60 



THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



house. In the frames you have per- 

 fect light, an abundance of air, and 

 on fine warm days the sashes can be 

 removed when full exposure to sun- 

 light and air can be given. 



Carnation growers can put their 

 young plants into the cold-frames 

 about April the first and a few weeks 

 in them will condition the plants for 

 the open field much better than a 

 lofty hot house. By the middle of 

 April all the annuals in flats or plant- 

 ed can gq into the cold-frames, and 

 many of our bedding plants will be 

 greatly benefited by a few weeks in 

 the cold-frames. It is a far better 

 place for geraniums than a shaded 

 house without fire heat. 



In the summer, without the sash, we 

 find great use for the frames for 

 plunging out our azaleas, acacias, 

 hardy roses and many plants that are 

 kept in pots during summer. Boards 

 fastened up to keep your plunging ma- 

 terial in place may do as well, but the 

 frame is all ready to hand. 



I had forgotten one very important 

 use and that is for the longiflorum 

 lilies in the fall. Both the Bermuda 

 and the Japan grown are potted and 

 placed in the cold-frames, and in case 

 of very heavy rains are much better 

 covered with the sash. Those you keep 

 for Easter and later flowering must 

 be kept in the frame till New Year's 

 or later, and there is where your cold- 

 frame will come in right, in fact is a 

 necessity. 



The ground on which these frames 

 are stood should never be in a place 

 where surface water will stand, even 

 if only during heavy rains. If it is not 

 a naturally dry position make provi- 

 sion to carry off the rains from the 

 surrounding surface. Where a large 

 lot of sash is used for this purpose 

 some of the frames at least ean be per- 

 manent. By that I mean they can be 

 built of cedar or cypress posts (4x4 is 

 a good size) driven into the ground 

 every 8 feet for the back and front 

 line of the frame, which can be any 

 desired length. I have one of 30 sash 

 in length devoted to violets. Where 

 they are built to fixed posts in this 

 way it is best to use 2-inch plank for 

 the walls. Where the frame is mov- 

 able and is made in length to fit three 

 or four sash, one inch lumber will do. 

 The sashes are made of various sizes, 

 but it is wrong to have them an awk- 

 ward size; 6 feet long by 3 feet 6 

 inches wide is large enough, and some 

 prefer 3 feet wide. 



For a great majority of our frames, 

 whether permanent or portable, the 

 height at back is 18 inches and the 

 front 12 inches, giving the sash a slope 

 of 6 inches to the sun; that is plenty. 

 For a few larger plants we have some 

 frames that are 2 feet at back and 18 

 inches in front. I prefer the cypress 

 sash, butting the glass. Always use 

 double thick glass; these sash get a 

 good deal of handling and occasionally 

 one blows off in a gale;. They run 

 risks of breakage far more than a 

 fixed roof; they are moved repeatedly 

 to ventilate and are raised to enable 



you to water, so the double thick glass 

 will save the extra price in glass in 

 one year. 



Always have a rafter for every sash 

 to rest on and slide on. They are 

 very simply made by nailing a piece 

 of pine 2x1 on to another piece of pine 

 4x1, and have a hook and eye for 

 every sash, to keep them from blow- 

 ing off in a storm. There are always 

 enough spare sash in the dark winter 

 days so that you can overhaul the 

 whole lot, mend them where needed 

 and give them a coat of paint. And 

 then when you put on the sash over a 

 young batch of carnations there won't 

 be a glass out in each sash, which you 

 often see decorated with a piece of 

 board, and which blows off to make a 

 hole in the next sash, to chill or drown 

 out the plants beneath, to disseminate 

 profanity and vex all around. Some 

 men may take all the little accidents 

 that ensue from neglect quite placidly, 

 but depend upon it when they do they 

 are sluggish, good natured fellows that 

 won't get far ahead. 



A hail storm that knocks out all 

 your glass is no cause to get irritable. 

 The w,riter has been through it and 

 knows how it feels. It can't be help- 

 ed, no power could hinder it, and 

 therefore you should be cheerful and 

 clean up and find out the best place 

 to buy glass as quick as possible. But 

 these so-called accidents which are 

 purely neglect are what vex a man. 



A good part of your frames should be 

 made to take four sash, because they 

 are what are used on the hotbeds. 

