THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Bench of Mignonette. 



many other plants the more perfect 

 the light and the more you can give 

 air the less you will hurt with a high- 

 er temperature. 



Mignonette does not like transplant- 

 ing; that is why they are sown on 

 the bench where they are to grow, and 

 in pots in which they are to flower. 



Simple as this plant is to sow out- 

 side as a hardy annual, we always sell 

 a good many plants with other sum- 

 mer flowering plants. For this pur- 

 pose we sow a number of seeds in 3- 

 inch pots on some light bench in early 

 March. Later we thin out to three or 

 four of the strongest and in April 

 plunge them in a mild hot-bed, where 

 by middle of May they are strong, 

 thrifty plants. 



When the mignonette plants are 

 quite small you must watch out for 

 slugs and wood-lice, both of which 

 relish them as fine salad. If you see 

 the small yellow butterfly in your 

 mignonette house in August or Sep- 

 tember get your double-barreled, ham- 

 merless Parker shotgun, or your hat, 

 and annihilate him, or rather her. She 

 flits over the plants depositing a small 

 green egg, which quickly evolves into 

 the green worm, the cabbage worm, 

 which will, if unmolested, soon chew 

 up your young mignonette. 



I have never noticed that tobacco 

 smoke did any harm to the mignon- 

 ette, nor does it need it much. If it 

 gets over the slugs, wood-lice and 

 worms there is no trouble ahead. 



You ought to select the finest spikes 

 and save your own seed. The strain 

 we grow was obtained from Mr. John 

 N. May some years ago, and by selec- 

 tion it is better than when first ob- 

 tained. But mignonette is very like 

 asparagus; it is the growing and rich, 

 heavy soil that makes the giant or 

 colossal qualities; any of the strains 

 are good when well grown. Besides 

 new advertised strains, some standard 



ones are: Bird's Mammoth, Miles' Hy- 

 brid Spiral, Machet, Golden Queen and 

 Machet's Perfection. 



MIMULUS. 



As a boy we thought there were very 

 few plants so beautiful as M. luteus 

 (Monkey Flower). We don't think so 

 now, but its yellow and spotted flower 

 is very attractive. Our hot summers 

 do not suit it planted out. It is often 

 treated as an annual and can be raised 

 from seed sown in early spring. Or it 

 can be kept over winter and propa- 

 gated by cuttings. In a shaded, moist 

 place it will do well planted out, and 

 in a liberal sized pot in a cool house it 

 would thrive, and when well grown its 

 showy flowers will sell it. 



M. moschatus is the common musk 

 plant, which in some cities is a great 

 market plant, but in many of our cities 

 is scarcely ever seen. It also likes to 

 be away from the hot sun. Good light 

 soil and partial shade and moisture 

 suit it well. It can be raised from 

 seed, which is very small and needs no 

 covering, but it is a perennial, and if 

 you have a few plants carried over 

 winter as dormant roots you can 

 shake them out in early March and 

 start growing in a warm greenhouse. 

 As they grow small pieces can be 

 taken and two or three of them put 

 round the edge of a three or four-inch 

 pot, which they will soon cover with 

 their fast creeping growth. In this 

 way you can rapidly make any number 

 of salable pots. They never want the 

 cutting bed. 



MOON FLOWER (IPOMOEA BONA 

 NOX OR NOCTIFLORA). 



This is one of the many evergreen 

 ipomaeas that make us a splendid 

 summer climber. We have seen pic- 

 tures of windmills in Georgia where 



the moon flower had grown to a height 

 of 75 feet. There are many of these 

 ipomaeas that make fine climbers for 

 the conservatory and hothouse, and 

 doubtless could be used out of doors in 

 our summers, but the moon flower is 

 known by all. 



There is the grandiflora type of 

 moon flower with blossoms six to 

 seven inches across, and an improved 

 kind with small flowers, but flowering 

 earlier in the summer. They should 

 not be planted out till danger of frost 

 is past, but as they are always against 

 a fence or trellis can be easily pro- 

 tected from late frosts. 



They are easily raised from seed 

 sown in the greenhouse in March, but 

 a few cuttings can be taken from the 

 small side shoots in September, which 

 root readily. When rooted don't try 

 to grow them fast till early spring, 

 when with more heat they will quick- 

 ly grow and can be increased by cut- 

 tings. 



There is nothing that surpasses the 

 moon flower for rapidity of growth. 

 It makes a perfectly dense screen, and 

 in the evening and until 10 or 11 

 o'clock in the morning is studded with 

 its noble flowers. 



MULCHING. 



This garden term may be new to 

 some beginners, but it represents 

 some very important operations in our 

 business. 



In plants in pots it means with 

 those plunged outside in summer, 

 such as azaleas, acacias, hardy roses, 

 etc., that an inch or less of manure 

 and soil, or all manure, is put on the 

 surface of the pot. Sometimes chem- 

 ical fertilizers are added to the com- . 

 post. Its purpose is two-fold. It feeds 

 the roots and encourages them to 

 come to the surface, which they do, 

 feeding on the mulch which is ap- 

 plied, and it prevents the hot sun from 

 parching the soil, which necessitates 

 such frequent watering. The good ef- 

 fects of an inch of cow manure ap- 

 plied to azaleas this past July 

 plunged in the broad sun have been 

 most marked. It is sometimes done 

 inside, where plants cannot be shifted, 

 but when the roots need more nour- 

 ishment. 



On plants in beds, such as roses and 

 carnations, it is a most important op- 

 eration. The soil is shallow and the 

 application of half an inch of manure 

 or a rich compost containing bone dust 

 or sheep manure is the greatest help 

 to them. And in spring the mulching 

 on our beds has the same effect as 

 that on the pots in summer; it pre- 

 vents evaporation. 



Not so much to encourage growth as 

 to save the lives of trees and shrubs 

 that are recently planted, mulching is 

 of the greatest benefit to all trees and 

 shrubs that are planted the previous 

 fall or present spring. It has saved 

 the lives of millions of young trees. 

 In dry weather a freshly planted tree 

 needs water, however scientifically you 

 have planted it, and to water on the 



