benefit 

 to the soil and plants; but if not dis 

 solved, then you have thrown out a costly 



