THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



third turfy loam in coarse lumps and 

 one-third chopped sphagnum, to which 

 add some charcoal. Although the roots 

 delight in moisture it must not be 

 stagnant around them, and the pots 

 should be filled within a few inches of 

 the rim with broken crocks. Keep the 

 roots and the potting material well 

 above the edge of the pot and cover 

 the surface of the compost with live 

 sphagnum, in which the young roots 

 thrive. They must be given an abund- 

 ance of water in summer, but much 

 less in winter. It is not only the water 

 they receive on the surface that bene- 

 fits them, but they require a humid, 

 warm atmosphere. 



The best time to increase your stock 

 of alocasias is in the spring by divid- 

 ing the stems or rhizomes, which 

 when first taken off and started 

 should have a close, moist and warm 

 temperature and be away from all 

 draughts of air. A Wardian case on 

 the greenhouse bench with some bot- 

 tom heat is the ideal place. 



The leaves are large, from one to 

 two feet in length. All are beautiful, 

 varying in coloring and markings 

 from the well known A. metallica or 

 cuprea, a dark metallic bronze, to A. 

 longiloba, green with silvery markings. 

 Among the best species and hybrids 

 are those above mentioned and A. hy- 

 brida, A. Jenningsii, A. Johnstonii, A. 

 Sedenii, A. Thibautiana, A. variegata, 

 and many others, all beautiful plants 

 for the private collection. 



ALOYSIA CITRIODORA. 



This universally liked plant is com- 

 mercially known the world over as 

 Lemon Verbena. It is classed as a de- 

 ciduous shrub and is the sole repre- 

 sentative of the genus. Where hardy 

 I doubt whether it is quite deciduous. 

 It makes a fine plant when planted 

 against the wall or pillar in the green- 

 house, but it is as a sweet scented 

 plant for our gardens that we most 

 prize it, and every mixed border, and 

 every garden large or small has one or 

 more. The florist finds this a most 

 useful plant for cutting in the summer 

 time, for what can be more welcome 

 in a bunch of flowers than a few sprays 

 of the sweet Lemon Verbena. 



Don't sell out clean in the spring. 

 Save a dozen plants and shift them on, 

 plunging them outside in pots in sum- 

 mer. At the approach of frost bring 

 them in and stand them under your 

 lightest and coolest bench and give 

 them only water enough to keep the 

 wood from shrivelling. In early Feb- 

 ruary we shake them out, shorten back 

 the unripened and weak wood and 

 start them going again in fr*>sh soil 

 and pots, with us a 4-inch. Placed in 

 a temperature of 55 degrees, in a few 

 weeks they are covered with young 

 growths which are just the thing for 

 cuttings. They root easily but not 

 nearly so surely as many of the soft- 

 wooded plants. I prefer the sand to 

 be a little warmer than the house. 

 Keep the sand well soaked, twice a day 

 is not too often, and never let the cut- 

 tings wilt from the sun or dryness. 



In April we shift them from a 2-inch 

 to a 3-inch pot and plunge in a mild 

 hot-bed, where by the middle of May, 

 with one pinching, they will have made 

 fine, bushy plants. They want lots of 

 syringing to prevent red spider, and if 

 the proper fumigation is regularly giv- 

 en they will not be troubled with fly. 

 A florist should always be supplied 

 with them for they are usually diffi- 

 cult to procure when wanted. 



ALTERNANTHERA. 



It seems as though it would have 

 been almost impossible to carry out 

 the wonderful designs in carpet bed- 

 ding had we not had these little plants 

 to serve us. Carpet, bedding came into 

 its greatest popularity shortly after the 

 introduction of the alternanthera, some 

 30 years ago. It may be that their 

 great fitness for that style of bedding 

 helped to make it popular. Certain it 

 is that alternantheras owe their pop- 

 ularity to carpet bedding. Nothing 

 troubles the alternanthera but cold 

 weather. They are all tropical plants, 

 growing freely in our warm summer 

 months but only just existing in the 

 greenhouse during winter in a tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees. 



