22 



1 he r lorists' Kcvicw 



OCTOBBB 25, 1917. 



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SEASONABLE i^ 



SUGGESTIONS 



DRYING OFF INDOOR BUIAS. 



The season for gloxinias, gesneras, 

 tuberous-rooted begonias and fancy- 

 leaved begonias is practically over. 

 Gradually keep the plants drier at the 

 roots and, as the tops disappear, lay 

 the plants below a greenhouse bench 

 or store them on shelves in a fairly 

 ■warm shed. The gloxinias and be- 

 gonias keep well if shaken out and 

 better if left in the pots and a 

 •winter temperature of 58 to 60 degrees 

 keeps them well. Amaryllis that have 

 been kept growing all summer will still 

 carry plenty of green foliage, but can 

 now be kept quite dry at the root. Lay 

 them below a bench if upper bench 

 space is scarce. They ordinarily will 

 commence to push flower spikes in De- 

 cember, and will flower from that time 

 until April if brought along in batches. 



SHIFT THE SCHIZANTHUS. 



Schizanthus are now making quite 

 rapid growth. They delight in a com- 

 paratively cold greenhouse, 45 ■ degrees 

 at night being ample for them. If at all 

 leggy, it is best to pinch them back to 

 make them more shapely. They soon 

 fill their pots with roots, and need 

 rather frequent shifts until they are 

 moved into their flowering pots. A light 

 but rich soil is what they revel in, and 

 potting should be done quite firmly. 

 While nice plants can be flowered in 

 6-inch pots, 8-inch is a better commer- 

 cial size. Exhibition plants are some- 

 times shown six feet high and as much 

 across, but it would not pay commer- 

 cial growers to i)roduce these big speci- 

 mens. 



RAMBLER ROSES FOR FORCING. 



Pot-grown ramblers should now be 

 kept gradually drier at the root. The 

 early-ripened plants with firm canes are 

 the best for forcing. The field-grown 

 plants can now be dug up and potted. 

 Cut away any poorly ripened ends of 

 shoots and tie the canes up securely 

 to a stake. Plants can remain outside 

 for some time, especially if the pots are 

 protected by leaves or straw from the 

 danger of breakages by frost. Country 

 florists not in the habit of growing their 

 own ramblers should purchase field- 

 grown stock now. Pink colors are more 

 favored than reds or whites for Easter, 

 although some of the latter colors al- 

 ways sell, notably Hiawatha and R. ex- 

 celsa, but the great call is for such va- 

 rieties as Tausendschon, Dorothy Per- 

 kins and the various forms of the poly- 

 antha, or so-called baby ramblers, like 

 Ellen Poulsen, Yvonne Rabier, Mrs. Cut- 

 bush and the dwarf forms of Tausend- 

 schon and Dorothv Perkins. 



HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS. 



Fall is the season par excellence for 

 the replanting of the great majority of 

 hardy herbaceous plants. Some varie- 

 ties, such as irises and peonies, would 

 have been better if planted somewhat 

 earlier, but the present is a splendid 



season to plant many sorts, including 

 such valuable and popular ones as 

 phloxes, pentstemons, delphiniums, he- 

 lianthus, asters, boltonias, polemoniums, 

 hemerocallis, spiraeas and many others; 

 also a few varieties like Anemone japon- 

 ica, kniphofias, pompon chrysanthe- 

 mums, incarvilleas and rehmannias. 



Well plowed, or spaded, and manured 

 ground is what practically all perennials 

 like. If planting is done now, the plants 

 will make a far better growth than 

 where the work is delayed until the 

 strenuous spring season. All perennials 

 should have a good winter mulch, but it 

 would better not be applied until the 

 groUnd freezes. 



SHRUBS FOR FALL PLANTING. 



