THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



2J5 



growth, as it is when you cut the 

 strings, it does not want water till 

 it begins to send up more growth. I 

 have seen the roots rotted by a heavy 

 watering just after cutting off the 

 strings, and when the thick, fleshy 

 roots rot they raise a bad smell, very 

 similar to decayed Solanum tuberosum, 

 alias potato. 



When cutting the strings don t let a 

 crude hand ruthlessly chop off all the 

 growth. There may be several strong 

 young shoots a foot or eighteen inches 

 high that will quickly make other strings. 



By planting at the last of June you 

 ought to get four crops before planting 

 time again, and will if the temperature 

 of the house is kept never less than 60 

 degrees at night throughout the win 

 ter, and if it is 65 degrees so much the 

 better; contrary to what would be the 

 case with most plants, the warmer you 

 grow it the harder it is, providing it is 

 matured when cut. Being naturally a 

 twiner among trees, it likes the shade, 

 and is best shaded in summer and early 

 spring. 



T am sure it is wisest to plant every 

 year. You get more strings; they are 

 a more useful size, and more easily man 

 aged. After the second crop is cut, about 

 New Year s, the bed will be greatly bene 

 fited by a top dressing of an inch of 

 loam and cow manure. Their strong 

 asparagus-like crowns of roots soon work 

 to the surface and need this mulching. 

 The smilax is a heavy feeder, so a strong 

 soil, plenty of water when growing, and 

 a good heat suit it. 



necessary article of our business. We 

 too frequently are careless and often 

 falsely economical in not buying a good 

 pile of soil. Greenhouse establishments 

 in or near cities, or where they have 

 been surrounded by a city s growth, 

 have often a difficulty in getting a good 

 supply, and it is too often a case of 



sands of dollars for fuel, but squirm a 

 good deal over one-quarter the amount 

 for soil and manure. And if by these 

 words I have made you think seriously 

 how important a matter is good soil I 

 shall have done you some good. 



Those having five or six acres, or bet 

 ter, fifteen acres, can help themselves 



The way a Pennsylvania Rose Grower &quot;Works the SoiL 



The Same House After Planting With Young Stock. 



SOILS. 



Although various soils have been 

 often alluded to as most suitable for 

 different plants I cannot impress on 

 you too much the importance of being 

 always well supplied with this most 



get what you can. I have learned late 

 ly that when a teamster asks: &quot;Do 

 you want twenty loads of good earth?&quot; 

 you had better investigate at once, and 

 if it is good buy it; you don t know 

 when you will get the next. 



We pay out without a murmur thou- 



off their own place, and they should 

 take care to husband their land or they 

 will find that with broad acres they can 

 soon use it up and have little in the right 

 condition. No one nowadays thinks of 

 using soil for roses or carnations or vio 

 lets the second year, and these crops take 

 a great deal of soil. 



Yet take care of the soil that you 

 throw out annually from your rose and 

 carnation benches. There are always 

 many uses for it. If it is given one 

 winter outside it will be found good 

 enough for most of your bedding plants, 

 or a third or one-half can be used with 

 your new carnation soil, especially with 

 varieties that make a strong growth. 



When an acre is what we call 

 &quot;skinned,&quot; three, four or five inches 

 deep, it should be restored as soon as 

 possible with the soil that comes out 

 of the benches. Put as much back as 

 you took away, and what you put back 

 will be good soil, for while in use in 

 the greenhouse you added animal ma 

 nure, bone meal and other fertilizers. 

 You can grow a crop of potatoes on it 

 the first summer, or use it for your 

 planted out crops for a couple of years, 

 or better still, after the potatoes lay it 

 down to winter wheat and sow clover 

 in the spring and in two years plow the 

 clover under, and you have a grand 

 field for your carnations. 



I have proved within a few years 

 what I only knew by report, not being a 

 farmer, that a growth of a foot of 

 clover plowed under is a wonderful 



