THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



153 



M. moschatus is the common musk 

 plant, which in some cities is a great 

 market plant, but in many of our cities 

 is scarcely ever seen. It also likes to 

 be away from the hot sun. Good light 

 soil and partial shade and moisture suit 

 it well. It can be raised from seed, 

 which is very small and needs no cover 

 ing, but it is a perennial, and if you 

 have a few plants carried over winter 

 as dormant roots you can shake them 

 out in early March and start growing in 

 a warm greenhouse. As they grow small 

 pieces can be taken and two or three 

 of them put around the edge of a 3-inch 

 or 4-inch pot, which they w T ill soon cover 

 with their fast creeping growth. In this 

 way you can rapidly make any number 

 of salable pots. They never want the 

 cutting bed. 



MOONFLOWER- Ipomoea Bona Nox or 

 Noctiflora. 



This is one of the many evergreen 

 ipomoeas that make us a splendid 

 summer climber. We have seen pic 

 tures of windmills in Georgia where 

 the moonflower had grown to a height 

 of seventy-five feet. There are many of 

 these ipomoeas that make fine climbers 

 for the conservatory and hothouse, and 

 doubtless could be used out of doors in 

 our summers, but the moonflower is 

 known by all. 



There is the grandiflora type of moon- 

 flower with blossoms six to seven inches 

 across, and an improved kind with small 

 flowers, but flowering earlier in the sum 

 mer. They should not be planted out till 

 danger of frost is past, but as they are 

 always against a fence or trellis can be 

 easily protected from late frosts. 



They are easily raised from seed sown 

 in the greenhouse in March, but a few 

 cuttings can be taken from the small side 

 shoots in September, which root readily. 

 When rooted don t try to grow them fast 

 till early spring, when with more heat 

 they will quickly grow and can be in 

 creased by cuttings. 



There is nothing that surpasses the 

 moonflower for rapidity of growth. It 

 makes a perfectly dense screen, and in 

 the evening and until 10 or 11 o clock 

 in the morning is studded with its noble 

 flowers. 



MULCHING. 



This garden term may be new to some 

 beginners, but it represents some very 

 important operations in our business. 



In plants in pots it means with those 

 plunged outside in summer, such as 

 azaleas, acacias, hardy roses, etc., that 

 an inch or less of manure and soil, or all 

 manure, is put on the surface of the pot. 

 Sometimes chemical fertilizers are added 

 to the compost. Its purpose is twofold. 

 It feeds the roots and encourages them 

 to come to the surface, which they do, 

 feeding on the mulch which is applied, 

 and it prevents the hot sun from parch 

 ing the soil, which necessitates such fre 

 quent watering. The good effects of an 

 inch of cow manure applied to azaleas 

 this past July plunged in the broad sun 

 have been most marked. It is sometimes 

 done inside, where plants cannot be 



shifted, but when the roots need more 

 nourishment. 



On plants in beds, such as roses and 

 carnations, it is a most important opera 

 tion. The soil is shallow and the appli 

 cation of half an inch of manure or a 

 rich compost containing bone dust or 

 sheep manure is the greatest help to 

 them. And in spring the mulching on 

 our beds has the same effect as that on 

 the pots in summer; it prevents evapora 

 tion. 



Not so much to encourage growth as 

 to save the lives of trees and shrubs that 

 are recently planted, mulching is of the 

 greatest benefit to all trees and shrubs 

 that are planted the previous fall or 

 present spring. It has saved the lives of 

 millions of young trees. In dry weather 

 a freshly planted tree needs water, how 

 ever scientifically you have planted it, 

 and to water on the surface tends only 

 to aggravate its condition, as the ground 

 soon becomes parched. By laying two 

 or three inches of stable litter on the 

 surface of the ground for a distance ex 

 tending farther than the roots of the 

 tree you will prevent evaporation from 

 the ground. It will keep the ground 

 cool and moist, and when you do water 

 no baking of the ground will ensue ; 

 the tree or shrub will get the benefit of 

 the watering for many days. This mulch 

 ing of newly-planted trees is of the ut 

 most importance. Many young trees, 

 evergreen or deciduous, shrubs and fruit 

 trees, all alike, are saved from death by 

 the simple and inexpensive operation of 

 mulching. 



