NOVBMBBB 28, 1918. 



The Florists^ Review 



15 



■by the trade, as when, buying is brisk looks as though there is going to be a 

 the flower stores get their share. It big Christmas season this year. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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BUDDUBIA ASIATICA. 



The graceful, pure white, sweetly 

 scented Buddleia asiatica is now coming 

 into favor in greenhouses where no ar- 

 tificial heat has been afforded as yet. It 

 is one of our most valuable forcing 

 plants and, whether used as a decorative 

 plant or for cutting, it fills a place such 

 as few plants fill at this season. It 

 propagates so easily, makes such a large 

 plant in a single season, blooms so 

 abundantly and is so graceful and fra- 

 grant that almost every florist should 

 grow it. The name "white winter 

 lilac" has been given it, but this is 

 something of a misnomer, as it in no re- 

 spect resembles a lilac. By keeping the 

 plants cold they may be retarded so as 

 to flower as late as the spring exhibi- 

 tions. No other decorative plant, not 

 even excepting the acacia, is more ef- 

 fective in groups than Buddleia asiatica. 



SFIKSAS. 



Supplies of spiraeas probably will be 

 late in arriving. When they do come 

 to hand, soak them well and expose them 

 to one or two good freezings before pot- 

 ting them up. It will not pay to start 

 forcing any of the new stock for some 

 time, but cold storage stock will be 

 serviceable if started now. I have ad- 

 vocated the growing of more spiraeas 

 at home. Plants from which the flow- 

 ers have been taken can be cut in two 

 or three pieces and planted out in good 

 soil. The second year they will have 

 made fine clumps, far ahead of the im- 

 ported stock. I find a rather low piece 

 of ground is best adapted for their 

 culture and that vastly better clumps 

 can be produced at home than are im- 

 ported. This is true not only of the 

 varieties in common culture, like japon- 

 ica, Gladstone, Queen Alexandra and as- 

 tilboides, but of all the newer pink and 

 lavender varieties. These outdoor 

 cl mps are being dug now and laid in 

 a coldframe, where they will be well 

 frozen before being potted. Every coun- 

 try florist should plant out his left- 

 over spiraeas and not throw them away. 

 We have always been far too wasteful 

 with these and other plants. 



WINTER-FLOWERINQ BEGONIAS. 



Now that there are moderate fires and 

 the sand in the cutting bench has be- 

 come genially warm, it is time to in- 

 sert a good-sized batch of any of the 

 winter-flowering begonias, such as Glory 

 of Cincinnati, Melior, Mrs. Peterson and 

 Gloire de Lorraine, as well as the larger 

 and more brilliant English hybrids of 

 the Mrs. Heal and Optima types. Select 

 firm, well developed leaves and let the 

 leaf stalk be of good length. Insert the 

 cuttings so that they will just touch one 

 another. The sand should be new and 

 of good porosity. If it is too fine, add 

 charcoal, coal ashes or even coal, to 

 make it more porous. Careful watering 

 and a steady bottom heat are essential 



to successful propagation of begonias 

 from leaf cuttings. 



STOCK IN THE COLDFRAMES. 



It is unwise to cover plants, either 

 outdoors or in frames, too early. More 

 plants are killed annually by too ear: 

 covering than by anything else. The 

 ground should be frozen stiff befor 

 such winter protection is afforded 

 the case of coldframes where such 

 plants as daisies, pansies, forget-me- 

 nots, violas, young perennials and a va- 

 riety of other hardy or half hardy plants 

 are stored, there is no covering so good 

 as perfectly dry leaves laid loosely over 

 the plants, with sashes placed over the 

 leaves to prevent the latter from be- 

 coming damp. Given this covering and 

 some matchboard shutters to prevent 

 the snow from breaking the glass, and 

 any of the plants named will winter 

 perfectly. Some ventilation should be 

 afforded during mild weather to prevent 

 sweating. Pine needles make a good 

 winter covering, while hay and straw 

 also can be used, but leaves have proved 

 the finest mulch of all, and are usually 

 available in quantity. 



