62 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



COTYLEDON. 



These now include what we have so 

 long known as the echeveria and sem- 

 pervivum. They are dwarf succulents, 

 a few of them forming stems, mostly 

 perennials. Very few are of any value 

 as flowering plants. Many of them 

 are indispensable for carpet bedding. 

 In fact, the rage for carpet bedding of 

 twenty-five years ago brought several 

 species of the echeveria into great 

 prominence and millions were grown. 

 They will always be most interesting 

 plants for the rockery. 



They are of the easiest culture, all 

 the useful species sending out a num- 

 ber of offsets which can be removed 

 from the parent plant in fall and 

 planted into sandy loam thickly in 

 flats. If you wish them to grow during 

 winter you can give them a tempera- 

 ture of 55 to 60 degrees, with perfect 

 light, and keep moderately moist. But 

 for wintering most of them a much 

 lower temperature will do; and give 

 them little water during the dark 

 months. The echeveria section should 

 not be exposed to any frost. 



While propagation by offsets is much 

 the easiest plan, they can all be raised 

 from seed, which is best sown in very 

 early spring. The following list in- 

 cludes the most useful as well as 

 handsome species: 



C. sempervivum: House leek; per- 

 fectly hardy. 



C. Gibbiflora metallica: Fine for 

 center of carpet beds, or worthy of pot 

 culture; broad thick leaves of a me- 

 tallic hue. 



C. agavoides: Beautiful form, re- 

 sembling an agave, with sharp points 

 to the leaves; one of the handsomest. 



C. calif ornica: Fine form; good for 

 " carpet bedding. 



C. glauca: Leaves form a dense ro- 

 sette; largely used. 



C. secunda glauca: This is the one 

 most in use; does well in any soil, is 

 easily and rapidly propagated and for 

 carpet bedding is unequalled; there are 

 several varieties, all useful. 



C. Peacockii: This is perhaps the 

 most ornamental of all, and much less 

 common than most others. 

 ^C. Ruthenicum: Good for rockery; 

 quite hardy. 



C. Verlottii: A pretty species, and 

 hardy. 



C. rosea: A fine form; suitable for 

 large designs in carpet bedding. 



C. retusa: This is the only one we 

 have grown as a flowering plant for 

 fall and winter sales. It sends up sev- 

 eral flowering stems thickly covered 

 with very pretty flowers. Being a suc- 

 culent it is a most satisfactory house 

 plant, and twenty years ago we grew 

 it largely. It is well worth growing. 

 Plants that have flowered should be 

 cut down within a few inches of the 

 ground and from the stem you will 

 get several cuttings, which will root 

 quickly in the sand and can be potted, 

 and when there is no longer danger of 

 frost planted out of doors a foot apart 

 in good rich earth. You want these 

 plants to grow, unlike those you have 



crowded into the carpet beds. They 

 will grow fast, and if inclined to flower 

 too early pinch out the flowering stem 

 till September. They lift, of course, 

 with the greatest ease. We like to put 

 them into a 5-inch pot. For inside ar- 

 rangements of plants such as are often 

 seen in the dining rooms of hotels this 

 plant is of especial value, and the spe- 

 cies metallica would also be for its 

 grand leaves. A cold dampness is all 

 that will hurt them. 



Some of the species do not make off- 

 shoots, or not in quantity enough to 

 propagate sufficiently fast. The leaves 

 can be pulled off when perfectly ma- 

 ture and very slightly inserted in sand 

 and kept dry; on the ends or base of 

 the leaf small plants will form, which 

 when of sufficient size can be potted 

 and started growing. 



You frequently see the bedding spe- 

 cies used in frames or on the margins 

 of beds where the edge of the bed is 

 nearly perpendicular. Ordinary soil 

 would wash down at the first rain. 

 For these positions a mixture of clay 

 and cow manure is used, and the 

 plants put in when it is moist, the 

 compost afterwards hardening as the 

 fresh moulded brick does when ex- 

 posed to the sun, and the cow manure 

 binds it. 



CRINUM. 



Evergreen bulbs which send up a 

 handsome mass or flower in a more or 

 less showy umbel. The prevailing 

 color is white. They are not of any 

 commercial value, but are handsome 

 plants for the private conservatory. 

 They make strong, fleshy roots and to 

 do well should be given plenty of pot 

 room. 



They require good drainage and a 

 mixture of rather rough, turfy loam 

 and decayed manure. If the pots are 



full of roots and you cannot shift 

 them give them a top dressing of ma- 

 nure in the spring. When making 

 their growth in the spring they re- 

 quire lots of water and syringing to 

 keep down thrip and spider. Though 

 not so much water is needed in win- 

 ter, they want a moderately warm 

 place and must by no means be dried 

 off. 



Seed is easily saved from the flow- 

 ers and should be sown singly in small 

 pots and shifted and grown on. They 

 also can be propagated by off-shoots, 

 which can be taken off when small. 



The handsomest are nearly all trop- 

 ical and flower during the summer 

 months. 



CROCUS. 



This pretty little flower is alluded 

 to in the article on bulbs. It is not 

 really a bulb; it is a corm, but we al- 

 ways class it among the Dutch bulbs. 

 We have never forced them profitably, 

 but they are of course the most easy 

 of any of the bulbs to force. In 

 small pans they are the most salable; 

 the demand for them, however, is very 

 small and not worth bothering about. 

 A great many crocus are sold every 

 fall for planting in cemeteries, where 

 they are dropped into holes four or five 

 inches below the surface and will grow 

 and flower every spring for years. 

 They are not suitable for grouping 

 with the tulips and hyacinths, being 

 much too early. In fact, they appear 

 as soon as the snow disappears and 

 are often caught in a snow storm after 

 they are in bloom. 



They will thrive in any soil that is 

 not too retentive of moisture. Dotted 

 into the grass or in beds under the 

 wall of a house they brighten up the 

 first days of spring. Annuals can be 

 grown over them during summer with- 



Croton Reidii. 



