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14 



The Florists^ Review 



Mat 11, 1916. 



their nakedness. So quietly and effec- 

 tively does Nature do her work. 



One interpretation of her method is 

 as follows: The leaves, like the stom- 

 ach of man after a certain amount of 

 digestion and assimilation has taken 

 place, contain a residue of waste mate- 

 rial which must be removed. If it is 

 not removed, improper functioning will 

 be the result and eventually death. It 

 would seem that the maximum capacity 

 of the leaves to take care of waste mat- 

 ter is for six months. After that length 

 of time assistance must be given. In 

 ^ the natural scheme of life, spring and 

 summer, with their congenial atmos- 

 pheres, are the periods in which vege- 

 tative life expands to its utmost ca- 

 pacity and discharges all of its obli- 

 gations to man. Then the great cleans- 

 ing of the system must take place. 

 Autumn comes to the rescue. Cold sup- 

 plants the heat of summer. The soil 

 in which the roots of plants reside is 

 affected. The chill decreases the abil- 

 ity of the roots to imbibe sufficient 

 moisture to nourish the cells of the 

 leaves. A general contraction and with- 

 drawal of the vital elements takes 

 place, for nature is economical and 

 will not allow the organized compounds 

 in the leaf cells to be wasted. The 

 . escape of moisture by transpiration 

 through the leaves is greater than the 

 intake, with the result that protoplasm 

 and all stored up organized materials 

 contained in the leaves are withdrawn 

 to the stems and branches, leaving 

 nothing but waste material in the cells 

 of the leaves, which subsequently fall 

 and thereby consummate the cleansing. 



Wholesome and Adequate Best. 



The materials withdrawn from the 

 leaves are concentrated at the points 

 from which expansion will take placo 

 under the beneficial influences of spring 

 environment, and so the continuity of 

 life is provided for. 



That is the program that must be 

 followed by the grower of roses if he 

 desires to secure maximum success from 

 carried-over plants. No halfway meas- 

 ures will be acceptable to nature, even 

 if proof of their efficacy is offered by 

 growers who have derived a measure 

 of success from their application. The 

 inexorable decree of nature is, that 

 plants must have a period of rest. Difi- 

 ferences as to individual interpretation 

 of that law will not obtain. Rest is 

 essential to life and a complete rest 

 must be had. There is as much differ- 

 ence between partial rest and complete 

 rest in plants, when results are consid- 

 ered, as there is between a fretful, nerv- 

 ous sleep, indulged in sometimes by 

 man, and the wholesome, 8-hour, tissue- 

 repairing sleep he should have. As the 

 man will arise from the fretful sleep 

 in a fatigued condition, so will the 

 plant awaken from a partial rest. 



Under Artificial Conditions. 



Let us in fancy apply nature 's 

 method to rose plants which are grown 

 under artifi.cial conditions in green- 

 houses, and which are to be carried 

 over for another season. In outside 

 plants the maximum degree of growth 

 is achieved just prior to autumn. There- 

 fore roses in greenhouses should be in 

 full crop prior to the drying off. The 

 foliage should be abundant and entire- 

 ly free from mildew and red spider. In 

 outside plants the sleep or drying off 

 is produced by a decrease in the mois- 

 ture imbibition of the roots. Likewise 



in greenhouse-grown plants moisture 

 must be |^adually withheld from the 

 roots. This decrease in moisture supply 

 in both cases will cause a withdrawal 

 of the vital contents of leaf cells to 

 the points where eyes are located on 

 stem and branches, where future growth 

 will spring forth. Defoliation will fol- 

 low these changes in both cases, and, 

 when the plants are thoroughly rested, 

 activity will commence again of its own 

 accord, in outside plants this resump- 

 tion of activity is timed to occur in 

 the spring, while in greenhouse-grown 

 roses it will occur after sufficient rest. 

 Ample moisture in the root regions 

 must then be afforded, and forthwith 

 growth will start off with great vigor. 

 To supplement the foregoing natural 

 methods, a rose grower adhering to the 

 following program, with only necessary 

 deviations to meet local exigencies, will 

 be sure to be successful in carrying 

 roses over from year to year. 



Ripening the Wood. 



When starting to dry off the plants 

 about the beginning of June, decrease 

 the water applications to once a week 

 for the first two weeks. After that, do 



not water again for ten or twelve days, 

 and then not again for two weeks; after 

 that, not again until right befose prun- 

 ing, unless local conditions demand it. 

 By this time defoliation should be rap- 

 idly taking place and the wood slowly 

 ripening. Great watchfulness should at 

 all times be exercised to guard against 

 too rapid drying. This condition may 

 be discerned by a withering of the 

 bark of the flower stems and a burning 

 of the foliage. Water should be ap- 

 plied to spots where the plants are 

 showing tendencies to become so afflict- 

 ed, and care should be taken that the 

 condition is ameliorated, for, if it is al- 

 lowed to become general, great damage 

 to the plants will result. 



The time required for a proper dry- 

 ing is from six to eight weeks, and at 

 the end of that time the plants should 

 be almost entirely defoliated and the 

 eyes should be swelling. If such is the 

 case, they are now ready to be pruned 

 and awakened. If all details have 

 been properly carried out, the plants 

 will rapidly respond to increased water 

 applications and will give, in return for 

 the care exercised, maximum produc- 

 tivity and disease resistance. 



I THE RETAIL -^^^ | 



FLORIST I 



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LIABILITY OF TELEPHONE CO. 



The florist who looks to efficient tele- 

 phone service as a means of bringing 

 business to his establishment will be 

 interested to hear that a Nebraska 

 court has decided that a telephone com- 

 pany is liable for loss sustained by a 

 subscriber through its omission of his 

 name and number from the telephone 

 directory. Although the case is a novel 

 one as to facts, so far as court records 

 go, the legal principle upon which it 

 rests is old — the principle that one who 

 breaks a business contract is liable for 

 all damages, sustained by the other 

 party as a natural consequence of the 

 breach. The ordinary telephone serv- 



ice contract binds the telephone com- 

 pany to maintain the subscriber's name 

 and address in directories issued by the 

 company, and breach of such obliga- 

 tion certainly is a serious matter to a 

 florist, especially in a large city, where 

 extensive business depends upon repre- 

 sentation in a telephone directory. 



S. 



VIOLET ROSE IN THE OECHID. 



The accompanying illustration gives 

 an excellent idea of the interior of the 

 Orchid Flower Shop at Easter. The 

 Orchid Flower Shop is one of the many 

 enterprises of J. J. Habermehl's Sons, 

 Philadelphia. It adjoins Kugler's res- 



Miss Violet RoK Is Manager of Habermehrs Orchid Shop, Philadelphia. 