They are propagated by divisions or 

 cuttings. In the former method the 

 plants are lifted from the beds after 

 the first slight frost, and after their 

 tops are shortened and trimmed up 

 they are stored away in a few inches 

 of soil in flats. After the first good 

 watering they are best kept rather dry 

 till the following April, when they can 

 be torn to pieces and either potted 

 singly or again planted in flats and 

 started growing in a warm, light house, 

 or what is better, a hot-bed. Where 

 very large quantities are needed the 

 old plants are generally depended up- 

 on. Where only a few thousand are 

 needed I prefer the cuttings. 



Prepare some flats two inches deep 

 and any convenient size, in which have 

 one inch of light soil and one inch oi 

 sand. About the middle of August 

 take off the cuttings from the plants 

 outside and put them thickly in the 

 sand. In a few days in the greenhouse 

 they will be rooted and can be kept 

 on any bench or stood out of doors till 

 cold weather arrives. In the flats they 

 will winter well and are little trouble. 

 Keep them rather dry during the dark 

 days and away from cold and damp. 

 When potted off in April and placed in 

 a hot-bed they make splendid little 

 plants by bedding out time. They root 

 and thrive like the proverbial "weed" 

 if kept warm. 



There is no trouble in wintering any 

 of them except the one that is the most 

 valuable, which is known in many 

 places as A. paronychioides major, but 

 which I feel sure is A. paronychioides 

 magnifica, which is much the highest 

 colored of all. In elaborate bedding 

 room is found for most of the culti- 

 vated varieties. If you cannot give 

 them a temperature of 60 degrees dur- 

 ing winter the next best thing is to 

 give the flats a light, dry position and 



be sparing of water till the warm days 

 of spring arrive. 



The most useful are A. paronychio- 

 ides magnifica, almost scarlet when 

 well colored, but not such a robust 

 grower as the others; A. versicolor, 

 bright rosy pink and bronze green; 

 A. spathulata, reddish pink and brown 

 shaded with bronze and green; A. am- 

 abilis, rose color and orange; A. am- 

 oena, orange red and purple; A. tri- 

 color, dark green edge, center of leaf 

 rose striped with purple veins and or- 

 ange; A. paronychioides aurea nana, 

 the best of the yellow or golden leaved 

 sorts. 



In very warm rainy seasons they 

 grow so fast that the beautiful mark- 

 ings of the leaves do not show at their 

 best. They should never be planted 

 in a very rich soil. Their great adapt- 

 ability for bedding is because they can 

 be sheared to any sharp line and can 

 be kept very dwarf. 



AMARANTHUS. 



Strong growing tropical annuals 

 having feathery spikes of flowers and 

 highly colored leaves. They are very 

 suitable for the mixed border or for 

 large sub-tropical beds. It is on ac- 

 count of the showy markings of the 

 leaves that they are mostly grown. 

 They should not be planted out till 

 settled warm weather, with us the 1st 

 of June, but they grow very luxuri- 

 antly in the warm months. They re- 

 quire deep, rich soil to obtain the best 

 results. 



Sow the seed the latter part of 

 March in pans in a warm house and 

 transplant when large enough to 

 handle into flats, placing them two 

 or three inches apart. The moist heat 

 of a hot-bed suits them finely. If ex- 

 tra good plants are required they can 

 be shifted from the flats singly into 

 3-inch pots, and nowhere will they do 

 so well as in a hot-bed. 



A few of the handsomest are: bi- 

 color, foliage green and yellow; hypo- 

 chondriacus, large spikes of crimson 

 flowers; salicifolius, narrow drooping 

 leaves, orange, carmine and bronze; 

 sanguineus, blood red leaves; tricolor, 

 a very handsome species with carmine 

 and yellow leaves. 



AMARYLLIS. 



The Belladona Lily is the true ama- 

 ryllis and the fine plants generally 

 known as amaryllis are really hippe- 

 astrums. Several other genera are 

 closely allied and as their cultivation 

 is the same the cultural directions 

 here given will include hippeastrum, 

 crinum and vallota. They are bulbous 

 but not herbaceous although resting 

 partially during winter. 



They seed freely and if sown at once 

 and the young plants grown on in a 

 warm house and rested slightly dur- 

 ing the winter, will flower the third 

 year. They can also be increased by 

 the offsets from the old bulbs. 



If you obtain the dormant bulbs 

 start them in a little bottom heat, 

 keeping the bulb near the surface of 

 the soil. They flower when making 



