The Florists' Review 



NOYBMBIB 1, 1917. 



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SEASONABLE 



<^ SUGGESTIONS 



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at the root. In the colder states, box 

 trees, English laurels, hollies, yews, 

 aucubas and other plants of not proven 

 hardiness are better if placed in a stor- 

 age house by the middle of November. 



POINSETTIAS FOB CHBISTMAS. 



While many of us are economizing all 

 we can on fuel, it does not pay to allow 

 the temperature to run too low for poin- 

 settias, or a heavy loss of foliage may 

 occur. Poinsettias can be grown along 

 satisfactorily in a temperature as low 

 as 50 to 55 degrees at night until the 

 bracts begin to show, after which time 

 60 degrees at night as a minimum should 

 be given in order to have them well ex- 

 panded for the holidays. Careful water- 

 ing goes a long way in keeping the 

 foliage dark green. Liquid manure in 

 weak doses, as the bracts show, will 

 help, especially if some soot is added 

 to the animal manure liquid, to darken 

 the foliage. Avoid heavy doses, which 

 would prove disastrous. Make up pans 

 at once if you Lave not already done so 

 and give the plants a warm house in 

 which to develop the roots. 



GABDENIAS FOB CHBISTMAS. 



"We are reaching a critical season of 

 the year for gardenias. Everyone likes 

 to get a good Christmas crop, although, 

 as a matter of fact, extremely few do. 

 Prices are high at that time and any- 

 one who can strike the holidays with 

 a good crop can make money. Reasons 

 for failure are several. These include 

 wide temperature fluctuations, careless 

 watering, especially where the soil in 

 the benches lacks porosity, and a too 

 damp, stuffy atmosphere. It is notice- 

 able that pot-grown gardenias in a 

 warm, light, sunny house usually give a 

 good midwinter crop. Plants in benches 

 in the same house often lose all their 

 buds as the daylight diminishes and 

 cold strengthens. Watering needs care- 

 ful attention. Benches should dry out 

 well between waterings. A good syr- 

 inging twice a week on bright days is 

 needed to keep the plants clean. A 

 minimum temperature of 65 degrees is 

 about right now. Later in the season 

 this can go down 5 degrees. I have had 

 good pot gardenias where the tempera- 

 ture went down to 50 degrees on cold 

 nights, but bench-grown plants in the 

 same house bloomed sparsely. Put ven- 

 tilation on a little at a time; reduce it 

 in the same way. Damp down paths 

 and below the benches well at closing 

 time, unless conditions are damp and 

 cold outside. If roots run freely on 

 the surface soil, a top-dressing of old 

 cow manure mixed with half-rotted 

 leaves will make a nice mulch and the 

 roots will devour it greedily. But do 

 not use fresh cow manure; it will cause 

 the yellows and bud-dropping, just what 

 every grower wants to shun. 



CHRISTMAS BERRIED PLANTS. 



As a rule, the berried solanums ripen 

 in a cool house for the holidays with 

 little trouble. The so-called Christmas 

 peppers, which seem to be less in fa- 

 vor than a few years ago, need a warm- 

 er house, and a sunny bench should be 

 given any which do not yet show much 

 color. Ardisias are valuable holiday 

 plants and each year many are unsalable 



because the berries are not colored. 

 Give any of these laggard plants a 

 warm, sunny house now, and keep them 

 well watered and syringed in order to 

 advance the ripening of the fruits as 

 much as possible. 



SOW SHAMROCKS NOW. 



Perhaps you have some call for sham- 

 rpck plants for March 17. If so, this is 

 a reminder that you should secure seeds 

 and sow them now in a flat or flats, in a 

 temperature of 50 degrees. Quite a va- 

 riety of so-called shamrocks are sold as 

 the ,true article each year. Some are 

 oxalis, but the" majority are trifoliums. 

 I use Trifolium repens, and it always 

 fills the bill. One or two growers, how- 

 ever, prefer Oxalis Acetosella, the wood 

 sorrel. No one knows which St. Patrick 

 preferred, or if he had any shamrock at 

 all, s(f it is safe to take our choice of 

 either the one or the other. 



