24 



The Florists' Review 



Makch 8, 1917. 



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Canterbury Bells. 



The earliest batch of Canterbury bells 

 has spikes twelve to fifteen inches in 

 height. These are grown in a carnation 

 temperature, which is as warm as Can- 

 terbury bells will succeed in. Great care 

 is necessary during the winter and early 

 spring to water moderately and never to 

 wet the foliage any more than is really 

 necessary. If the plants are kept moder- 

 ately dry at the roots until the end of 

 March, there will be little trouble from 

 rot, but if kept steadily damp at the 

 roots, whole plants sometimes will rot 

 away. This fact is not sufficiently ap- 

 preciated, and until it is there will be 

 many disappointments for those who 

 grow these beautiful plants under glass. 

 About the middle of March make a sow- 

 ing of seed for next season. The singles 

 are the best to grow, and pure white, 

 pink and mauve ^re the more desirable 

 colors. The doubles and hose-in-hose va- 

 rieties are too heavy and need too much 

 staking. 



Asters. 



Make a generous sowing of early as- 

 ters for outdoor planting now. There is 

 no better variety than Queen of the 

 Market, and white, pink and lavender 

 are the only colors that have much of a 

 sale, with white selling the best. Do not 

 sow the seeds too thickly in the flats, 

 and as soon as they are germinated give 

 them a light position on a shelf, where 

 they will be kept stocky. When of suf- 

 ficient size, prick them off into flats. 

 Shade the seedlings for a few days and 

 be sure to keep them well up to the 

 glass. Allowing the seedlings to become 

 crowded in the seed flats and delaying 

 transplanting so long that, in order to 

 firm the plants properly, the stems must 

 be more or less buried, is the surest way 

 to develop stem-rot. The rot may not ap- 

 pear right away, but a wet spell after 

 the plants are in the field will soon make 

 them show signs of distress. Outdoor- 

 sown asters are much less subject to 

 stem-rot than those started under glass. 



Buddleia Asiatica. 



Buddleia Asiatica is one of the most 

 valuable winter-flowering plants sent out 

 for some years. It can be had in fine 

 bloom as early as the beginning of De- 

 cember by giving the plants a night tem- 

 perature of 50 to 52 degrees, or by hold- 

 ing the plants a little above freezing 

 they can be retarded until March. They 

 are so easy to grow that it would pay 

 every florist who sells pot plants to try 

 a few. In addition, the cut flowers have 

 considerable value. From outback plants 

 a crop of nice cuttings will now be avail- 

 able. These will root in a fortnight and, 

 if potted on from time to time and given 

 one or two pinches, they will make splen- 

 did, bushy stock in 8-inch pots before 

 fall. They are better if grown outdoors 

 during summer, plunged to the brims, 

 and need much water and doses of liquid 

 manure when the pots are well filled with 

 active roots. 



Calceolarias. 



Calceolarias make their best growth 

 during the coldest months of the year. 

 They need to be grown cool. They will 

 simply not tolerate any coddling; a tem- 

 perature a few degrees above fr3ezing 

 suits them. If grown warmer they are 

 simply worried by green aphides and fu- 

 migation once a week is necessary to 

 keep them absolutely clean. Now that 

 the plants are nicely established in their 

 blooming pots, give them occasional 

 doses of liquid cow or sheep manure. 

 Before the flower shoots are too far ad- 

 vanced, use as supports one or two light, 

 neat stakes in each pot. This is neces- 

 sary both with the herbaceous and 

 rugosa sections, which are equally brit- 

 tle. The sun has not yet sufficient power 

 to affect them, but about the middle of 



March a light shade from direct sun- 

 shine will be found necessary. 



Marguerites. 



Take a batch of cuttings now from 

 any of the white or yellow varieties of 

 marguerites if you want nice plants for 

 spring sales. The white variety, Mrs. 

