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Apbil 20, 1916. 



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The Florists' Review 



17 



weather, the days are lengthening 

 rapidly and on clear days the sun's 

 ray-s are strong. It is not a good policy 

 to shade any more than is absolutely 

 necessary on such tough-leaved subjects 

 as cattleyas and Iselias. In fact, where 

 these are being grown in an old house 

 with heavy wooden rafters, they need 

 only light shading even in summer, 

 provided they have plenty of ventila- 

 tion, a thing absolutely necessary on 

 all possible occasions for the successful 

 cultivation of cattleyas. Let the shad- 

 ing be light as yet. Kerosene and 

 white lead, if made quite thin, can be 

 spread on the roof with a force pump, 

 or, where the houses are small and a 

 neater appearance is wanted, a white- 

 wash brush on a long handle may be 

 used. Practically all orchids will be 

 benefited by a light shade from early 

 April on. During dark weather this is 

 a disadvantage, but wooden roller 

 shades are too expensive for the aver- 

 age commercial grower. 



Cattleya Triause. 



Most of the plants of Cattleya 

 Trianse have now finished blooming, 

 and necessary repotting or basketing 

 should be done as soon as possible. 

 Large plants which hang over the sides 

 of their receptacles will be better if 

 carefully divided. Medium to small 

 plants are, on the whole, preferable to 

 large specimens. Always drain effi- 

 ciently and pot firmly, using fern fiber 

 of a somewhat coarser texture than 

 that used for such orchids as odonto- 

 glossums, nliltonias and oncidiums. 



Cattleya Schroederse. 



Cattleya Schroederse follows C. 

 Trianae and has been or is at its best. 

 Its pale color does not seem to be 

 liked so well in the markets as C. 

 labiata, Trianee or Mossise, but no other 

 variety of any size can be flowered at 

 this' season, unless it be one of certain 

 hybrids, which are far beyond the limit 

 of the average purse. "While some C. 

 Schroederse have sepals and petals 

 netrif pure wMte, an^ while a percent- 

 age of perfectly white flovirers will 

 appear in newly imported stock there 

 are quite a few with a good deal of 

 color in them, so much so that they are 

 sometimes mistaken for C. Trianse. C. 

 Schroederae succeeds well at the warm 

 end of the cattleya house. 



Cattleya Moasiae. 



A few Cattleya Mossite, the late 

 spring or early summer cattleya, have 

 bloomed and some good specimens 

 recently were seen at the Philadel- 

 piiia and New York shows. It is an 

 inexpensive orchid, quijte fioriferous, 

 and the large, attractive flowers sell 

 well in the markets. Some forms are 

 so large that they are fully equal to 

 the best C. gigas, besides possessing 

 more substance and having greatet 

 keeping qualities than that variety. 

 Florists who have space for a few cat- 

 tleyas should try a few newly imported 

 C. Mossiae, which may be expected to 

 arrive in May, unless the war calls for 

 vessels now engaged in the South 

 American trade. 



Csrmbidiums. 



All the cymbidiums carry attractive 

 flowers. The best known are C. iLowia- 

 num and C. eburneum, the hybrids be- 

 tween these two species, C. Traceya- 

 num, C. insigne, or Sanderi, C. Qottia- 



num and others, all well worth growing. 

 The flowers of this genus have wonder- 

 ful lasting properties. I have kept 

 C. Lowianum for four months and some 

 other species are almost as durable. 

 Cymbidiums are terrestrial orchids and 

 must never be allowed to become dry 

 at the root. Being vigorous in habit, 

 they require tolerably large pots and 

 succeed better in a compost of fern 

 fiber alone. C. Lowianum does well 

 in loam alone, with some lumpy char- 

 coal and a few bits of dried cow ma- 

 nure added. AH members of the family 

 require a liberal water supply through 

 the growing season, and liquid manure 



D. nobile is easily propagated here and, 

 if we stop importing it, it will be pos- 

 sible to develop an ample stock of 

 young plants from old pseudo-bulbs 

 cut into short lengths and laid on 

 sphagnum moss in a warm, moist house. 



