80 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Easter Plants. 



giving them a certain temperature 

 have them in good order for Easter. 

 Plants in the same batch treated just 

 the same will be a month later or 

 earlier than others. They must be 

 moved as their condition requires. I 

 think one winter some years ago that 

 I moved my Harrisii at least six 

 times, every plant, and many of them 

 a dozen times, but it paid, for out of 

 1,500 plants I don't believe there were 

 ten that did not open precisely a few 

 days before Easter. It can be done, 

 but not without thought, earnest 

 thought, and active work. 



EPACRIS. 



These beautiful heath-like plants 

 are not much seen in our green- 

 houses, although much grown as a 

 winter and spring flowering plant in 

 the gardens of Europe. The same 

 general treatment as that given the 

 ericas will suit them. Good peat (not 

 fern root) if it can be procured is 

 what they like. In its absence half 

 turfy loam and half leaf-mould will 

 do. For propagation refer to Erica. 



Most of the species are from Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand, but the hy- 

 brids from these species are the most 

 valuable. The colors are . mostly 

 white, pink and red of many shades. 



Plants that have flowered should 

 have the last year's growth cut down 

 to within a few inches of the older 

 wood, and till the young growth gets 

 a good start the plants should be kept 

 syringed and away from draughts. 

 They make a growth of several stems 

 one to two feet long, which give you 

 the flowers the following winter. 

 When the growth is matured the 

 plants can be plunged outside for a 



month or two, but are best in partial 

 shade. 



Till flowering time a temperature 

 of 40 to 45 degrees at night will do 

 very well. Like the heaths they dis- 

 like extremes of moisture, but if prop- 

 erly drained will take plenty of water, 

 and must at no time be allowed to get 

 very dry. 



Although not often seen the epacris 

 is a beautiful and aristocratic green- 

 house plant and whoever can grow 

 heaths should grow epacris. They are 

 seldom troubled with any of our 

 greenhouse pests of any kind. 



ERICA. 



This is a large genus of hard-wooded 

 evergreen shrubs, often called Cape 

 Heaths because they are largely from 

 the Cape of Good Hope. Few green- 

 house plants are finer as specimens 

 than a hard-wooded heath. A plant of 

 E. Cavendishianum, covered with its 

 large, waxy, yellow flowers, the plant 

 tied out most neatly, I can remember 

 to this day, although many years since 

 I had the honor to paint the hand- 

 made wooden labels for naming some 

 of the plants in the heath house. 



Heaths have small leaves and are 

 slow growers. The flowers are some- 

 times terminal and sometimes axil- 

 lary. The hard-wood section is sel- 

 dom seen except in a private co'lec- 

 tion. They want most skillful water- 

 ing the year round, good drainage and 

 nothing like a sodden soil, but must 

 never be very dry. They do not like 

 fire heat, and a greenhouse where the 

 night temperature is not over 40 de- 

 grees will do very well. 



After they have made their growth 

 in the spring they would be best out of 

 doors, but shaded with lattice work 

 from the strongest sun. A good peat 

 and loam compost suits them best, 

 and they should be potted firmly. But 

 in the absence of peat a good fibrous 

 loam with a third of leaf mould and 

 some sand will do very well. The 

 hard-wooded, slow-growing h r aths are 

 never likely to become of importance 

 with the commercial florist. They are 

 troubled with none of our greenhouse 

 pests. 



The soft-wooded, quicker growing 

 section is now largely grown as a mar- 

 ket plant for our eastern cities, and 

 large quantises are raised on Long 

 Island, where the fine loam found in 

 many parts of the island suits it finely- 

 It is generally believed that the order 

 Ericacea, which includes the azaleas, 



Erica and Epacris, in fancy basket and silver jardinieres. 



