12 



The Florists^ Review 



December 19, 1918. 



down by the middle of September, and 

 is better to be entirely off the glass by 

 October 15. If shaded too much, the 

 fronds will be long and soft, and will 

 soon shrivel when 6ut. 



When cutting the fronds, it is well 

 to cut off the entire plant at one cut- 

 ting, discarding any fronds that are not 

 fully developed rather than to include 

 such fronds in the bunches, for these 

 young fronds would depreciate the 

 whole bunch. 



Bunching for Market. 



The bunches of fronds may contain 

 either a dozen or twenty-five, as may 

 be the preference of the locality in 

 which they are sold, but the bunch of 

 twenty-five fronds is the most satisfac- 

 tory in the majority of markets. After 

 the fronds are bunched for market, 

 they should be thrown in tubs of water, 

 and allowed to remain therein for some 

 hours before they are packed, in order 

 that they may absorb as much water 

 as possible. 



Returning once more to the subject 



of cutting the fronds, it may be ex- 

 plained that the cutting of the entire 

 plant at once is done for the same rea- 

 son we do so with a crop of smilax; 

 namely, that the plants that are cut 

 down may be given a little different 

 treatment from those that are in full 

 growth, especially in the matter of 

 watering. 



In regard to ventilation, it may be 

 said that all ferns enjoy fresh air, and 

 the adiantums are no exception to the 

 rule, an abundance of air both day and 

 night being required during the summer 

 months. But the air should be g^ven 

 with due regard to the direction and 

 violence of the wind, so as to avoid 

 strong drafts. 



The Best Varieties. 



As to species and varieties that are 

 adapted for commercial use, we have 

 already referred to Adiantum cuneatum, 

 which is still one of the best, and its 

 variety Boenbeckii is also good, the 

 latter being a fern that originated in 

 Bayonne, N. J., some thirty-five years 

 ago. Then there is the variety known 



as California, which seems to be simply 

 a strong-growing Boenbeckii. 



Adiantum Croweanum is also an ex- 

 cellent fern for cutting, this variety 

 belonging to the decorum group, pro- 

 ducing a much larger frond than those 

 of the cuneatum varieties, and being 

 a great favorite with many growers, 

 particularly for large work. 



But Adiantum Croweanum is usually 

 propagated by division of the crowns, 

 and this process requires more care 

 than the simple shifting on of seedlings. 

 Unless one has the facilities for caring 

 for young stock of this class, it is prob- 

 ably better to procure the neeespary 

 stock at the time of planting from some 

 fern specialist. 



Snails are one of the most serious 

 pests the fern grower has to contend 

 with, and in old greenhouses these pests 

 are frequently in good supply. Some 

 flake camphor or even moth balls among 

 the plants will help much in driving 

 the snails away, and a sprinkling of 

 air-slaked lime around the edges of the 

 bench will also discourage them to some 

 extent. 



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^ SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS 



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LILIUM 0Ain>IDT7M. 



The supply of French candidums this 

 season is far below normal. Whoever 

 has any, however, will find them excel- 

 lent property, as lilies the coming Eas- 

 ter will be scarce and blooms of the 

 beautiful, pure white Madonna lilies are 

 sure to command high prices. Candi- 

 dums as pot plants are far more effective 

 when several are grown together in fair- 

 ly large pots. Nothing could be finer 

 for church decoration than a 10-inch pot 

 containing half a dozen stalks, each 

 carrying eight to twelve flowers and 

 buds. For this purpose they are much 

 superior to longiflorum, as they are tal- 

 ler and of more graceful habit. Plants 

 required to bloom for Easter should be 

 placed in a cool house now, with a tem- 

 perature not over 45 degrees at night. 

 At no time should the minimum tem- 

 perature run over 55 degrees at night 

 and 50 to 52 degrees is better. If 

 grown cool, the flowers will be larger, 

 with a good deal of substance, while if 

 forced hard, they will come undersized 

 and "floppy." Some growers are 

 handling home-grown candidums this 

 season and there is no reason why these 

 should not do well, provided they have 

 had some freezing before being housed. 

 Here is where many growers fail. Gigan- 

 teums need heat from start to finish. 

