THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



J33 



added. They soon make large plants 

 and need a liberal sized pot, and plen- 

 ty of water and syringing when grow- 

 ing. Their brilliant flowers come on 

 the young growths. In winter they 

 will do in a temperature of 50 de- 

 grees, and keep on the dry side. When 

 starting them into more growth in 

 April, shorten back the shoots; the 

 young growths will be all the stronger. 

 The flowers are of various colors and 

 are both single and double. 



The young growths root readily in 

 April in some warm sand, but should 

 not be exposed to the sun or too much 

 air. 



HOLLYHOCK. 



This stately plant is seen in the 

 large grounds of the millionaire and 

 in the small piece of garden, that the 

 farmer or his wife devotes to "posies." 

 It is handsome anywhere, and it is 

 particularly suitable for a border 

 whose background is a hedge or belt 

 of trees. There appears to be an in- 

 creased call for them of late. Some 

 years ago the hollyhock disease dis- 

 couraged many would-be growers of 

 this old favorite, but little is now 

 heard of the disease, and we have seen 

 no trouble from it in several years. 



Hollyhocks are of very easy culture 

 and few plants will pay for the labor 

 with an equal amount of flowers and 

 fine effect. If they required the same 

 care and labor that a dahlia does, 

 there would be less excuse for not 

 growing them, but they do not. When 

 once planted out, they will take care 

 of themselves, only requiring one stout 

 stake to support their main stem and 

 tying as they grow. 



The best strain if allowed to remain 

 without transplanting for four or five 

 years will deteriorate in quality and 

 revert back to the single-flowered 

 form. Little regard is now paid to 

 named varieties, because the best 

 strains give you all the desirable col- 

 ors and the finest flowers; in fact, 

 plants less than one year old give the 

 finest flowers. Plants that have flow- 

 ered and are carried over winter are 

 hardy in our ordinary winters, but 

 should be protected by some litter 

 placed around the plant and a few 

 evergreen boughs over them. 



Where the winters are not so severe 

 seed is sown in May or June out of 

 doors and the young plants trans- 

 planted into beds, where they remain 

 all winter in the open ground, and 

 are planted out and sold the following 

 spring. This is all right for the man 

 with a catalogue trade, but is not the 

 way to produce the finest plants and 

 flowers. 



Sow in flats or in the cold-frame in 

 early August. If you have no other 

 accommodation, you can transplant 

 four or five inches apart in the frames, 

 and in the three or four months of 

 severest winter weather protect with 

 glass, and transplant to their perma- 

 nent position as soon as the ground is 

 dry in the spring. Still better, trans- 

 plant from the seed beds into flats or 



2-inch pots and in October shift into 

 4-inch pots, keeping them plunged in 

 the cold-frame till very cold weather, 

 and then winter them in a very cool 

 house. A violet temperature, or less, 

 will do. Don't defer planting till you 

 put out your tropical bedding plants, 

 but get them into the border as soon 

 as you can work the ground. The 

 latter method is the one I have seen 

 followed with the very grandest re- 

 sults. 



Hollyhocks like a heavy soil, dug 

 deeply and with plenty of animal ma- 

 nure worked in. If the spring is dry, 

 they should receive a soaking twice a 

 week. As fine hollyhocks as I have 

 ever seen were planted in a stiff clay, 

 into which was dug a lot of cow ma- 

 nure. They want a good stout stake 

 to keep the wind from blowing them 

 over, and sometimes when the side 

 shoots are loaded with flowers they 

 will want supporting to the main 

 stem. 



Chater's strain was for years the 

 best obtainable, and is, I think, still 

 offered by some of the leading seeds- 

 men. 



When the plants are small, as a pre- 

 ventive of fungous diseases they can 

 be dipped into a pail of the ammonia- 

 cal solution. 



The best strains now embrace colors 

 from the darkest maroon (almost 

 black) through beautiful shades of red 

 and pink, yellow and pale straw, to 

 pure white. Three feet apart is close 

 enough to plant them, and if strong 

 plants, more room is better. 



HOTBEDS. 



