THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



in our baskets, vases and veranda 

 boxes we treat entirely different. We 

 leave them out of doors as long as 

 safe from frost, and even if you should 

 feel that a frost is coming it is no 

 great job to cover them or to pull the 

 plants up and take them into the shed 

 to be made ready for the cutting bed 

 next day. A few dozen old plants will 

 give you an immense lot of cuttings 

 and always put them in the sand, 

 which by this time of year is probably 

 a little warm with fire heat 



We keep them in 2-inch pots till 

 New Year's, then shift into a 3-inch; 

 and the demand for these beautiful 

 plants is so great for our veranda 

 boxes that we have to shift many of 

 them again into a"4-inch. Their droop- 

 ing habit makes them awkward to 

 grow on a bench when of any size, so 

 we have to put them on 10-inch 

 shelves, a row hanging over on each 

 side. 



The ivy leaf section are beautiful 

 plants and when their roots are con- 

 fined they continue to flower a long 

 time, but when planted out in good 

 soil they grow so freely that blooming 

 ceases. 



In winter you are seldom asked for 

 geranium flowers, or not enough to 

 warrant your devoting any bench room 

 to them, but you are frequently called 

 upon for a geranium plant in flower, 

 and it is just as well to have some. 

 Should you not sell them they will 

 make a fine lot of cuttings in Febru- 

 ary. 



Select a few hundred healthy young 

 plants in May of the free blooming 

 varieties and put them aside as sold. 

 When the rush is over shift into 5- 

 inch and grow along in a light house, 

 with the pots plunged in some -materi- 

 al to keep them from continually dry- 

 ing out; here is where the portable 

 shading would come in so good. A 

 cold-frame would do as well with the 

 glass tilted up back and front, and 

 then you can shade from 10 till 4 

 o'clock. 



Keep the buds always picked off 

 these geraniums during summer, and 

 in August, if they are worth it, shift 

 again, into a 6-inch pot. If you allow 

 the buds to come up after middle of 

 September you will have some very 

 cheerful, bright plants that are very 

 attractive. These plants if wanted to 

 flower freely should have a night tem- 

 perature of 55 degrees, and the light- 

 est bench you have. 



There is a lesson to be observed 

 about these common geraniums. If 

 we give them more than 45 degrees at 

 night and 55 to 60 degrees at day with 

 our imperfect light and want of venti- 

 lation, for we can only give air to a 

 limited extent, the plants will run up 

 to leggy, useless plants, but out of 

 doors in a night temperature of 70, 

 and during the day perhaps to 90 de- 

 grees, they do not run up, they grow 

 into sturdy, stout plants. So the nearer 

 we can come to perfect light and air 

 with those plants (roses, carnations, 

 etc.) that we ask to flower in the 



winter instead of resting, the greater 

 success we shall have. 



There are scarcely any insects tnat 

 trouble geraniums, and it is a great 

 thing in their favor. Tobacco smoke 

 does not hurt any of them and only 

 the scented leaved section is ever 

 troubled with aphis. Too close prox- 

 imity to hot water pipes will some- 

 times produce red spider, but 'that 

 should not occur. It is a great treat 

 to me to water a batch of geraniums 

 that are on the dry side, and they 

 should be allowed to get so. Then 

 they seem to relish the soaking they 

 get. 



Specialists who grow to supply the 

 trade with young stock propagate 

 from stock plants the season through 

 if possible, but their stock is not what 

 we want to make our fine bedding 

 plants. However, it is on such men as 

 C. W. Ward, of The Cottage Gardens, 

 and E. G. Hill & Co., of Richmond, 

 Ind., that we must rely for new varie- 

 ties, for these gentlemen import at 

 - great expense alt the new varieties, 

 many of which, perhaps, they do not 

 deem worthy of sending out to the flor- 

 ist who deals directly with the public. 

 It would be useless to publish a list 

 of varieties as sorts wear out and new 

 ones are constantly taking their places. 

