22 



The Florists' Review 



January 11, 1917. 



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SEASONABLE m 

 Mf SUGGESTIONS 



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Callas. 



Callas now will be blooming freely, 

 and to keep them vigorous a top-dress- 

 ing of fine bone should be applied once 

 in ten days, alternating this with liquid 

 cow manure. Callas are specially fond 

 of bone and Clay's fertilizer; the roots 

 seem to devour both quite greedily. The 

 longer we grow this flower the more con- 

 vinced are we that the Godfrey calla is 

 the one for commercial growers. The 

 flowers are purer white than in the 

 original type, quite large and far more 

 abundantly produced. 



Lobelias. 



Only in a few of the coolest parts of 

 the United States can the beautiful blue 

 lobelias be called complete successes as 

 bedding plants. They stand heat fairly 

 well. What they cannot stand is hot, 

 n\oist and sunless weather, which causes 

 them to rot badly. For window boxes 

 the speciosa or trailing section is quite 

 valuable. At such summer resorts as 

 Bar Harbor, Me., they make a glorious 

 show. Propagation is by seeds or out- 

 tings. A fine crop of cuttings should 

 now be obtainable from the old stock 

 plants. These will root easily and can 

 be topped and divided before the season 

 for spring sales starts. Where seed is 

 sown, treat it as suggested for begonias 

 and transplant the seedlings into flats 

 as soon as it is possible to handle them. 

 The double blue lobelia, Katlileen Mal- 

 lard, can be propagated only from cut- 

 tings. 



Vincas. 



These notes refer to the flowering ty[io 

 of vinca, botanically called V. rosea, 

 which is a most useful and persistent- 

 flowering bedding plant. T usually grow 

 three colors, pink, pure white, and Avhite 

 with a pink eye. To germinate seed sue 

 cessfully requires a high temperature 

 and some bottom heat. Place in flats or 

 small pots and later shift to larger pots. 

 One pinch will make them bushy. In 

 April or early May, if greenhouse bench 

 space is at a jiremium, these, in common 

 with other bedding plants, will make a 

 splendid growth if plunged in a hotbed. 

 Give the plants a light, rich soil; if poor 

 soil is given they will always look 

 stunted and starved. The vinoa is one 

 of the dependable bedding plants, giv- 

 ing a constant blaze of bloom from mid- 

 June until frost. 



Anemone Japonica. 



If you are not growing Anemone Ja- 

 ponica you should make up your mind 

 to do so. There is no more valuable 

 florists' flower in September and Octo- 

 ber, before mums are in good season. 

 A good many buy small plants and, be- 

 cause they do not give quantities of 

 bloom the first season, lose courage and 

 drop them. Allow them to establish 

 themselves; then, in the second season, 

 they will easily attain a height of five 

 feet in good soil. They are easily propa- 

 gated now from root cuttings. Dig up 

 one or two old plants, cut the thicker 



roots in pieces half an inch long, scatter 

 these on the surface of a warm propa- 

 gating bench, cover with sand and water 

 well. Keep them moist; provided your 

 drainage is all right, none will rot and 

 about all will grow. After leaves ap- 

 pear, pot off singly, gradually harden 

 off and plant outdoors about the end of 

 April. If you let your customers see 

 how showy and valuable these are, you 

 should be able to sell a good many young 

 ])lants each season. A. Japonica alba 

 still is the best white, and Queen Char- 

 lotte has not been beaten as a colored 

 variety. 



Purchase Seeds Now. 



The European war has closed the doors 

 to a large part of the seed imports from 

 the Old "World, and it is a hard problem 

 for our seed merchants to secure neces- 

 sary supplies for their orders. Seed 

 orders should be placed as soon as pos- 

 sible. Do not allow yourself to get hot 

 under the collar if your full order does 

 not arrive by return mail; be indulgent 

 with your dealer. You can have no idea 

 of the difficulties he now has to secure 

 what you need. We must make due al- 

 lowances not only for late deliveries, but 

 also for some poor germinations, and 

 there is some probability that every- 

 thing may not come true to name. Sit 

 down and make out your orders now, 

 while the frost reigns supreme and your 

 coal ])ile steadily dwindles. Be cour- 

 ageous enough to try some novelties and 

 ilo not buy cheap seeds, especially when 

 it comes to greenhouse plants like cycla- 



mens, cinerarias, calceolarias, primulas, 

 begonias, gloxinias, etc. 



