16 



The Florists' Review 



Dbcbmbbb 28, 1916. 



waterings with manure water should be 

 made from the time the flowers show 

 buds until they show color. L. 



GETTING BEADY FOB SPBING. 



In the south it is none too soon to 

 sow seeds of all kinds of bedding plants, 

 «uch as verbenas, phloxes, petunias, 

 vincas, marigolds, etc. Sow the seeds 

 in flats, in soil made light with leaf- 

 mold, and give the flats a temperature 

 of 56 to 60 degrees at night. When the 

 growths are well up the temperature 

 may be reduced to 50 to 52 degrees, 

 The vincas, rosea and alba, will require 

 a higher temperature, say 65 degrees at 

 night, to germinate, and until spring is 

 at hand the plants must be kept going 

 at the same temperature, if good-sized 

 plants are wanted at planting-out time. 



Early rooted geraniums now may 

 want a shift to 3-inch pots, and many 

 of them probably will yield cuttings. 

 These plants do not want over 52 de- 

 grees at night. In many sections of 

 the south they only require a coldframe, 

 with sash protection during extremely 

 cool weather. 



Sow quite a few seeds of Maurandia 



Barclaiana for vines. If these are in- 

 troduced once, they will prove great 

 sellers next season. Feverfew seeds 

 may be sown now and produce good lit- 

 tle plants to set out in spring. When 

 handled this way, these plants will 

 bloom practically all summer. They are 

 excellent flowers for designs. Snap- 

 dragons, similarly handled, give equally 

 good results planted out in the open. 

 Great quantities of the plants are used 

 for bedding in private gardens. L. 



ANOTHEB MEBRY CHBISTMAS. 



The accompanying illustration was 

 prepared from a photograph made De- 

 cember 15 at the establishment of Baur 

 & Steinkamp, Indianapolis. "When we 

 came to selecting a name for this seed- 

 ling," says A. F. J. Baur, "it occurred 

 to us that any grower who possessed a 

 house of this variety would in all prob- 

 ability be able to spend a right Merry 

 Christmas and so why not name it just 

 that? Eed being the Christmas color, 

 too, the name seems doubly appropri- 

 ate." The illustration would indicate 

 that Baur & Steinkamp probably en- 

 joyed the holiday. 



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Bambler Boses. 



A batch of well ripened rambler roses 

 ■can be started now, preferably such as 

 were pot-grown through the summer or 

 were potted in early fall. It will be bet- 

 ter to start the more recently potted 

 ones at a later date. Cut out any dead 

 and weak wood and bend over the long 

 canes to make them break more evenly. 

 Do not give the plants much heat at 

 the start; a night temperature of 45 to 

 50 degrees will suffice until the plants 

 have made breaks; then advance the 

 temperature 5 degrees. Spray the plants 

 freely until shoots have started, then 

 discontinue it, except to keep the plants 

 •clear of red spider. Tausendschon and 

 Baby Tausendschon, with others of the 

 baby rambler class, are the best for 

 <?arly forcing. 



Bouvardias. 



Except the beautiful, pure white Bou- 

 vardia Humboldtii, the bouvardias are 

 best when propagated from root cut- 

 tings. Use the thickest roots, cut these 

 in short pieces and place them in a warm 

 cutting bench where they can be just 

 covered with sand. B. Humboldtii can 

 be propagated from either cuttings or 

 roots. The best plan is to rest a few 

 plants for a few weeks, then place them 

 in heat, previously having headed them 

 back. By this method a fine crop of 

 succulent cuttings can be had that will 

 root with the greatest ease. 



Gloxinias. 



If you want an early batch of glox- 

 inias, start some of the tubers in flats 

 containing a little clean sand. Damp 

 the tubers only moderately. When 

 growths have started nicely and before 

 the roots become too matted, pot them, 

 using a compost of one-half well rotted 



pasture loam and one-fourth each of 

 well decayed manure and leaf-mold, with 

 a good dash of sand added. Give the 

 plants a temperature of 58 to 60 degrees 

 at night and avoid all overhead 

 syringing. 



The Propagating Bench. 



Now that we have steadily cold 

 weather, we can depend on a uniform 

 temperature in the cutting benches, and 

 advantage should be taken of this to 



get in good supplies of cuttings of all 



kinds needed. If you have not yet put 

 in begonias, do so at. once. Leaf cut- 

 tings are by far the best for Gloire de 

 Lorraine, Glory of Cincinnati, Florence 

 Davenport, Melior, Mrs. J. A. Peterson 

 and others of this class. Cut off a good 

 piece of leaf stalk; the young plants 

 start from the base of the stalks. They 

 make better plants than those propa- 

 gated from cuttings, which are notf ob- 

 tainable until much later in the season. 

 Plants of the English winter-blooming 

 section also propagate readily from 

 leaves. This includes B. Mrs. Heal, op- 

 tima, aureana, Winter Cheer, etc. 

 Gloire de Chatelaine, like all of the 

 Vernon and Erf ordii section, comes most 

 readily from cuttings, but can also be 

 grown from seeds. 



In the warm propagating bench such 

 subjects as crotons, draca;nas, pandanus, 

 acalyphas, ficus, coleus, alternantheras, 

 heliotropes, etc., can be rooted, while in 

 the cooler bench, where a temperature of 

 60 degrees in the sand is maintained, 

 such plants as carnations, chrysanthe- 

 mums, ericas, genistas, English ivies, 

 vincas and many others can be rooted. 

 Be sure to use clean, sharp sand and see 

 that there is proper drainage below, so 

 that water will pass away quickly. 



Spirseasr 



Spiraeas were a little later than usual 

 in arriving this season. We always lay 

 our plants in a coldfr<aine and subject 

 them to one or two fre&ings before pot- 

 ting. This makes them start more 

 evenly and more rapidly. A batch can 

 be placed in heat now. It is best to use 

 such varieties as Gladstone, astilboides 

 and the old Japonica for the earliest 

 forcing, leaving the pink and lavender 

 varietiesviintil a later date. Some con- 

 cerns now carry cold storage spiraeas, 

 and by using these it is easily possible 

 to get plants in fine bloom for Christmas, 

 or, in fact, at any time during the year. 



Canterbury Bells. 



Canterbury bells will not stand any 

 hard forcing. A night temperature of 

 50 degrees should not be exceeded at 

 any time. Start a batch now in a cold 

 house. If the clumps are large, be care- 



Bench of Merry Christmas Carnation Photographed December i5, I9I6. 