These primitive greenhouses may 

 never be seen at many establishments, 

 and where only cut flowers are grown 

 there is no occasion for them, but to 

 the florist who grows an assortment of 

 bedding plants they are of the greatest 

 assistance. As is well known there is 

 a number of our soft-wooded plants 

 that grow much faster and thriftier in 

 a hotbed than in the best greenhouse 

 that you can possibly give them. 



The vegetable grower starts prepara- 

 tions for his hotbeds in February, but 

 the florist does not need to, and in our 

 latitude the hotbed is of most use from 

 early April on to end of May, and oc- 

 casionally during summer, where 

 plants like cyclamen want a little bot- 

 tom heat. 



The frames are usually 18 inches at 

 back and 12 inches in front, and for 

 convenience made to fit three or four 

 sash of 6 feet by 3 feet 6 inches each. 

 When botbeds are used on a large scale 

 and where drainage is good the earth 

 is excavated to a depth of 18 inches to 

 2 feet, and either boarded or bricked 

 up to a foot above the surface. There 

 is an advantage in this because the 

 late frost does not cool the fermenting 

 material. Wherever you have them 

 let them be all together, for the larger 

 the mass of manure the slower it will 

 cool. 



The first requisite is some good, 

 fresh straw manure, and sometimes 

 that alone is used. If you have some 



dry leaves of the previous fall you can 

 mix in a third of those, and if you are 

 on good terms with the local brewer 

 the spent hops of the brewery is a 

 splendid material for the purpose. 

 Hops heat violently, and should not be 

 used alone, or the heat will be too vio- 

 lent for a time, and will too quickly 

 subside. I would call one-half stable 

 manure, one-fourth leaves and one- 

 fourth fresh hops a fine mixture. 



You can not get all your material in 

 one day, but when you Tiave collected 

 enough to begin operations the whole 

 mass, whatever it is, should be turned 

 over once into a big pile and thor- 

 oughly shaken out, mixing the long 

 with the short. When the pile begins 

 to show signs of heating, then form 

 your hotbeds. Lay out a space 18 

 inches larger and broader than the 

 frame or frames, and allow for an 18- 

 inch path between the frames, but 

 path and all to be built up with the 

 manure. 



Build the sides up square and when 

 making the beds one man should 

 throw on the manure and another be 

 shaking and spreading it evenly and 

 continually tramping on it, so that > 

 when it sinks, which it will do as it 

 ferments, it will sink evenly. If the 

 material is dry, have the hose near at 

 hand and every layer of three or four 

 inches give the surface a good sprink- 

 ling. It will prevent the heat being so 

 violent, but will make it last longer. 



When the bed or material has 

 reached a height of 2 feet put on your 

 frames and see that they are straight 

 and square or the sash won't fit f and 

 above all see that the frames are not 

 "winding." If you sight across the 

 top edges back and front and they line 

 with each other, then they are not 

 winding. ^Continue to build up with 

 the material till you are nearly to the 

 top of the frame. Then throw in four 

 or five inches of the plunging mate- 

 rial. This could be sawdust, tan bark, 

 or even sifted ashes, but for the sake 

 of the hotbed material for after use, 

 which is invaluable to the plant man, 

 we prefer to put on four or five inches 

 of some light soil that we have used 

 for some other crop. 



Don't plunge any plants in the soil 

 for five or six days, or till the most 

 violent heat has passed, and keep a lit- 

 tle ventilation on to allow the vapor to 

 escape. When the violent heat has sub- 

 sided get in your plants and the 

 growth they will make will be remark- 

 able. And so will the growth of weeds 

 from the soil. But weeding must be 

 attended to as all other duties. 



Only "the man who never forgets" 

 should have the care of the hotbeds. A 

 cold night is often followed by a 

 bright, sunny day, and the sun seems 

 to accelerate the heat of the bed, and 

 if they are neglected till, say 11 a. m., 

 you run a good chance of having your 

 whole crop burnt up, which has hap- 

 pened occasionally to most of us. A 

 little ventilation at first, and a little 

 more in an hour, is the way to care for 

 a hotbed. And close down early in 

 the afternoon. With the uniform 