 Candidums want a freezing and later 

 comparatively cool treatment. 



water. I invariably propagate some of 

 these French hydrangeas, as well as the 

 otaksas, early in September. These 

 plants are now in 3-inch pots in a cool 

 house and are being started up. A little 

 later they will get a shift into 4l^-inch 

 pots and each will carry one large head 

 of flowers, which will be fully open seven 

 months from the time they were propa- 

 gated. If you want good heads on your 

 hydrangeas, something more than cold 

 water is needed, once they have their 

 pots full of roots. Be sure to feed them 

 twice a week, until the flower heads are 

 well developed. 



If you want to increase your stock of 

 hydrangeas, take any of the blind shoots 

 and propagate them as procurable. Get 

 these in 4-inch pots before the weather 

 permits them to be planted outdoors in 

 good soil, or, if you prefer, grow them 

 in pots all summer and keep them 

 plunged to the brims in an open, sunny 

 spot convenient to the hose. 



time propagating benches are usually 

 steadily warm and in addition there is 

 less ventilation in the houses than at 

 any other period of the year. Now is 

 the ideal time to root all kinds of foliage 

 plants, such as crotons, draceenas, acaly- 

 phas, pandanus, etc., as well as bedding 

 plants of all kinds. Keep the cutting 

 bench well filled. The demand for 

 plants of every sort next year will be 

 greater than ever and those who have 

 had the courage to keep their green- 

 houses going will reap the benefits. 



FRENCH HYDRANGEAS. 



There are extremely few azaleas this 

 season and, with an almost total ab- 

 sence of lilies, there is bound to be a 

 tremendously increased sale of French 

 hydrangeas. They can be had in flower 

 early in March if started right away. 

 Do not give too much heat at first. Let 

 them break; then give 55 to 60 degrees 

 at night. If your stock was pot-grown 

 through the summer, it will force earlier 

 than if field-grown, and such plants, of 

 course, will need an abundant supply of 



BEDDING GERANIUMS. 



Now that Christmas plants are out of 

 the way, you can give a little more 

 badly needed space to the bedding gera- 

 niums and pot over such as may be 

 needing it. No doubt you can get tops 

 from many of the plants, which can 

 either be rooted singly in small pots of 

 sandy loam or placed directly in the 

 cutting bench. There is far less lia- 

 bility of geraniums taken under glass 

 damping off than cuttings taken out- 

 doors. The indoor ones are shorter- 

 jointed and firm, while the outside ones, 

 taken in the fall, are invariably soft. 

 Never shade geranium cuttings and do 

 not make a habit of spraying them over 

 as you would heliotrope, coleus or alter- 

 nanthera cuttings. 



FOR EMPTY GREENHOUSES. 



Perhaps you have closed down part 

 of your greenhouses this month and are 

 planning to reopen them toward spring. 

 In such a case it is necessary to look 

 ahead and prepare some stock for these 

 houses. If you are a small retail grower, 

 you will need to grow miscellaneous 

 stock and a number of seeds can be 

 started advantageously now. Among 

 these are calendulas, sweet peas, annual 

 larkspurs, ten weeks'^ stocks, Centaurea 

 Cyanus and C. imperialis, Gypsophila 

 elegans, lupines and the yellow Mexican 

 poppy, Hunnemannia fumarisefolia. Sow 

 these in shallow flats and later pot them 

 off singly. Open up one house at a time 

 and fill with these seedlings, which wiU 

 give you a lot of valuable cutting later. 



GENISTAS. 



PROPAGATION. 



We are approaching the shortest days 

 and the period of severe cold. At this 



Start up a batch of genistas now. Do 

 not use much heat for them; 50 degrees 

 at night should be the maximum. There 

 is a long period before Easter when 

 genistas can be sold, so start some right 

 away. This is an ideal time to put in 

 a good batch of genista cuttings. Short 

 side-shoots rubbed off with a heel are 

 best. Do not give uiuch bottom heat. 

 They will root better with mums and 

 carnations than with crotons and coleus. 

 These will make nice stock in 5-inch pots 

 before fall, if properly treated. 