 Neither am I acquainted with a long 

 list of varieties. It is very unwise to 

 grow a great variety. A dozen of the 

 best semi-doubles, half a dozen single, 

 half a dozen of the ivy leaf section, 

 and a few of the standard variegated 

 and bronze, will fill the bill for the 

 man who has flower beds to fill. Last 

 year the demand for geraniums was 

 larger than ever and although we had 

 double the quantity of S. A. Nutt over 

 any other, we were sold out of it long 

 before the rest, showing that-you -want 

 a large quantity of the very few lead- 

 ing varieties, and proportionately 

 smaller quantities of the rest. We find 

 at present that the following sorts suit 

 our business best: 



Semi-Double Zonal Varieties. 



S. A. Nutt: Crimson. 



Alphonse Riccard: Orange scarlet. 



J. J. Harrison: Fine scarlet. 



W. P. Simmons: Orange scarlet. 



Tower Eiffel: Bright scarlet. 



Beaute Poitevine: Clear salmon. 



Emile de Girardin: Fine pink. 



Francis Perkins: Clear pure pink; 

 the best pink we know; grand habit. 



Prokop Daubeck: Light scarlet; 

 best variety for vases. 



Ernest Lauth: Rich shade of red; 

 extra good. 



La Favorite: Pure white. 



Single Zonals. 



Queen of the West: Fine red. 



Athlete: Bright scarlet. 



General Grant: Bright scarlet; one 

 of the very best for large beds. 



Mrs. E. G. Hill: Salmon; a grand 

 truss. 



Rev. W. Atkinson: Deep, bright 

 scarlet. 



Mme. Lavalle: Rosy salmon. 



John Salter: White and light sal- 

 mon. 



J. P. Cleary: Vivid dark scarlet; 

 one of the best bedding geraniums. 



Mrs. A. Blanc: Magnificent variety; 

 shaded apricot red. 



Ivy Geraniums. 



Souv. de Charles Turner: Deet 

 pink; fine grower. 



Jeanne d'Arc: Fine double white. 



Pere Crozy: Scarlet; erect in habit 



Then we have a double as well as 

 semi-double pale pink, most useful. 



Scented Geraniums. 



Rose Leaf: Indispensable for cut- 

 ting. 



Lady Plymouth: Variegated rose 

 leaf, and a few each of the nutmeg and 

 lemon scented. 



Variegated, Bronze and Tricolor. 



Mountain of Snow: Pure white and 

 green leaf; a most desirable plant. 



Mme. Salleroi: Compact variegated 

 plant; excellent for an edging. 



Happy Thought: Very attractive; 

 dark green, white center. 



Mrs. Parker: Variegated foliage; 

 double pink flower. 



Marshal McMahon: Fine bronze, 

 with distinct dark zone. 



Golden Bedder: Rich, golden leaved. 



Mrs. Pollock: Beautiful tricolor leaf; 

 best of its class. 



Dwarf Geraniums. 



We have in Mars a distinct type oi 

 geranium, very dwarf and compact, 

 the flowers of a pleasing salmon shade. 

 It makes a very neat pot plant, or edg- 

 ing to a flower bed, and is a wonder- 

 fully free bloomer. 



It costs little to try a few of any of 

 the newer varieties sent out by reliable 

 houses, and if they do well in your 

 soil and locality increase your stock. 

 There was a time, about twenty years 

 ago, when the writer could pick out 

 forty varieties of double and single 

 zonal geraniums by their leaves. Any- 

 one can do it by the flower, but the 

 leaf is different. Times have changed, 

 and although we can pick out many 

 other things now, we have lost track 

 of the varieties of geraniums, but I 

 trust not how to grow them with profit 



THE COTTAGE GARDENS, 



QUEENS, N. Y. 



Carry a full line of all the latest 

 ....NOVELTIES.... 



as well as the best standard 

 varieties of 



Geraniums. 



We have 15,000 feet of glass devoted ex- 

 clusively to geranium culture, and carry 

 the largest and most select line of gera- 

 niums in America. 