GOOD EASTEB STOCK. 



There never is any trouble selling 

 good stock; such difficulty as is en- 

 countered comes in selling poor stuflf — 

 and in making it stay sold. Alfred M. 

 Barton, of Weston, Ont., who does 

 wholesale as well as retail business, ap- 

 preciates this fact and he strives for 



Easter Lilies at A. M. Barton's, Weston, Ontario. 



win benefit well rooted plants, provided 

 it is given in moderately weak doses. 



Odontoglossums. 



Many of the odontoglossums have 

 bloomed or now are in bloom. Be 

 sure to protect th^ flowers from the 

 attacks of stt^U snails as sodn as they 

 are visible, using a piece of cotton-wool 

 wrapped below the spike. Plants which 

 have been wintering in a sunny house 

 should now have, if possible, a house 

 with a northern exposure; a lean-to 

 somewhat sunken and facing due north 

 is an ideal location for most of the 

 members of this genus in the hot 

 months. O. crispum is far the best 

 species. This is the most popular or- 

 chid in Europe, far exceeding the cat- 

 tleya in that respect. There are a few 

 odontoglossums, including grande, cit- 

 rosmum, Uro-Skinneri, Bossii majus, 

 pulchellum and Edwardi, which suc- 

 ceed well at the cool end of the cattleya 

 house if given a little more summer 

 shade than the cattleyas. 



Deudrobiums. 



When Dendrobium nobile, D. War- 

 dianum and the many hybrids with 

 nobile blood in them have finished flow- 

 ering, they should be repotted where 

 necessary. In many cases a top-dress- 

 ing of fern fiber and sphagnum moss 

 will suffice; then place the pots in a 

 warm, moist house for the summer. 

 Owing to the European war, we are 

 unlikely to receive any dendrobiums 

 this year. All come from the East 

 Indies, and, unless a few should come 

 via San Francisco, we are unlikely to 

 get any new stock until the war is over. 



quality rather than quantity produc- 

 tion. An idea of his degree of success 

 can be obtained by an inspection of 

 the accompanying illustration. 



SHAKESPEABE TERCENTENARY. 



C. C. Case, of the Dial-Garden Green- 

 house, I*rairie du Chien, Wis., is a stu- 

 dent of Shakespeare, the three-hun- 

 dredth anniversary of whose death falls 

 on the same date as Easter, April 23. 

 The following shows how Mr. Case 

 links the two in his advertising: 



DEAD 300 YEARS— STILL LIVES. 



There is something suggestive In the coinci- 

 dence that the three-hundredth anniversary of the 

 death of Shakespeare comes at Easter this year. 

 His genius is a continual resurrection. Upon 

 the garden dial was inscribed what we consider 

 the most inspired trinity of suggestive and beau- 

 tiful phrases ever penned in any language ezcCDt 

 Holy Scripture: 



"Man must endure his going hence, even 

 as his coming hither — Ripeness Is all." 



The rock of the dial structure won't last long. 

 But as long as language lasts these particular 

 phrases will live as the most exquisite verbal 

 expression of profound speculative philosophy and 

 the only actual conclusion reached in all the ages. 

 All gardens tell the same story in their own lan- 

 guage. Ever so many of the many flowers which 

 Shakespeare weaves, by mention, into the gar- 

 lands of his verse, grow, in season, about this 

 dial inscription of his composition. And we 

 have many of them in bloom now in the green- 

 house near at hand. You will want some of them 

 now and at Blaster, for many reasons, perhaps 

 partly in remembrance of the immortal "Bard of 

 Avon." 



DIAL-GARDEN GREENHOUSE. 

 Easter Plants Cut Flowers Floral Designs. 



Evansville, Ind. — Reports from grow- 

 ers here and at neighboring centers in 

 Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee indi- 

 cate that the peony crop has not been 

 injured by the cold weather recently 

 experienced and that the crop will be 

 the largest thus far shipped from this 

 section. 