It is getting late in the season to do 

 any successful planting of evergreens, 

 but the last part of October and early 

 November is an excellent season for 

 planting out many deciduous shrubs. In- 

 cluded in the list which can go out now 

 are lilacs, philadelphus, viburnums, lo- 

 niceras, spiraeas, forsythias, symphori- 

 carpos and elseagnus, to mention but a 

 few. Deutzias of the crenata type, dier- 

 villas, ligustrums. berberis, buddleias. 



and cotoneasters are better if planted in 

 the spring, although if carefully moved 

 th§y will come through all right if 

 planted now. Make ample holes for 

 each plant, do not use any manure about 

 the roots, be sure the latter are damp 

 before the holes are filled in and firm the 

 soil thoroughly about each. A winter 

 mulch of some kind will also prove help- 

 ful. The various ornamentjd crab ap- 

 ples, botanically known as mains, do 

 much better if planted now than in the 

 spring. 



MARGUERITES FOR CHRISTMAS. 



The old white marguerite is still far 

 and away the best for pot culture. It 

 always makes a shapely plant, can be 

 pinched back to flower any time from 

 Christmas until May, and is of the 

 easiest possible culture. Our plants for 

 Christmas have just been moved from 

 coldframes to a greenhouse with a night 

 temperature of 48 to 50 degrees. The 

 flowers are just starting to open and in 

 two months the plants will be covered 

 with bloom. These marguerites are 

 sometimes attacked in the foliage by 

 leaf miners, but a spraying with a good 

 nicotine extract will kill these. Mrs. 

 Sander is a fine white variety, but is 

 not a free winter bloomer, and does not 

 make so shapely a pot plant as the old 

 white, C. frutescens. The yellow va- 

 rieties, which are fine for cutting, are 

 of but little value as pot plants, more's 

 the pity. Now, if someone would give 

 us a red marguerite, we would have no 

 need of imported azaleas. Some day we 

 will have such a plant, and what a glo- 

 rious holiday subject it would be! 



Received bs; an Advertiser. 



Peter Pearson had not been able to 

 ship as promptly as he expected: 



For you I'm calling, 

 For you I'm balling. 

 For you I'm scralling, 



Oil! Pete! 

 When will they come? 



Daniel S. Law. 

 West Springfield, Mass. 



A Big Diiference. 



He — Of course there 's a big difference 

 between a botanist and a florist. 



She — Is there, really? 



He — Yes; a botanist is one who knows 

 all about flowers, and a florist is one 

 who knows all about the price people 

 will pay for them. — Boston Transcript. 



"Business is Business." 



"Business is business," hut men are men, 



Loving and working, dreaming. 

 Toiling with pencil or spade or pen. 



Roistering, planning, scheming. 

 "Business is business" — but he's a fool 



Whose business has grown to smother 

 His faith in men and the golden rule. 



His love for a friend and brother. 

 "Business is business" — but life is life; 



Though we're all in the game to win it. 

 Let's rest sometimes from the heat and strife 



And try to be friends for a minute. 

 Let's seek to be comrades now and then, 



And slip from our golden tether; 

 "Business is business," but men are men, 



And we're all good pals together! 



— Berton Braley. 



Trophies of the Chase. 



Widow (to florist as she orders deco- 

 rations for her fourth wedding) — "Yes, 

 I should like to have you use bachelor's 

 buttons. They're favorites with me." 



The Plant In the Window. 



'Twas only a pot of cyclamen rare 



She placed on the ledge of the window there; 



But it brightened th« day for those who passed. 



With burdens of care and grief harassed. 



The owner herself — she never knew 



What a pot of cyclamen pink could do. 



But I could tell her and so could you. 



Julia Oraydon. 



But He Wasn't a Florist. 



There was a man in our town, 



And he was wondrous wise; 

 Unto his neighbor's worst mistakes 



He closed his mouth and eyes. 

 And when he saw his neighbor down. 



So wondrous wise was he, 

 He looked unto his own affairs. 



To see what he could see. 



— Chicago Tribune. 



Undoubtedly. 



F. H. Page, of the Iowa Seed Co., Des 

 Moines, la., contributes this one: 



Fitzhugb, who runs the Kenyon Co.. where 

 they make maps and good advertising, is doins 

 his bit. He is making garden. 



"Things are coming along fine," says Fits. 

 "Everything but my beans. And do you know 

 I went out to look at them one morning and I 

 declare if every one of those beans I planted 

 hadn't come out of the ground on the end of the 

 stalk and I had to poke them back down. I 

 must have planted them wrong side up." 



