J44 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



be raised from seed precisely as we 

 do M. Barclayana, but we prefer to 

 take a few cuttings from outside plants 

 in the fall and grow on during win- 

 ter. It roots easily from any part of 

 the growth and by this means we get 

 much more serviceable plants for use 

 in large vases and veranda boxes. 

 They winter very well in 50 degrees, 

 but grow faster, when you want to 

 propagate, in 60 degrees. 



METROSIDEROS (BOTTLE BRUSH 

 PLANT). 



This is one of the many hard-wood- 

 ed evergreen shrubs that we get from 

 the Southern Pacific islands. The spe- 

 cies we import is M. robusta, and its 

 peculiar, terminal, densely flowered 



tractive, and a limited number find a 

 ready sale. 



When they arrive soak the ball and 

 then pot firmly and put in a house at 

 about 45 degrees. To bring them in 

 for Easter you must watch them and 

 gradually give them more heat, but 

 not suddenly. Freshly imported 

 plants if forced in much heat, as you 

 can an azalea, will shed their flowers. 



Plants unsold the first spring will 

 be much better and more satisfactory 

 the second year. End of April cut 

 them back to within an inch or two 

 of the old growth and put them into 

 a good heat and keep syringed. They 

 will make a bushy growth with a num- 

 ber of shoots. Early in June plunge 

 them out in the broad sun, well cov- 

 ering their pots, and in the hot weath- 



Bottlc Brush (Metrosideros) trimmed with crimson ribbon, in celluloid basket. 



spike is so like in form to a bottle 

 brush that the popular name is often 

 suggested by people who have never 

 heard it. It has been for many years 

 grown as a cool greenhouse plant, but 

 only within a dozen years have the 

 Europeans been sending us the little, 

 compact bushes that now arrive with 

 our azaleas. The Belgians grow it in 

 peat as they do most hard-wooded 

 plants, but it does very well in good 

 turfy loam with a fourth of leaf-mold. 

 It will root from the young growths 

 in early spring, which can be planted 

 out in good soil end of May. But with 

 tariff included we can get fine plants 

 landed here at a cost that it would be 

 impossible to grow them as good for 

 the same money. 



You don't want a great many of 

 them;> about one to every ten Azalea 

 indica you grow. Plants in 6-inch 

 pots, well flowered and fixed up with 

 a red ribbon, do look novel and at- 



er don't let them suffer for water. In 

 July or earlier mulch the surface of 

 the pots with an inch of half decom- 

 posed cow manure; this will add 

 greatly to their robustness. Bring in 

 before any danger of frost and keep 

 in a temperature of 45 degrees; warm- 

 er if you want them earlier than East- 

 er. These will be far better plants 

 and be much more satisfactory to the 

 purchaser than the newly imported. 



MIGNONETTE (RESEDA 

 ODORATA). 



It is doubtful if there is any plant 

 so universally known or better liked 

 than the mignonette. 



The florist sows it in his garden as 

 soon as the ground is dry, and makes 

 another sowing later, in shallow drills 

 in deep, rich soil. If continuous cut- 

 ting is expected the plants should be 

 thinned out to a few inches apart and 

 watered in dry weather. 



As a cut flower in winter it is a 

 staple article and for that purpose is 

 grown, good, bad and indifferent. To 

 obtain fine spikes that sell by the 

 dozen or hundred it must have a suit- 

 able place and room to grow. 



A solid bed in a light house would 

 without doubt be the best place, but 

 it can be grown on a bench in five or 

 six inches of soil, very well. The soil 

 should be a heavy loam with a fourth 

 of rotten cow manure. A bench where 

 the heat of the pipes would be felt 

 would not be good as the roots like a 

 cool bottom. 



Sow early in August. We put a few 

 seeds in a spot, about one foot apart, 

 and when an inch high thin out to the 

 strongest plant. When a few inches 

 high they will branch from the bot- 

 tom and four or five of the strongest 

 side shoots can be selected; after that 

 keep lateral growths off both the main 

 spike and the side growths. If grown 

 cool it will not want any staking, but 

 if it should it is easily done, as one 

 small stake would support several 

 spikes. 



This mignonette, whether grown for 

 cutting or for pots, must have the 

 fullest possible light and air on all 

 permissible occasions. Light and air 

 and a cool temperature will just make 

 the difference between stout, heavy 

 spikes and thin, spindling ones. You 

 ought to get a good cutting at the 

 holidays and another at Easter. In 

 fact after Christmas you can always 

 cut good spikes. The night tempera- 

 ture should never be over 50 degrees, 

 and I should prefer it when heavy fir- 

 ing is going on to be only 45 degrees. 



There are few plants that will fill 

 the bill more acceptably for an inex- 

 pensive Easter gift than a well grown 

 mignonette. A 4-inch pot will grow 

 a nice plant, but a 5-inch is much bet- 

 ter. For this purpose sow not later 

 than end of August. Sow in the same 

 pots that they are to be sold in. I 

 have been quite successful shifting 

 them from a small pot, and also un- 

 successful. The former is much the 

 safest plan. 



Put a crock and a piece of green 

 moss in the bottom of the pot and fill 

 up solidly with good, fresh loam with 

 a fourth of cow manure; make the 

 soil quite solid. Sow a number of 

 seeds on the surface and cover light- 

 ly. When well up thin out to three 

 strong plants equal distances apart. 

 We pinch the leading shoot out of 

 these plants, which will give you nine 

 or ten nice spikes, which is better 

 than three or four large ones. Keep 

 them in just such a house as you do 

 those growing for cutting and if any 

 preference keep in the coolest end. 



If showing flower too soon stop 

 them, but they should not be pinched 

 for twelve weeks before you want to 

 sell them. A neat stake would be 

 needed for these pots, and perhaps 

 three small stakes is better, just to 

 hold the branches from breaking. 

 Don't attempt to grow mignonette in 

 a dark, ill ventilated house; you will 

 only get weak, spindling stuff. Like 