It is also the only way we can fertilize 

 our hardy herbaceous plants. An inch 

 or two of manure laid between the rows 

 in early spring prevents drying out, feeds 

 the roots, and can, later in the fall, be 

 lightly cultivated into the soil. 



MUSA. 



The banana plant is of the easiest 

 possible culture; a rough, rich loam, an 

 abundance of water, heat and room to 

 grow, are all that are required. Occa 

 sionally we see a bunch of M. Cavendishii 

 in our northern hothouses, and if I had 

 the chance of some millionaires I would 

 raise my own bananas. That would be 

 as reasonable as Levi P. Morton produc 

 ing his own cream, which costs him the 

 same price as his champagne. 



To those who have only tasted the 

 bananas picked green in the West In 

 dies and ripened in the hold of a vessel 

 or heated warehouse and finished off in 

 the sleeping apartment of Giuseppe Gari 

 baldi, the fresh yellow fruit ripened on 

 the plant is as Mr. Morton s Jersey 

 cream to a very thin sample of skim milk. 

 You are not, however, .likely to embark 

 in the banana industry, and as our gov 

 ernment will soon own a large part of 

 the world suitable to their culture we will 

 leave that to the new office which will be 

 known as &quot;Secretary of the Tropical 

 Fruit and Tattooing Department. 



Musa ensete, from Abyssinia, and M. 

 superba, from the East Indies, make very 

 ornamental plants for the subtropical 

 garden and for specimens on the lawn. 

 You can raise them from seed, or buy 

 young plants at a very low cost. They 



should always be planted out where a 

 good, fast growth is wanted. 



Though tropical plants, you can store 

 them during winter in a cool house with 

 little water, or they can be lifted, the 

 ground shaken off the roots and laid un 

 der a bench, or they will keep in a root- 

 house or cellar when not below 40 de 

 grees, but 50 degrees is better. 



In sheltered places they make fine 

 specimens on a lawn with their broad 

 tropical leaves, especially M. ensete, but 

 iii windy places their leaves rip and tear, 

 giving the plant a very ragged appear 

 ance. 



MUSHROOMS. 



This word is used by some to include 

 all the edible fungi, while many take 

 it to apply only to the well known 

 Agaricus campestris, all the rest being 

 classed as toadstools. There are many 

 edible fungi, but unless you are an ex 

 pert you had better steer clear of them. 

 Many years ago there was a writer in 

 the Gardeners Chronicle whose articles 

 and tales of his wanderings in the Eng 

 lish fields and woods were most charm 

 ing. He was not only a dry, matter of 

 fact botanist, but a writer of great fas 

 cination. I think his name was Worth- 

 ington G. Smith. Although it is thirty- 

 five years since I read his stories I re 

 member that ,in one of his articles he 

 mentioned a banquet in London attended 

 by a number of fungi enthusiasts where 

 thirty species formed part of the bill of 

 fare and none of the guests died from 

 the effects. To none of these will this 

 article have any reference, it is with 

 Agaricus campestris we are dealing, the 

 common mushroom of our pastures in 

 September and an important product of 

 our commercial greenhouses. 



It is a mistake to think that beneath 

 a greenhouse bench is a place especially 

 adapted to the growing of mushrooms. 

 It is often laborious and awkward to 

 handle the material to compose the bed, 

 but few things worth having are ob 

 tained without labor. Then there is 

 often a drip from the plants above, and 

 again as spring approaches a great fluc 

 tuation of temperature and when sum 

 mer heat comes the mushroom becomes 

 maggoty. With all these drawbacks tons 

 of mushrooms are grown under green 

 house benches. The writer has often 

 thought a regular and easily worked 

 mushroom house would not be costly to 

 build. It would need no permanent light 

 and should be built so that it would re 

 sist the winter s cold and summer s heat. 

 The cold would be much easier to control 

 than the heat of summer. We have seen 

 many different places M here mushrooms 

 have been cultivated and a few are worth 

 mentioning. One was a deserted beer 

 . cellar many feet under ground, where 

 the temperature varied little at any time 

 during the year. It was an excellent 

 place, although perhaps expensive to 

 operate. Another was the basement of 

 an abandoned malt-house. This also was 

 successful, although it got too warm in 

 midsummer. In many dry cellars we 

 have seen them cultivated with success, 

 but the ideal place in our opinion exists 

 in the village of Akron, Erie county, 