 You seldom need those deeper than 18 

 inches by 1 foot and the ends should 

 be fastened to a 2x4 post in the four 

 corners. All sash should have a strip 

 of iron running across the middle on 

 the underside, to which each bar 

 sihould be fastened with a screw. It 

 helps greatly to strengthen the sash 

 and keep it from winding. The strip 

 of iron can be %x 1 / 4 inch. In summer 

 when of little use see that the sash 

 are laid or stood on timbers, off the 

 ground, not winding, and that a door 

 or some such thing be stood up and 

 tacked to the last one covering the 

 glass, so that your sons or sons' 

 friends when showing you how they 

 can curve a ball will be satisfied to 

 break the windows in your barn and 

 not go through three or four depths of 

 sash. 



COLEUS. 



For the past thirty years, and still 

 is, and perhaps always will be grown 

 an immense quantity of small plants 

 of coleus for our flower gardens. 

 Verschaffeltii is a variety raised from 

 Blumei, which species is also the pa- 

 rent of the thousands of varieties that 

 have been raised, disseminated, and 

 many now forgotten. The coleus as 

 a bedding plant is finely suited to our 

 warm summers and those that have 

 not seen it struggling along, dwarf 

 and scrubby looking, in the gardens of 

 North Britain, don't realize what a 

 grand plant we have in this tropical 

 herb. 



In climates where they make but a 

 poor growth out of doors they are ap- 

 preciated as decorative pot plants for 

 which they make fine specimens. They 

 can be pinched and tied to most sym- 

 metrical forms and for pure beauty 

 of form and color are as handsome as 

 any plant. But here, where we see 

 them growing so luxuriantly outside 

 they are not appreciated as pot plants 

 unless it be for filling up in the sum- 

 mer and fall. It would not be at all 

 difficult to start with a 4-inch plant 

 in February and by the following Oc- 

 tober have a plant 6 feet across and 

 as even in outline as an umbrella, but 

 few would stop to admire it. They 

 would only remark or reflect: "How 

 long it must have taken John Smith 

 to grow that plant!" The plant is 

 not worth the pains. 



To digress a moment. To me it is 

 no pleasure (simply a bore in fact) 

 to see an elephant on a tub, a horse 

 waltzing, or a dog walking on his hind 

 legs. I feel very tired if it lasts long 

 and instead of being amused by such 

 monstrosities am continually thinking 

 how many weary days and weeks it 

 must have taken to teach these lower 

 animals the tricks. That's all there is 

 in it; it shows the patience and untir- 

 ing perseverance of some men, the re- 

 sult is nothing when attained. I will 

 go a long ways to see a dog chasing 

 a rabbit or a fox, a horse's neck 

 stretched out to pass the winning post 

 first, or an elephant pull a ten-ton 

 cannon and show his majestic strength 

 and it's about the same with these 

 specimen coleus. It only shows the 

 patience and skill of the workman; 

 the result is meager after all the la- 

 bor and cost. 



To obtain a good stock of coleus for 

 bedding purposes it is better to carry 

 over a few each of the leading varie- 

 ties in pots during summer, say in 5 

 or 6-inch pots. If you should have a 

 cool spell in October and November, 

 when firing but little, the fair sized 

 plants can stand it, but small plants 

 in 2-inch pots cannot. By starting 

 these plants in good, strong heat after 

 New Year's you will soon get plenty 

 of cuttings. As is known to every 

 florist the coleus roots most easily in 

 sand the year around, and in the 

 months of March and April when you 

 are doing your heaviest propagating 

 a bottom heat will save several days. 



Coleus are sold cheap and must be 

 raised expeditiously or there will be 

 no profit. We endeavor to have sev- 

 eral sizes. The largest are in 4-inch 

 pots. Perhaps these have been stop- 

 ped at least twice, their cuttings hav- 

 ing been used for propagation. The 

 3-inch pot plants were stopped once 

 and the smaller plants in 2%-inch had 

 the top pinched out. ,We find custom- 

 ers want different sizes. Some are 

 willing and able to pay for the largest 

 plants; others think the smallest plant 

 just as good;. "They grow very fast 

 you know." We keep on propagating 

 to the middle of May. 



I have seen, in fact I have had, a 

 poor lot of coleus, for sale at the end 

 of May, just when they should be 



