THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



75 



any amount of hard usage, in fact 

 anything but freezing, and we know 

 that it even comes out of a slight frost 

 unhurt. The seed, which is very 

 cheap, should be sown in flats in win- 

 ter or spring. We prefer to grow 

 them the first year under glass, and 

 the second spring plant them out in 

 some good light, rich soil. The fol- 

 lowing fall they are lifted and potted 

 in 4 or 5-inch pots and used largely 

 the following spring for our vases and 

 veranda boxes. I know of no plant 

 of its value that is so easy to grow 

 and of so great a use to the florist. 

 If short of room we have stood the 

 small plants under a light bench in 

 a cool house and kept them rather 

 dry, where they have done well, but 

 if you want them to grow during win- 

 ter they should have 50 degrees at 

 night, plenty of syringing with the 

 hose, and they are troubled with noth- 

 ing. In a few hundred seedlings you 

 will see quite a variation of character; 

 some with leaves almost a bronze red. 

 They should be put aside and grown 

 on with care; they may turn out to be 

 of great beauty and value. 



DRAINAGE. 



There is nothing much more puzzl- 

 ing to the beginner in floriculture than 

 the word "drainage" when applied to 



Dracaena Fr agrans. 



Dracaena. Massangeana. 



potted plants, especially as some 

 authors of recent years have ignored 

 the theory of drainage entirely and 

 pronounced it wrong in theory and a 

 waste of money and time in practice. 

 There are few farmers, nurserymen or 

 market gardeners who do not believe 



in the practice of draining. Some land 

 may need it more than others but all 

 are benefited by a system of drainage 

 except it be a good loam lying on a 

 gravel. 



I am not going into the art of drain- 

 ing land but the principle, if right 



with land is right in our flower pots. 

 Years ago it was carried out to an ab- 

 surdity. A piece of crock in the bot- 

 tom of a 4-inch geranium or canna is 

 absurd and no one does such a thing 

 now. If a plant is going to stop in a 

 pot but a few weeks or even a few 

 months and is necessarily a quick and 

 strong rooter like a lily there is no 

 need of any drainage. In the case of 

 plants that may stop a year, or per- 

 haps two or three years, in the same 

 pot, if you were sure that the water 

 was always going to pass freely away 

 as it does at the first month or two, 

 there would be no need of drainage, 

 but worms get in and work the soil 

 into a putty state, or the soil gets so 

 packed at the bottom of the pot that 

 water does not pass away freely. 



Much as plants enjoy the watering 

 when in need of it, terrestrial plants 

 don't exactly feed on it. The water 

 passes away, leaves the soil moist 

 and full of moist air spaces, which the 

 roots are continually absorbing till it 

 is gone and they want more. See how 

 easy it is to kill most any plant when 

 the water remains in the pot and 

 keeps the soil for a few days saturated. 

 So plants want water to pass through 

 the soil but not remain there, and 

 with all plants that are going to re- 

 main any time in the same pot (aza- 

 leas are a good example) they should 

 have what we call drainage. 



With pots not over five inches in di- 

 ameter a broad crock at the bottom 

 covered with a piece of green moss, 

 and with larger pots in addition to 

 the piece of crock covering the hole 

 an inch or so of broken crocks and the 

 moss. The green wood moss is much 

 better for the purpose than sphagnum 