 Sander, is especially good for outdoor 

 planting and piazza boxes. It blooms 

 persistently and the flowers in summer 

 nearly all come double. Plants of the 

 white varieties propagated between now 

 and the early part of April and grown 

 along in pots will make fine plants for 

 blooming early next winter. It is pos- 

 sible to have plants in full bloom for 

 Thanksgiving or Christmas by discon- 

 tinuing pinching twelve weeks before 

 the plants are wanted. The leaf miner 

 is often troublesome on marguerite fo- 

 liage. It can be killed by spraying the 

 plants with a nicotine solution. One 

 spraying carefully given will kill every 

 worm. 



Leavenworth, Kan. — G. Eozendal, 

 whose specialties are fruits, vegetables 

 and greenhouse lettuce, has been so well 

 pleased with what is known as the 

 ' ' Dandy ' ' transplanting carrying pot 

 that he has applied for a patent on it 

 and plans to put it on the market. 



St. Petersburg, Fla. — Among recent 

 visitors here have been J. W. Davis, of 

 Terre Haute, Ind., and George Sykes, of 

 Chicago. 



Winston-Salem, N. C— After a year 

 in the employ of W. Morgenroth, J. H. 

 Shine has resigned to become a member 

 of the Wertz Floral Shop staff, at Koa- 

 noke. 



Ennis, Tex. — The Dunlap greenhouse 

 here was heavily damaged by hail Feb- 

 ruary 22. Hailstones six to seven inches 

 in circumference fell in the town proper 

 and caused a loss estimated at $20,000. 



GreeneviUe, Tenn. — The firm name of 

 the GreeneviUe Floral Co. has been 

 changed to Khea Floral Co. The change 

 was made necessary because people con- 

 fused the name GreeneviUe with many 

 local industries and because other towns 

 in various states bear the same name. 



De Land, Fla. — E. A. Kuhnke, who was 

 for many years in the florists' business 

 at Toledo, 0., where he is said to have 

 accumulated a competence, since selling 

 out has made his residence here, where 

 he is not engaged in the trade, but 

 takes a strong interest in things horti- 

 cultural. 



Oakman, Ga. — An Atlanta daily re- 

 cently published a lengthy write-up of 

 Mrs. Julian Hurt, wife of Julian Hurt, 

 owner of the Eockdale Seed Farm. Mrs. 

 Hurt owns and successfully manages a 

 sheep ranch near Cartersville, while her 

 husband undertakes the less strenuous 

 work of growing grain seeds. 



Denison, Tex. — Losses of glass by 

 hail were severe here on the evening 

 of February 22, according to a local 

 daily. It is said that one range was 

 practically destroyed. 



Albany, Ga. — J. P. Metzger, of At- 

 lanta, has been chosen superintendent 

 of parks here, to succeed E. C. Orr, Jr. 

 Mr. Metzger has done landscape gar- 

 dening in Virginia and New Jersey. Mr. 

 Orr will open a nursery and greenhouse 

 here. 



Pass Christian, Miss. — J. B. Adams & 

 Son, in sending out a price list of season- 

 able stock, enclose a slip stating: "We 

 are giving a small plant absolutely free 

 of charge to each person who visits our 

 greenhouses during the month of March. 

 Everybody invited. Come and get 

 yours." 



Brunswick, Ga. — With respect to his 

 recent tour of inspection, David Grif- 

 fiths, the Department of Agriculture's 

 bulb expert, told a reporter: "1 visited 

 the bulb farms of C. S. Tait, who devotes 

 all his spare time to raising narcissus 

 bulbs. On his farm he has planted 75,- 

 000 of one variety and 50,000 of an- 

 other. I also visited Mr. Tait's bulb 

 farm at New Hope, where he has planted 

 nearly 200,000 bulbs, and his success 

 convinces me you are missing a great 

 opportunity by not taking advantage of 

 your superior soil. Glynn county is to 

 be congratulated on having a citizen of 

 Mr. Tait 's type. Although it is a hobby 

 with him, he has demonstrated the bulbs 

 can be grown here successfully." 



