THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



63 



Cycas Revoluta. 



out any harm if you don't disturb the 

 soil too deep. There is no need of 

 transplanting them; they will take 

 care of themselves for years. 



The varieties which we grow are 

 named, but the color is sufficient, and 

 of that we have yellow, purple, blue, 

 white and striped. 



CROTON. 



These highly ornamental leaved 

 plants can best be described by calling 

 them hot house evergreen shrubs or 

 trees, which they really are. As large 

 decorative plants for the conservatory 

 they have few equals. In the latitude 

 of Philadelphia and southward they 

 make beautiful beds out of doors, or 

 add greatly to the appearance of the 

 sub-tropical or mixed bed, but even 

 in that latitude they should be in pro- 

 tected situations. 



For decorations they are valuable, 

 but not in cold weather, for a chill 

 (even a low temperature) soon takes 

 off their beauty, and a croton must be 

 in perfect condition or it is useless. 

 They also dislike to have their roots 

 chilled with cold water, and repeated 

 doses of cold water will soon show by 

 a drooping of the foliage. 



They are rapidly propagated from 

 the tips of the young growths in warm 

 sand in March and April. The sand 

 must be kept moist and sun and 

 draughts kept from the cuttings. 

 Growers of large quantities plant out 

 on a bench in five or six inches of good 

 rich soil, the young plants in a light 

 house, where during the summer 

 months they make a fine quick growth 

 and in the fall they are lifted and pot- 

 ted, and when established are ready 

 for sale. 



Where expense is of little moment 

 they make splendid plants for the 

 mixed baskets of flowers and plants 



now sold in our largest cities. To grow 

 crotons at their best they should not 

 go below 70 degrees at night at any 

 time of the year, but for a short time 

 will endure 20 degrees lower than that. 

 Unlike a palm or dracaena, however, 

 anything near the freezing point for 

 an hour or two will greatly damage 

 them. 



They are subject to the ravages of 

 the mealy bug, red spider and thrip, 

 but there is no excuse for either, as 

 they delight in syringing; the proper 

 use of the hose should banish their 

 pests, or rather they should never ap- 

 pear. 



For soil they like a strong, turfy 

 loam with a fifth or sixth of rotten 

 cow manure, and should be-firmly pot- 

 ted, and when the water passes prop- 

 erly through the soil, which it always 

 should, they want lots of it. Bone 

 meal has been added to the compost 

 (about one pound to a bushel of soil) 

 with the very best results. 



The following will be found very 

 handsome and satisfactory varieties, 

 and without describing each variety, 

 they can be depended on to furnish 

 both variety and form, habit and color 

 of the leaf: 



Aurea picta, acubaefolia, Baron 

 Rothschild, Day Spring, contorta, 

 Challenger, Disraeli, elegantissimus, 

 Johannis, Mortii, Langii, Ruberrinum, 

 Sunbeam, Reidii, gloriosum, Lady 

 Zetland, voluta. 



Picta is remembered as one of the 

 oldest and is probably the parent of 

 most of the present varieties. 



These plants are so universally 

 known as crotons (and probably will 

 be for a long time to come) that it is 

 not worth while naming them any- 

 thing else here. Yet modern horticul- 

 tural dictionaries say that they are 

 not crotons but codiaeums. ( 



CYCAS. 



There is one species of this hand- 

 some palm-like plant that is known to 

 all florists, the C. revoluta. It is not 

 only one of the finest of our decora- 

 tive plants, but its handsome leaves 

 are largely used simply tied together 

 or with the addition of roses, etc., for 

 funeral designs. Cycas leaves of all 

 sizes and perfect in outline and color 

 are now imported either from China or 

 climes where this plant grows freely 

 out of doors the year round. Although 

 they are beautifully preserved and put 

 into fine artistic forms, they are not 

 quite the thing with all our customers 

 and do not entirely take the place o" 

 the home grown, naturally colored 

 leaves. 



The cycas is quite a tough plant. I 

 mean by that that it withstands a good 

 deal of rough usage. I have seen it do 

 well the year round in a light room 

 where gas was usedj and if you have 

 no better place it will thrive in a tem- 

 perature of 50 degrees all winter, but 

 that is not the way to produce fine 

 leaves. It will burn under the focus of 

 glass, but will stand out of doors un- 

 harmed in the broadest and hottest 

 suns if plentifully supplied with wa- 

 ter. It makes a grand specimen for a 

 lawn during the summer months. 



They should not have a larger pot 

 or tub than is necessary, but must 

 have a shift every two years if they 

 are making a strong growth. The soil 

 should be a strong turfy loam, light- 

 ened up with leaf-mould and sand, or 

 a fifth or sixth of well rotted cow ma- 

 nure. In the spring if you have no 

 occasion to shift them give them a 

 mulch of not over decayed manure. 

 When in good health they will always 

 make one whorl of leaves every spring. 

 If water passes freely through the soil 

 you cannot very well overwater them, 

 and they like syringing at all times. 



Their greatest enemy is the brown 

 scale, and to remove this (or rather 

 prevent it) they must be sponged with 

 the kerosene emulsion. Mealy bug 

 will attack them, but there is no ex- 

 cuse for that, as the hose should keep 

 them down. A temperature of 60 de- 

 grees will do very well in winter and 

 as hot as you like in spring and sum- 

 mer. When cutting the leaves for use 

 never cut very close to the stem; leave 

 three inches of the stem of the leaf on 

 the main trunk. 



There is no need of discussing the 

 method of propagation of the cycas, 

 as the young plants or stems in a 

 dormant state are now imported by 

 the ton and sold by weight. When 

 first received they should be put into 

 pots not much larger than the diame- 

 ter of stem and plunged into bottom 

 heat. They will in course of time 

 throw out a small whorl of leaves, but 

 their root action is slow. At this stage 

 they are easily hurt, and although not 

 wanting bottom heat after a few 

 months, the plants should not be put 

 out of doors or used for decoration, or 

 by any means sold to a customer till 

 they have made a good growth of 



