214 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



We can at least use a light cloth 

 on our frames over such plants as 

 cyclamen and others that are much the 

 best in frames during summer. A stout 

 pole a little longer than the width of 

 the frame with cheese-cloth tacked to 

 it is easily and. quickly unrolled or rolled 

 up. 



We frequently are tardy in putting 

 on shading and then daub on a heavy 

 coat. Put on a thin coat where needed 

 and add another when the sun is strong 

 er, and if you will go to the trouble 

 of plunging many of our common plants 

 in refuse hops or decayed leaves, you 

 will find their growth much better, and 

 you can delay or dispense with shading 

 entirely. 



Supposing you have a house full of 

 geraniums or cannas which, as soon as 

 sold, say at the end of May or in early 

 June, will be filled with chrysanthe 

 mums. If you shade for these plants 

 you must certainly brush it off again 

 for the mums, for they don t want and 

 must not have any shade. Quite as im 

 portant as putting it on early with 

 such plants as palms and ferns is tak 

 ing it off in good time. Begin at the 

 end of August to remove the shade and 

 by the middle of October have it all 

 off. 



We are frequently asked what is the 

 best material. We have tried many 

 mixtures, and best of all like naphtha 

 and white lead without any oil. We 

 tried common coal oil instead of naph 

 tha, but it is too greasy. Try the mix 

 ture before you settle on the thickness 

 of it. 



We have also tried applying it with 

 a syringe, and are entirely opposed to 

 it. It saves labor, but you will use 

 more material than will twice pay for 

 the labor, and when put on with a long- 

 handled brush it is properly done. This 

 mixture rubs off easily when dry and 

 the hose makes a clean job of it. 



SKIMMIA JAPONICA. 



This is a greenhouse shrub from 

 Japan and is very ornamental when 

 well supplied with its bright red ber 

 ries. Its leaves are bright green, holly- 

 like, and the plant has a fine, compact 

 habit. Small plants not over one foot 

 in height are of most use. 



It can be raised easily from seed or 

 cuttings in the usual way, made from 

 the young growths in spring. Cut back 

 the shoots slightly in February and 

 give it a good, light house and warmth 

 and moisture. After flowering, and 

 when the berries are set, it can be 

 plunged in a frame out of doors and 

 removed to a cool greenhouse before 

 frost. 



S. oblata is said to be still more 

 handsome; it needs the same treatment. 



Any good loam will grow them, and 

 except when growing in the spring they 

 thrive in a cool house. 



SMILAX Myrsiphyllum Asparagoides. 



This useful climber and twiner seems 

 to have been grown here commercially 

 long before its great usefulness was ap 

 preciated in Europe. Though the more 



Skimmia Japonica. 



graceful looking asparagus has super 

 seded it in our decorations it is still a 

 standard article with all commercial 

 florists, and in funeral decorations there 

 is no equal to it. 



One author says it is propagated by 

 &quot;seeds, cuttings and divisions.&quot; I 

 have never heard of its being rooted 

 from cuttings, and to divide it would 

 be absurd, as it is so easily raised from 

 seed. 



Seed should be sown in flats and 

 covered an eighth of an inch, in Feb 

 ruary. Good fresh seed is now always 

 supplied. When two or three inches 

 high, pot off into 2-inch pots and keep 

 in a temperature anywhere above 50 de 

 grees. If you expect the best results 

 from your newly planted bed you ought 

 by the middle of May to give these lit 

 tle plants another shift into a 3-inch. 

 Getting strong plants to plant out in 

 June will give you an extra crop over 

 small, weak plants. And although you 

 often see them standing under a bench 

 in May and June, that is not the way to 

 produce well rooted, strong plants. 



Make your smilax bed in the center 

 of the house on the ground with seven 

 or eight feet of head-room ; more is 

 better. If the floor of the house is 

 naturally dry you want no prepara 

 tion, but make the bed seven or eight 

 inches above the surface and confined 

 with a brick or plank wall. 



I have tried several kinds of soil. 

 The worst smilax I ever grew was in 

 a light sand, and the best was in a 

 stiff loam, such a soil as roses like, 

 with the addition of one-fourth of rot 



ten cow manure. Plant at the end of 

 June or very early in July. 



If you intend to renew the bed every 

 year, which I strongly advocate, then 

 plant ten inches between the rows and 

 six or seven inches between the plants. 

 Run a wire across the bed just be 

 hind the row of plants, and a corre 

 sponding wire near the roof, and at 

 each plant run up a string of silkaline. 

 It is invisible when cut and saves you 

 much bother when using the smilax 

 because there is no need of pulling it 

 out. 



Keep down weeds from the start 

 and frequently teach the little growths 

 that they are to climb up the strings. 

 When once started they are no trouble, 

 and when a crop is cut and a new 

 growth is starting replace the strings 

 at once. We are guilty of neglect and 

 I have seen days of labor spent over 

 a smilax bed that was allowed to grow 

 without strings a few weeks and had 

 to be unravelled and started up the 

 strings, much to the harm of the 

 growths. 



When growing fast smilax likes and 

 must have an abundance of water and 

 should be daily syringed to keep down 

 red spider. It should also be fumigat 

 ed, but not heavily or it will turn the 

 tips of the leaves. Vaporizing with 

 tobacco extract would avoid that, but 

 with proper care we have no trouble 

 with the smoke. 



When a crop is fit to cut or your 

 business demands that you cut it, be 

 gin at one end and clear it as you go. 

 When the plant is denuded of its entire 



