THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



J55 



Bed of Mushrooms. 



duction of mushrooms. It is very prob 

 able, however, that it contributes in 

 some way to their perfection, since in 

 their natural situation they enjoy a con 

 siderable portion of it. Our opinion is 

 that it should not be entirely excluded 

 from mushroom houses or beds. On 

 gathering the crop he quotes Aber- 

 crombie, who says: &quot;When the bed is 

 in full production and the season fine 

 they can be gathered two or three times 

 a week. Turn off the straw carefully 

 and return it after each gathering. They 

 should always be cut and never pulled, 

 as by pulling many young ones may be 

 destroyed. There are always a number 

 of these forming or clustering about the 

 roots of the old ones, ^ hich should not 

 be disturbed.&quot; Wales says: &quot;I have 

 ever found the best adapted and most 

 productive heat to be from 55 to 60 de 

 grees, and the nearer the beds are kept 

 to this heat the greater the success.&quot; 

 This alludes to the temperature of the 

 beds after fermentation has subsided. 



In conclusion I will say that a good 

 part of the literature of the mushroom 

 is confined to the production of spawn, 

 but that is a business entirely apart 

 from the cultivation of the edible fungus 

 and one that is left to the specialist. 

 The English imported spawn is generally 

 used, yet the remains of an old prolific 

 bed are as good as any spawn that can 

 be bought. The mycelium or spawn 

 ceases to vegetate when the bed becomes 

 dry and then rests and remains dormant 

 as it does in the manufactured bricks, 

 which are dried and if kept dry will 

 last in good order for years. 



MYOSOTIS. 



We are always asked for some plants 

 of these in early spring. They do not 

 last long in our hot, dry summers. M. 

 alpestris makes a compact little tuft, full 

 of flowers in the spring. 



You can sow the seed in August and 

 plant in coldframes, where they will 

 winter all right, but if you have any 

 stock it can be divided quite easily and 

 planted in coldframes in September, a 

 few inches apart. 



For years we grew a very useful spe 

 cies of myosotis for cutting in winter. 

 It was planted in fall along the edge 

 of the carnation benches, and as it grew 

 entirely outwards and hung over the sides 

 of the bench it did no harm to the car 

 nations except what strength it took 

 from the soil, and that we could afford. 

 We propagated a few dozen by cuttings 

 in late spring, kept them in 3-inch pots 

 during summer, and after the carnations 

 were planted we put in a plant of myo 

 sotis, not too thickly, one about every 

 three feet. From them we picked sprays 

 of their beautiful flowers all winter, 

 am not positive, but the species was, I 

 feel sure, M. Azorica. M. dissitiflora 

 has large, deep blue flowers, fine for 

 borders, but not so good for cutting as 

 Azi rica. 



NARCISSUS. 



Some allusion to these will be found 

 under the head of Bulbs, but they are 

 entitled to some special remarks. The 

 narcissus, especially of the trumpet type, 

 is now quite as important a forcing 

 flower as the tulip. The narcissus can 

 be broadly divided into the trumpet 

 forms, the jonquils and the Tazetta or 

 polyanthus narcissus. Besides many true 

 species there are innumerable garden 

 hybrids. Besides these there have been 

 discovered some splendid species or va 

 rieties in old gardens of Europe, sur 

 vivals of ancient gardens and of a day 

 when great attention was given to these 

 beautiful spring flowers. 



The Paper White is known to all ; it is 

 our earliest forcing bulb. Neither bulb 

 nor leaves should ever be exposed to 



frost. Can be flowered in early November. 

 Many of the polyanthus type are beau 

 tiful, but are not in favor with flower 

 buyers on account of their strong odor. 

 Narcissus poeticus is a very useful and 

 pretty flower, but does not force well, 

 that is, not as do our early tulips and 

 trumpet narcissi. The well known daffo 

 dil, Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus, is found 

 wild in most parts of temperate Europe, 

 and is supposed to be entirely hardy in 

 our northern states. It forces well, can 

 be flowered finely with us by the middle 

 of January. The single trumpets are, 

 however, the favorites of the day, and 

 many fine hybrids have been produced of 

 late years and given to the trade at a 

 moderate price. The single daffodil, or 

 Trumpet major, was for years our best 

 forcing trumpet narcissus, but that is 

 far surpassed by Golden Spur, which we 

 had in flower this year by January 20. 

 It is deep yellow in all its parts. 



Emperor, trumpet yellow, sepals pale 

 yellow. 



Empress, trumpet deep yellow, sepals 

 white. 



Bicolor Victoria; a splendid variety, 

 and there are many other named varie 

 ties, but a few of the choicest are all 

 you need. 



Treatment for their forcing will be 

 found under the head of Bulbs ; the 

 same conditions that suit tulips will be 

 found proper for narcissi with a few 

 slight exceptions. The polyanthus sec 

 tion must not be exposed to frost at any 

 time. The jonquils will not force read 

 ily before March, but the trumpet sec 

 tion forces as easily as the early tulips. 

 We have found in practice it was best 

 to leave the tulips out of doors till the 

 day you wanted to put them on the forc 

 ing bench. This, however, is different 

 with the trumpet narcissus, particularly 

 Von Sion. You can bring in a quantity 

 of flats of these and put them under a 

 cool bench, to be placed on your forcing 

 bench at intervals as wanted. I must 

 not fail to mention one of the finest of 

 all narcissi, expensive but grand. It is 

 Bicolor Victoria, pure white perianth 

 with yellow trumpet, extra large. 



To my surprise one of the leading nar 

 cissus growers of Holland informed me 

 that in his experience the trumpet nar 

 cissi were not hardy as supposed. His 

 assertion was: &quot;The tulip is absolutely 

 hardy, as hardy as the oak tree, but the 

 Von Sion narcissus is not. I have known 

 it to be killed by 12 degrees of 

 frost. He certainly ought to know, but 

 we should have said no amount of frost 

 would hurt, but then again I could not 

 be sure that we ever exposed the bulb 

 or young growth to even that amount. 

 Most likely we did not and I consider 

 his caution worth remembering. 



NASTURTIUM. 

 See Tropseolum. 



NIEREMBERGIA. 



The species of most use to the florist 

 is gracilis, which has slender growth 

 with pretty white and light purple 

 flowers. They were formerly used some 

 times for flower beds or long ribbon 



