THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Small Plant of Cyt'sus in a Basket. 



bulb or coim. When shifting you 

 can keep the top of bulb about ev^n 

 with or a little above the surface of 

 soil. With the watering and growth 

 the bulb will soon elevate itself to 

 the surface. 



If syringing is properly attended to 

 the thrip and spider are seldom troub- 

 lesome, but the aphis is a persistent 

 enemy of this beautiful plant, getting 

 down among the young leaves and 

 flower buds. A faithful weekly fumi 

 gating must be followed up. I tried 

 one winter an experiment on the best 

 temperature to flower them; 45 degroes 

 at night was too cool and 55 was too 

 hot; 50 degrees seemed to be just 

 right, opening the flowers fast enough 

 without drawing them up. If once 

 clean of aphis when brought into_the 

 house a good plan is to stand every 

 pot on an inverted 6-inch pot and place 

 three or four inches of loose tobacco 

 stems between the pots. This will 

 keep down the fly, but it should be re- 

 newed every three or four weeks. 



Plants are seldom carried over the 

 second year. If you wish to, lessen the 

 supply of water after the flowers are 

 gone and keep cool till May, when the 

 pots can be placed outside, in July 

 shake off the old soil and start grow- 

 ing in smaller pots and shift again as 

 required. Old plants, if well managed, 

 give an enormous lot of flowers' that 

 are usually not as fine as those on the 

 year-old plants, and the plants are not 

 as perfect. If a plant can in fifteen 

 months be grown in an 8-inch pot, the 

 foliage 15 to 18 inches across, with 100 

 fine flowers, what better is needed? 



In Europe they use the soot of bitu- 

 minous coal as an ingredient of the 

 compost; it adds to the size and color 

 of the leaves. A liquid application of 

 nitrate of soda would possibly have a 

 similar result. You can buy cyclamen 



seed in d'slinct colois, and wh?re 

 largely grown should do so. The 

 mixed strains, where only a few hun- 

 dred are needed, will give you a fine 

 variety. Seed can be sown as late as 

 January with good results, and if 

 grown cool in winter can be had in 

 bloom for April and May. 



The crested and so-called double 

 forms are curious, but no improve- 

 ment in beauty over the older forms. 

 The double is in fact a monstrosity 

 without beauty. The colors range 

 from deepest crimson to purest white 

 and in many the Colors are fine'y 

 blended. 



Finally, what is true of most soft- 

 wooded plants is more particularly 

 true in the cultivation of the cycla- 

 men; they should have no check, no 

 setback of any kind from tue time 

 the seed germinates till they are in 

 bloom, but should be continually 

 growing. 



CYTISUS. 



These are often called genista, but 

 cytisus is the correct name, of which 

 the beautiful tree or shrub Laburnum 

 is one. They are profuse blooming, 

 branching evergreens. Small plants 

 in 4 and 5-inch pots are most useful, 

 but a limited number of the larger 

 plants are very fine for decoration. 

 Their bright yellow color, the plants 

 covered with flowers, makes them 

 very attractive, but we do not con- 

 sider them at all a good house plant, 

 the leaves and flowers soon dropping, 

 and the reason must be* the dry air 

 of the room. 



Any ordinary loam with a little rot- 

 ten manure will grow them. They are 

 sometimes troubled with red spider 

 but never when they are kept syringed 

 during the summer. 



They root readily from the young 



growths in February and are pinched 

 and grown on by shifting during sum- 

 mer. We never plant them out be- 

 cause they lift badly. Keep them 

 under glass and keep them plunged on 

 a bench where there is very little 

 shade. To make compact little plants 

 they want their strongest shoots often 

 stopped, the last stopping or clipping 

 should not be later than December. In 

 winter they can be kept in a very coo! 

 house; 40 degrees at night will bf 

 plenty. 



They are of most use as an Easter 

 plant and if not kept very cool will 

 be too early for Easter unless that 

 festival conies on an early date. Un- 

 sold plants can be sheare.d off and if 

 kept warm and syringed will soon 

 make a fine growth, and when shifterl 

 they can be plunged outside in sum- 

 mer and will want at intervals an oc- 

 casional clipping. They can be made 

 very round, compact, handsome bush- 

 es or allowed to grow more freely if 

 you wish. 



Canariensis is a trifle darker than 

 racemosus but the latter is the best 

 grower and best plant. 



DAHLIA. 



These magnificent herbaceous plants 

 have long been favorites of the garden 

 and were, I think, once more frequent- 

 ly seen than at present. They do not 

 reward you with their grand flowers if 

 just shoved into the ground as the use- 

 ful geranium does. They want culti- 

 vation and they are well worth it. Ex- 

 cepting as to odor what flower is more 

 perfect than a dahlia? 



There are several classes: The Show 

 Dahlia is the large double flower. The 

 Fancies are identical excepting in the 

 markings of the flower. The Pompon 

 are perfect little double flowers, not 

 more than one-half or one-third the 

 size of the Show flower. The single 

 section are very handsome and are 

 used more for bedding. Some twenty 

 years ago they were very much in 

 fashion. 



With the exception of the single 

 class, or in case you want to raise new 

 varieties of the double ones, the dah- 

 lias are easily raised from cuttings. 

 The clump of roots which has been 

 resting all winter should be placed on 

 a bench in February or March on an 

 inch or so of soil. If there is heat 

 under the bench so much the better. 

 The house can be about 60 degrees. 

 Scatter some light soil among the 

 roots, just sufficient to cover them and 

 keep moist. From the crown of the 

 roots will spring a number of cuttings 

 which when two or three eyes long 

 can be cut off and put into the sand: 

 or you can put each cutting in a 2-inch 

 pot, with a little soil at bottom and 

 sand on top; the latter plan will save 

 disturbing the roots. Always make the 

 cuttings at a joint. This may be of 

 little consequence with the majority 

 of, plants but is important with dah- 

 lias. 



When well rooted in the small pots 

 shift into a 4-inch pot and give plenty 

 of light and air, and as planting time 



