THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Araucaria Excelsa. 



pact, with better colored leaves, and 

 densely covered with their berries. 



A. crenulata is the best known and 

 most useful. They can be propagated 

 by cuttings of the half-ripened wood 

 in April and May, but are more easily 

 raised from seed. Sow the seed as 

 soon as ripe in a temperature of 60 

 degrees. Be careful in transplanting 

 into pots not to let the plants wilt 

 from drought or sun. Grow them on 

 in a light house and shift as they re- 

 quire it. The following spring they 

 can be given their flowering, or rath- 

 er fruiting, pot, and plunge on a light 

 bench in the greenhouse. 



June is the flowering time. When 

 the fruit is set they can be plunged 

 out of doors in the summer months. 

 A temperature of 50 degrees at night 

 will suit them very well during winter 

 and the berries will last longer than 

 if kept in a warmer house. When 

 growing they want a warm, moist 

 heat. They are easily kept shapely by 

 pruning before they make their growth 

 in the spring. 



They are particularly valuable as 

 ornamental plants because the pretty 

 red berries are at their best in the 

 winter months and small plants from 



one to two feet, are the most useful. 

 Some growers put the young plants 

 into the open ground from the 2-inch 

 pots in June, and they make larger 

 plants than those kept in pots. 



ARISTOLOCHIA. 



Nearly all hot-house climbers, seve- 

 ral of them having most curious and 

 remarkable flowers. They are best 

 planted out in the houses where they 

 grow freely. They are, however, of lit- 

 tle value commercially, except the 

 hardy species, A. Sipho, the familiar 

 "Dutchman's Pipe," which is one of 

 the handsomest of vines. For cover- 

 ing a veranda, summer house or trel- 

 lis it is admirably suited. Its peculiar- 

 ly formed little flower, from which 

 it takes its familiar name, is incon- 

 spicuous, being overshadowed by its 

 large leaves. 



You are constantly asked for a good 

 hardy vine. Few plants are better 

 than Aristolochia Sipho. It needs some 

 support to twine and twist around. It 

 is easily propagated from cuttings but 

 if you are not in the nursery business 

 you had better leave that to the nur- 

 seryman, who will supply you with 



strong plants at a price that will en- 

 able you to make a good profit. 



A. Sipho thrives in any good garden 

 soil. As a curiosity A. gigas is the 

 most remarkable but it is not hand- 

 some and has anything but a pleasing 

 fragrance. 



ASPARAGUS. 



Of this genus there are three or four 

 species that are very useful and orna- 

 mental plants. The one having the 

 greatest commercial value is A. plu- 

 mosus. There seems to be some con- 

 fusion about the name of this species, 

 or there are two varieties. English 

 catalogues make a distinction and call 

 one variety A. plumosus nanus. With 

 us the one that was actually dwarf has 

 been lost track of and the one that 

 grows twenty feet high is still called 

 nanus. This is evidently a misnomer. 



Seed can be sown at any time. Sow 

 in flats and cover with an eighth of 

 an inch of leaf-mould or sifted Jadoo 

 and keep on a bench where the heat 

 is not less than 60 degrees at night. It 

 is well to be particular as to the 

 source from which you get the seed. 

 Imported seed frequently germinates 

 poorly, but the home grown seed 

 comes freely. We pot the seedlings 

 into 2-inch pots, and if intended to 

 plant in a permanent bed we first 

 shift again into a 4-inch. A good, 

 warm house suits it when young, but 

 not a close, heavily shaded one. 



An asparagus bed for the produc- 

 tion of long strings should be on the 

 ground. My own experience has given 

 me a lesson on this point, and to use 

 the words of Mr. W. H. Elliott, 

 Brighton, Mass., our largest grower of 

 this asparagus, "It should never be 

 divorced from mother earth." One foot 

 of soil on the floor of a lofty house 

 will grow it for many years. Like all 

 its family it flourishes best in rich 

 soil; a good, heavy loam with a fourth 

 or fifth of cow manure is the best 

 compost for it, and in addition put a 

 good dressing on the surface of the 

 bed every midsummer. Although the 

 same bed will last indefinitely I think 

 it more profitable to renew the bed 

 every three or four years. The roof 

 of the house should be at least ten 

 feet above the surface of the bed or 

 you will not get the full benefit of the 

 growth. Specialists like Mr. Elliott 

 have houses twice that height. 



It is not only the long strings that 

 are used. The short sprays are in 

 great demand for mixing with cut 

 flowers, particularly bunches of roses. 

 While many short sprays can be cut 

 from the planted beds, many plants 

 are grown on side benches in six 

 inches of soil or in 6 or 8-inch pots 

 with the view of producing sprays 

 only. The plants will, if vigorous, 

 throw up the long running shoots, but 

 by nipping off the tops of the shoots 

 when 18 to 24 inches long the produc- 

 tion of branchlets is stimulated. 



We have found small plants of A. 

 plumosus very useful for fern dishes, 

 outlasting any of the ferns. For this 

 purpose the plants are best kept in 