SINGLE VIOLETS. 



Single violets make a useful crop to 

 follow late asters, early mums or to- 

 matoes, and are better if exposed to a 

 few degrees of frost before housing. 

 Give them a rich soil. They will ex- 

 haust it thoroughly before their flower- 

 ing season is over. Strip off all runners 

 and remove the older and decaying 

 foliage. If carefully lifted, given a 

 soaking watering and sprayed on clear 

 days for a short time, violets soon stop 

 wilting. Common mistakes made in 

 their culture are in housing to9 early 

 and growing too warmly. A winter 

 minimum of 40 to 42 degrees is ample. 

 Princess of Wales remains far the most 

 popular of single violets. 



WINTERING BAY TBEES. 



While bay trees will stand consider- 

 able cold, it is not wise to subject them 

 to a temperature lower than 20 degrees 

 above zero when in pots or tubs. They 

 are better if wintered in a storage 

 house which is moderately lighted only, 

 and if the house is properly constructed 

 and protected no artificial heat will be 

 necessary, even though the outside tem- 

 perature may fall to 20 degrees below 

 zero. In mild weather give the trees an 

 abundance of fresh air, and as the 

 weather becomes colder and less air 

 can be given keep them somewhat drier 



WINTEB PANSIES. 



Only a limited number of growers 

 make any attempt to flower pansies in 

 winter, but, if rightly treated, pansies 

 prove a most profitable crop. Special- 

 ists usually save their own seeds and 

 grow large batches of separate colors, 

 giving the preference not so much to 

 large flowers as to long stems. There 

 is a growing demand in winter and 

 early spring for pansy flowers, which 

 can be made up into large bunches. 



A temperature similar to that given 

 single violets will be found suitable for 

 pansies and a similar soil will do nicely. 

 For early picking, plants should have 

 been benched in late August, but there 

 is still time to house a good batch for 

 later flowering. Select strong plants 

 and do not plant any closer than 10x10 

 inches; 10x12 is better for the early 

 planted stock. This may seem a lot of 

 space now, but it will appear quite in- 

 adequate toward spring. 



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S. A. F. PUBLICITY FUND 



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ANOTHEB POBJS IN THE BIBS. 



Monday I passed through the laundry 

 just as Bridget was washing my under- 

 shirt. The way she rubbed on the soap 

 was a caution. Today the shirt was in 

 place on my closet shelf. It was fluffy 

 and soft, and clean as a whistle. But 

 there wasn't any soap to be found on 

 it; or in it. It and the dirt had va- 

 moosed together. 



Which fact made me think of the S. 

 A. F. national advertising campaign. 



Why? Because some fellows are 

 afraid to put on soap enough to take 

 out the dirt. They want a clean shirt, 

 but they want all the soap that Bridget 

 cleaned it with to be returned with it. 



To say it another way: They want 

 more business; and they believe adver- 

 tising is the one best way to secure 

 more business. They don't mind giving 

 their money liberally to the S. A. P. 

 advertising fund, provided every dollar 

 they give on Monday surely comes back 

 from the laundry on Wednesday, liber- 

 ally loaded down with other dollars. 



Of course, that cannot be in a cam- 

 paign of this sort. It simply won't at 

 once increase business by leaps and 

 bounds. But it will, just as surely as 

 night follows day, gradually increase 

 the business of the subscriber. And it 

 will increase the other fellow's as well. 

 It will play no favorites. Everybody 

 comes in for the benefits. It's just 

 like good roads; we all are benefited by 

 them. 



Treat the money you put in this ad- 

 vertising as you do the auto truck you 

 send to town. Give it time to get there 

 and back. Even allow some extra time 

 for a puncture. 



Don't expect advertising to be un- 

 reasonable, just because vou are.. 



L. W. C. Tuthill. 



THE PEIZE PAINTING. 



As one of the means of raising money 

 for publicity at the recent Detroit 

 meeting of the F. T. D., a large painting 

 was auctioned off by Philip Breitmeyer, 

 who in the course of the auction over- 



