238 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



plants, let it be fuchsias or geraniums or 

 roses in pots, or anything else that is 

 growing fast, that are plunged to their 

 rims in refuse hops, ashes or tanbark, 

 will far outstrip a batch of the same 

 sort with the pots bare? There is no 

 evaporation from the sides of the plunged 

 pot and consequently a more uniform 

 moisture, and that is the sole reason. 

 This is very marked and is a good lesson 

 for us. Letting plants whose roots are 

 active get repeatedly on the dry side day 

 after dav will tell on them and stunt 



the looser we keep the surface the faster 

 will be evaporation, and the more evapo 

 ration from the surface the more moist 

 ure rises to the surface from the depths 

 of the ground to nourish the roots. This 

 is called capillary attraction. Hence it 

 follows that the deeper we have plowed 

 or dug, or the more \ve have broken up 

 the subsoil, the better will capillary at 

 traction benefit the plant. So there is a 

 more uniform moisture at the root than 

 you think, even in the dryest time. 



All this benefit is of course cut off en- 



Zinnias. 



their growth, compared with those that 

 are kept at a more uniform moisture. 

 This may be of no detriment to our bed 

 ding geraniums or coleus or cannas, but 

 it is to the plants that we want to make 

 a fine growth or produce fine flowers. 



Some may say, Look at the plants in 

 the field. My carnations have not had 

 a drop of water or rain in six weeks, but 

 they are growing.&quot; They are under en 

 tirely different conditions. We hoe the 

 surface, or ought to. Evaporation from 

 the ground is continually going on, and 



tirely in cultivating in pots and on 

 the bench. 



Have you ever noticed where a drain 

 or sewer was laid four feet deep in a 

 stiff clay the grass for years over the 

 drain will be green in the dryest time, 

 because by the disturbance and breaking 

 up of the soil capillary attraction is 

 helped? 



The sub-watering experiments on our 

 benches is yet too new for me to enter 

 into, and our trade papers have given 

 full accounts of the methods. Something 



practical may be yet evolved by our 

 learned professors. 



In conclusion you should keep one man 

 watering one house. He may water half 

 a dozen, but if it is the same man and 

 he is a gardener he will remember the 

 condition in which he left the plants on 

 the previous day, and will know just 

 about what will want it the next. A 

 good, intelligent, faithful waterer is as 

 valuable a man as you have on your 

 place. 



ZINNIA. 



The annual zinnias are the only ones 

 in which the florist is interested. With 

 selection and culture, they are now among 

 the handsomest of our annuals for the 

 border, and in certain places a whole 

 bed of them, in many shades, is very 

 striking. 



They are very easy to grow and need 

 only the ordinary treatment given many 

 other annuals, except that no frost must 

 ever touch them while in a coldframe. 

 Sow from the middle to the end of 

 March, and when an inch high trans 

 plant into flats two inches apart. By 

 the middle of April a coldframe is the 

 right place for them. Plant in beds or 

 borders after there is no danger of 

 frost. 



They are strong, rampant growers, and 

 should have plenty of room; eighteen 

 inches to two feet apart is close enough. 

 They should have a well tilled piece of 

 ground and will then stand our hot, and 

 often dry, summers better than most of 

 our summer flowering plants. 



While the zinnia well deserves a place 

 in the flower garden, it is the most, un 

 popular of all flowers for even the cheap 

 est sort of a bouquet. The poorest pur 

 chaser does not want them at any price. 

 We have noticed this so often that we 

 never cut them, however short of cheap 

 flowers we may be. This proves that 

 there is an unconscious taste for the 

 artistic, even among the most lowly. The 

 zinnia is so absolutely regular in form, 

 stiff and formal, one flower being exactly 

 like another, that the eye rebels against 

 it. In a bunch of roses, carnations, or 

 almost any other flower, no two are pre 

 cisely alike, but me zinnias look as 

 though they all came out of one mold. 

 Then again, the stem is so rigid that 

 while it is all right on the plant, it de 

 tracts from the flower when cut. 



Grow zinnias to make your border gay, 

 but don t offer the cut flowers to your 

 customers. We raise quantities every 

 year and sell the young plants from the 

 flats at 25 cents per dozen. 