Polnsettias. 



No one wants polnsettias after the 

 holidays and any left-over stock might 

 as well be laid away under a dry green- 

 house bench and left there until May. 

 No water will be needed until the time 

 comes to start up the stock again. Stock 

 plants from beds or benches can be lifted 

 and packed close together in soil in a 

 potting or other shed, where a minimum 

 of 45 to 50 degrees is maintained. You 

 can forget your polnsettias from now 

 until May. Euphorbia jacquiniseflora 

 must not be so severely dried off as the 

 poinsettia — which, by the way, is also a 

 euphorbia — or the greater proportion 

 will die. 



FLOWEES FOE VALENTINES. 



At the January 4 meeting of the Chi- 

 cago Florists' Club it was decided to 

 start an active advertising campaign 

 with the object of creating and stimu- 

 lating a greater demand for flowers for 

 St. Valentine's- day, February 14. The 

 form of advertising to be used is poster 

 stamps, on the same plan as those used 

 extensively by the Red Cross and in a 

 number of other commercial lines. The 

 committee has contracted for a large 

 supply of special heart-shaped stamps 

 for distribution through florists to the 

 general public. These stamps are beau- 

 tifully designed and bear the inscrip- 

 tion, "Let your Valentine gift be flow- 

 ers." The Chicago Florists' Club has 

 arranged to furnish these stamps to the 

 trade at a reasonable price, any profit 

 made to be used for future cooperative 

 advertising for flowers. Florists all 

 over the country are invited to use 

 these stamps. Price list and order blank 

 will be issued shortly, but the commit- 

 tee advises that orders be sent immedi- 

 ately, as stamps are going fast. F. 

 Lautenschlager, 440 W^est Erie street, 

 Chicago, is in charge. 



BEITISH BAN GEEMAN PIPS. 



Correspondence on the Subj*:t. 



It has been suggested that the quanti- 

 ties of valley pips that have come into 

 the T'nited States this season were so 

 great as to lead to the belief that the 

 British government had relaxed its 

 blockade, but recent correspondence in- 

 dicates that if pips of German origin 

 are coming in it is because shippers are 

 taking a chance, either that or the Brit- 

 ish authorities have been deceived. The 

 attitude of the British government is 

 set forth in the following letter from 

 Washington : 



.STATE DKI'ARTMKNT, AVASHINOTOX. 



Deeciiiber 22, 191C. 

 I.orrhnor & Co., Inc., 

 11 Warrpii Street, 

 New York City. 



(leiitleiiien -AVith rof<Tonfe to previous oor- 

 respondeiice in reKanl to your desire to olitnin n 

 shipment of lily of the valley pips from Hjalninr 

 Hartinann & Co., of Copenhagen, you are in- 

 formed that the Department has just received a 

 cablegram from the American Minister nt Co- 

 lienhasen statinf: that he is informed that the 

 crop of lily of the valley i)ips in Denmark this 

 year is only one-Iifth to one-tenth of the nor- 



mal rnip anil tliat, therefore, to fill existinR 

 orders, German pips v\ill have to be used. The 

 Minister indicates that this accounts for the" 

 attitude of the Dritish authorities and that Hjal- 

 niar Hartmann & Co. are (inwilliuK to make ship- 

 ments unless positive assurances of non-interfer- 

 ence are Riven bv the Ilritish authorities. The 

 Minister states that Hartmann has 1,000,000 

 Danish-jrrown and 5.000,000 (.Jernuin-Krown pips. 



In view of this information, the Department is 

 iiistnictinfr the American Ambassador at London 

 by cablenram to endeavor to obtain assiirances 

 of non-interference with at least the 1,(K)0,000 

 jiips which the Department is informed are of 

 Danish origin. 



As soon as any information is received from 

 the Ambassador, it will be communicated to you. 

 You will be informed at a later date of the cost 

 of the Department's cablegram and of any reply 

 thereto. 



I am, gentlemen, 



Y'our obedient servant. 



For the .Secretary of State: 



Alvey A. Adee, 

 Second Assistant Secretary. 



.•?00.n.-) 11077 



W^illiani F. Gude, Washington repre- 

 sentative of the S. A. F., has been ac- 

 tive in assisting members of the trade 

 to secure permits to bring forward 

 European goods. He says: "So fai* as 

 I was advised, and from all information 

 I have had up until this time, the goods 

 for which permits were asked from the 

 neutral countries for lily of the valley 



