

NOVEMBKE 30, 1916. 



'Yht Florists* Review 



21 



watering must be done carefully. 

 Liquid manure can be used until the 

 bracts are half developed; then discon- 

 tinue its use, or the bracts will become 

 soft and will lose some of their bril- 

 liancy. 



Azaleas for the Holidays. 



Such azaleas as are wanted for 

 Christmas should have their buds well 

 advanced before being placed in heat; 

 then they need plenty of syringing and 

 atmospheric moisture. Such varieties 

 as Mme. Petrick, Hexe and Deutsche 

 Perle are good Christmas standbys. A 

 short time ago it seemed doubtful 

 whetlier any azaleas would reach this 

 country in time for the holidays, but 

 recently they have come to hand in 

 large numbers and in good condition. 

 Carried-over plants will have the buds 

 better made up than^the imported ones 

 and, while they may not have so good 

 a color, will usually bloom much more 

 profusely. 



Snapdragons for Spring Crop. 



Perhaps you would like to grow a' 

 bench or two of snapdragons for a 

 spring crop. In such a case, now is 

 the time to sow seeds of such good 

 varieties as Silver Pink, Nelrose or 

 Virginia, in pink, and of a good inter- 

 mediate white, these being the best 

 selling colors. Of course you can root 

 cuttings also, but you will find that 

 seedlings possess far more vigor and a 

 small percentagt^ only will fail to come 

 true to color. A space 10x10 inches 

 is ample for these snapdragons when 

 benched. Pink is far and away the 

 best selling color. Next comes white, 

 with a smaller call still for yellow and 

 scarlet. We have not yet secured a 

 true winter-blooming pink snapdragon, 

 one which will flower like Phelps' 

 White, but we are bound to get it 

 before long. 



Keeping Bulbs Outdoors. 



By long odds the best storage place 

 for all Dutch bulbs is a good cold cel- 

 lar, or they will do well in coldframes 

 where sashes can be used when severe 

 weather arrives and where a coating 

 of dry leaves, straw or hay placed 

 above the flats or pans will help to 

 exclude frost. Although a little frost 

 will not do any particular harm, still 

 it may break earthenware receptacles 

 and would better be excluded. A good 

 many growers still prefer to keep their 

 stock outdoors. In such cases be sure 

 the location is a well drained one and 

 see that water is well supplied as long 

 as good weather lasts. Then cover 

 with soil or coal ashes and, as the 

 weather becomes more severe, use hay, 

 straw or leaves to exclude the frost. 

 It is not tbe most pleasant of jobs, 

 digging out these bulbs in winter, and 

 mild days must always be selected for 

 the work. I have found that bulbs 

 stored in a good cold cellar do as well 

 as those kept outdoors, and can be 

 flowered even later. 



Bulb and Perennial Beds. 



It is not a good plan to mulch bulb 

 beds until the ground is frozen fairly 

 hard. A mulch is given, not to keep 

 the bulbs warm, as many imagine, but 

 rather to hold some frost in and check 

 their top growths during winter. If 

 bulbs are buried under leaves or some 

 other dry mulch while the ground still 

 is soft, growth will continue right 

 through the winter, and in spring it 



A Comer in WarendorfPst in the Ansonia Hotel, New York. 



will be a hard job to uncover the beds 

 without breaking shoots. Furthermore, 

 mice and other rodents often raise 

 havoc in winter if the ground below 

 the mulch is soft. 



Hardy perennials should have a 

 mulch of coarse, strawy manure, which 

 is less likely to be blown away than a 

 lighter mulch. Canterbury bells, fox- 

 gloves, sweet Williams, pansies, violas, 

 myosotis and daisies need to be stored 



in coldframes in some cold sections, but 

 I have found that a mulch of dry 

 leaves, with a scattering of old manure 

 over it to prevent its being blown 

 away, carries them through in fine con- 

 dition, even if we get an occasional 

 minimum of 20 degrees below zero. 

 Merely enough leaves or straw should 

 be given to cover the plants; a heavy 

 covering will cause both foxgloves and 

 Canterbury bells to rot. 



NOTES FRQM FOREIGN I^NDS 



Ghent, Belgium. — Azaleas will cost 

 more in 1917. In the first place, every- 

 thing does; in the second place, labor 

 is scarce; in the third place, every en- 

 couragement is given to the production 

 of food crops; in the fourth place, there 

 is less than a normal quantity of young 

 stock coming on, so that the larger 

 commercial sizes are almost sure to be 

 in light supply for several years. 



Bath, England. — The embargo on val- 

 ley pips of every origin has created a 

 demand for an English supply and the 

 industry of pip production is under in- 

 vestigation to see if it can be made 

 permanently profitable, as it takes three 

 years to turn a crop. It has developed 

 that Walter Ware, of Bath, has had 

 considerable experience in growing val- 

 ley pips for his own forcing and now 

 has a limited supply of home produc- 

 tion. 



Lisse, Holland. — J. J. Grullemans & 

 Sons are responsible for the statement, 

 with regard to bulbs in general, that 

 prices of the cheaper sorts are advanc- 

 ing considerably. Stocks are low, as 

 many growers threw away large quan- 

 tities of bulbs the first year of the 

 war, and a big bulk has been used for 

 food. Humanity did not take kindly 

 to "tulip bread," but Messrs. Grulle- 

 mans say that cows fed on tulips and 

 crocus give an abundance of milk of 

 the finest quality. Daffodils cannot be 

 utilized in this way, being slightly pois- 

 onous, so they are a dead loss when not 

 salable. 



Paris, France. — A trial of new roses 

 will take place in the park of Baga- 

 telle in 1917 and 1918, as in previous 

 years, the plants, as far as possible, to 

 be raised in pots, and at least five of 

 each variety sent before April 15, 1917. 

 A notice must be appended as to their 



.iiV. 