POINSETTIAS. 



We have had a remarkably open fall 

 to date, with comparatively few cold 

 nights, and plants in nnlieated green- 

 houses were in excellent condition No- 

 vember 18. Some houses which were to 



have been closed will be operated now, 

 thanks to the ending of the war and the 

 improvement in the fuel outlook. Poin- 

 sottias now are developing their bracts 

 and now is the time they demand some 

 warmth and judicious feeding. They 

 do well in a minimum "of 55 degrees, 

 althoug?!, if watered carefully, they 

 will open out all right if kept 5 degrees 

 cooler. Too much care can hardly be 

 taken now in watering them. To have 

 salable plants, green foliage is neces- 

 sary. Too much or too little water at 

 this season soon will cause yellow leaves 

 to appear. Use weak liquid manure once 

 in four or five days while the bracts are 

 developing. A little soot with cow ma- 

 nure makes an ideal liquid dressing. Be 

 sure to avoid heavy applications, which 

 will speedily cause loss of foliage. 



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SHRUBS FOR FORCING. 



With the probable ending of importa- 

 tions of plants adapted for forcing, we 

 shall be dependent on our own resources 

 for such forcing stock as lilacs, deutzias, 

 prunus, Crataegus, etc. Here again there 

 has been a deplorable waste of material. 

 Unsold or sparsely flowered plants have 

 been at once consigned to the dump, 

 when, if planted in the field or garden, 

 they would make the finest kind of 

 forcing stock, in some cases the follow- 

 ing spring and in others a year later. 

 Left-over lilacs, if well headed back, 

 make grand forcing stock in two sea- 

 sons, better than any we have been able 

 to buy. The same holds good of labur- 

 nums and a number of other standard 

 deciduous forcing shrubs. Dig up and 

 carefully pot or tub any available plants 

 now and place them in a cool cellar or 

 shed before the weather becomes too in- 

 clement. Any of these shrubs which 

 have not been planted out more than a 

 couple of years make splendid stock for 

 forcing. We have grown roses in this 

 way; there is no reason whatever why 

 we cannot propagate and grow our own 

 shrubs for forcing. 



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HELPERS COMING BACK 



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WAR ORDERS CANCELED. 



Savings Effected. 



With a view to conforming industrial 

 conditions as rapidly as practicable to 

 a peace basis, the government has or- 

 dered the cancellation within the next 

 thirty days of war contracts estimated 

 to aggregate a total of $6,000,000,000. 

 The projected annulment is said to cover 

 one-fourth of the war program laid out 

 for the year. By virtue of readjust- 

 ments taking place as a result of the 

 efforts of the different departments to 

 eliminate expenditures rendered un- 

 necessary by the cessation of hostili- 

 ties, savings have been effected which 

 are said to amount to something like 

 $2,000,000,000, the size of the figure 

 indicating that every line of industry 

 will be affected in some degree. The 

 cancellation edict applies to orders 

 placed and not to goods in process of 

 manufacture, but, even so, it means a 

 curtailment of certain industries which 

 have given employment to vast numbers. 

 An order promulgated November 11 for- 



bids all overtime and Sunday work. 

 This order alone is expected to effect a 

 saving of $700,000. From whatever 

 viewpoint the matter is regarded, these 

 orders cannot fail to have far-reach- 

 ing effects. It is evident that the 

 country is face to face with the disloca- 

 tions incident to the reconstruction 

 period. 



"Ring in the New." 



Cancellation of war orders means 

 that for a time many of the wage earn- 

 ers, who have enjoyed a period of un- 

 precedented prosperity due to the high 

 scale of wages paid in the war indus- 

 tries, will be under the necessity of 

 seeking employment in other lines of 

 industry. It will take time to bring 

 about a redistribution of labor, but 

 meantime every employer, every indus- 

 try, including the florists', is calling 

 distractedly for help. That the labor 

 employed on government contracts will 

 be absorbed back into its accustomed 

 vocations in the shortest time possible 

 no one conversant with the situation 

 can reasonably question. The business 



