224 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



capillary attraction. Hence it follows 

 that the deeper we have plowed or 

 dug, or the more we have broken up 

 the subsoil, the better will the law of 

 capillary attraction benefit the plant. 

 So there is a more uniform moisture 

 at the root than you think, even in 

 the dryest time. 



All this benefit is of course cut off 

 entirely in cultivating in pots and on 

 bench. 



Have you ever noticed where a drain 

 or sewer was laid four feet deep in a 

 stiff clay the grass for years over the 

 drain will be green in the dryest time, 

 because by the disturbance and break- 

 ing up of the soil capillary attraction 

 is helped? 



The sub-watering experiments on 

 our benches is yet too new for me to 

 enter into, and our trade papers have 

 given full accounts of the methods. 

 Something practical may be yet evolv- 

 ed by our learned professors. 



In conclusion you should keep one 

 man watering one house. He may 

 water half a dozen, but if it is the 

 same man and he is a gardener he 

 will remember the condition that he 

 left the plants on the previous day, 



Zinnias* 



and will know just about what will 

 want it the next. A good, intelligent, 

 faithful waterer is as valuable a man 

 as you have on your place. 



ZINNIA. 



The annual zinnias are the only ones 

 in which the florist is interested. With 

 selection and culture, they are now 

 among the handsomest of our annuals 

 for the border, and in certain places 

 a whole bed of them, in many shades, 

 is very striking. 



They are very easy to grow and need 

 only the ordinary treatment given 

 many other annuals, except that no 

 frost must ever touch them while in a, 

 cold-frame. Sow from the middle to 

 the end of March, and when an inch 

 high transplant into flats two inches 

 apart. By the middle of April a cold- 

 frame is the right place for them. 

 Plant in beds or borders after there is 

 no danger of frost. 



They are strong, rampant growers, 

 and should have plenty of room; 

 eighteen inches to two feet apart is 

 close enough. They sho'uld have a well 

 tilled piece of ground and will then 



stand our hot, and often dry, sum- 

 mers better than most of our summer 

 flowering plants. 



While the zinnia well deserves a 

 place in the flower garden, it is the 

 most unpopular of all flowers for even 

 the cheapest sort of a bouquet. The 

 poorest purchaser does not want them 

 at any price. We have noticed this so 

 often that we never cut them, however 

 short of cheap flowers we may be. 

 This proves that there is an uncon- 

 scious taste for the' artistic, even 

 among the most lowly. The zinnia is 

 so absolutely regular in form, stiff and 

 formal, one flower being exactly like 

 another, that the eye rebels against 

 it. In a bunch of roses, carnations, or 

 almost any other flower, no two are 

 precisely alike, but the zinnias look as 

 though they all came out of one 

 mould. Then again, the stem is so 

 rigid that while it is all right on the 

 plant, it detracts from the flower when 

 cut. 



Grow zinnias to make your border 

 gay, but don't offer the cut flowers to 

 your customers. We raise quantities 

 every year and sell the young plants 

 from the flats at 25 cents per dozen. 



