10 



The Florists^ Review 



Januabt 2, 1919. 



was stronger. Some minor items sold 

 for double last year's prices because of 

 extreme scarcity, but others, and big 

 items, too, were not higher than before 

 the war. One need not be old in the 

 business to have seen Beauties at $12 

 to $15 a dozen and cattleyas $1 apiece. 



Plants and Accessories. 



Blooming plants were far short of the 

 demand, with the result that the aver- 

 age flower store did a larger part of its 

 business than ever before with supply- 

 house stock, with boxwood, ruscus, rib- 

 bons and other material for bright and 

 catchy baskets, which, as a rule, sold 

 like hot cakes at prices which, to say 

 the least, represented a margin of profit 



no cut flower producer would have de- 

 spised. 



There are exceptions, probably, but on 

 the whole the reduced quantity of mate- 

 rial available brought more money than 

 last year, or the year before, and Christ- 

 mas of 1918 stands as the best on record 

 in a large number of stores and green- 

 houses. The weather was the most "un- 

 usual" thing about the experience; it 

 rained or snowed over almost the whole 

 of the United States, from Colorado to 

 the Atlantic, December 24. Christmas 

 day was clear and cold. The storm no 

 doubt kept many shoppers at home, but 

 they scarcely were missed; the cold, 

 however, added materially to the difficul- 

 ties of delivery. 



\\:■^*/:l\9/:lKv::\9^:'X*Kl^J^ly*J:l'<^J^lyvilKV:l'<'^^:'^^J:ly*J:lK^^^^ 



SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



/•S" 4S' :'fA\' r^v. :f»v, y*Vi 'c ^m ^r•^•; '/'*m ^/*^1 y»^'. .V4^■; ' /»\1 ^^*^' YA^" . rti\ , ,7*^ i , /'*^ , i /'•\ i , r^x „ c*\ ; :c4^ 



POINSETTIAS. 



Poinsettias never sold better than 

 they have done this Christmas and re- 

 ports from several large cities indicate 

 that every presentable plant was dis- 

 posed of. There are sure to be some 

 left-overs with poor bracts or foliage 

 and these can be laid below a green- 

 house bench where they will not get 

 much drip, and forgotten until spring. 

 In the culture of Euphorbia jacquinise- 

 flora, dryness will shrivel up and kill 

 the plants, so be careful not to dry them 

 off too severely. With poinsettias, abso- 

 lute dryness at the roots for several 

 months will merely ripen up the wood 

 well. 



EABLY AMABYUJS. 



Look over your stock of amaryllis 

 plants, which probably are now being 

 rested below one of the benches, and 

 note whether nny of them are sending 

 up their flower .stalks. All such should 

 be removed and rej)ot'^"d. if necessary, 

 but usually the removal of some of the 

 surface soil and a top-dressing will suf- 

 fice. Place the plants in a tem{)erature 

 of 55 to 60 degrees and if they can 

 stand on a bench where they can get a 

 little bottom heat, all the better. They 

 do particularly well if plunged in partly 

 decayed leaves or tan bark. 



CALCEOLABIAS. 



For an early Easter, calceolarias are 

 out of the question, but when the great 

 floral festival comes as late as April 20, 

 it is easily possible to have them in 

 flower. Like cinerarias, they require 

 cold treatment. They seem to luxuriate 

 in a damp, clammy old house which 

 sends a chill down one's spine after 

 warmer and brighter houses have been 

 visited. The large, spotted, or self-col- 

 ored calceolarias will never meet more 

 than a moderate demand. They are 

 curious and striking, but brittle and 

 not easy to pack up and ship so as to 

 arrive in presentable condition. On the 

 other hand, the small, rich yellow rug- 

 osa variety. Golden Gem, is a splendid 

 flower of easy propagation and never 

 fails to flower abundantly. It is much 

 tougher than the large herbaceous types 

 and makes an ideal pot plant, as do the 



hybrids between Golden Gem and the 

 large herbaceous type of which the 

 Golden Stewartii is the best. Here is a 

 desirable flowering plant for florists, 

 easy of propagation from cuttings and 

 of simple culture, which can be flow- 

 ered for the coming Easter, when it 

 undoubtedly will make a decided hit. 

 If you have not grown any yet, plan 

 to do so another season, especially if 

 you are located in one of the colder 

 states, for calceolarias cannot be grown 

 successfully in the warm states. 



OUTDOOS WOBK 



December, 1918, has been a mild 

 month compared with its predecessor, 

 for which florists have abundant cause 

 to be thankful. The mild weather con- 

 served fuel and gave an opportunity 

 such as we rarely get in December and 

 January to plow up fallow land. Leave 

 the ground rough over the winter, espe- 

 cially if the soil is retentive, and the 

 frost will disintegrate and sweeten it. 

 You, of course, plan to grow some asters 

 of the Chinese type and, if you can 

 manure and plow land for them this 

 fall or early winter, it will be a great 

 advantage. All heavy land is better 

 if fall-plowed, and the addition of a 

 liberal application of horse manure will 

 help to open it up and give it warmth. 

 The successful grower, no matter where 

 he resides, plans to finish up as much 

 outdoor work as possible at this season 

 rather than to leave everything to the 

 strenuous spring season. 



SEED SOWING. 



Catalogues are beginning to arrive 

 and it is interesting to look them over 

 these winter evenings and select seeds 

 for the coming season. Place your or- 

 ders early and you are sure to be well 

 taken care of. The seedsmen greatly 

 appreciate these early orders, as it helps 

 to relieve in some measure the terrific 

 later pressure. There are a few seeds 

 which can be sown advantageously at 

 once. Among these are: Asparagus 

 plumosus and Sprengeri; Grevillea ro- 

 busta, which makes a neat decorative 

 plant; Aralia Sieboldii, another splen- 

 did foliage plant with handsome leaves 

 of great substance; Vinca rosea, pent- 



stemons, gloxinias, tuberous and flbrooB* 

 rooted begonias and Primula obconica, 

 where extra fine plants are wanted for 

 Thanksgiving and Christmas. 



STANDARD FLOWEBINO PLANTS. 



The standard flowering plants are be- 

 coming more popular each year. They 

 cannot be grown as cheaply as dwarf 

 plants of the same varieties, but people 

 are willing to pay a good price for the 

 various tree-grown flowering plants. 

 Heliotropes make specially good stand- 

 ards. I have found seedlings more vig- 

 orous than cuttings. With all stand- 

 ards it is necessary to keep the plants 

 staked, flowers and side shoots removed 

 and tops pinched out, when the neces- 

 sary height of stem has been reached. 

 Fuchsias make excellent standards; so 

 do geraniums, lantanas, marguerites, hy- 

 drangeas, genistas, streptosolens, chor- 

 izemas and chrysanthemums. Out of 

 this number, heliotropes, fuchsias, gera- 

 niums and hydrangeas are of the great- 

 est value to florists, and all are of easy 

 culture. Make a start with the stand- 

 ards now. 



OAUJiS. 



If your callas are in a night tempera- 

 ture which averages 55 degrees, they 

 should now be producing a heavy crop 

 of flowers. I find pot culture gives far 

 more winter flowers than bench culture 

 and I greatly prefer it. The plants suc- 

 ceed best when grown in single rows 

 along the sides of the house and not 

 when crowded together the full width 

 of beds or benches. The number of 

 flowers produced from the variety God- 

 frey is surprising, if the plants are fur- 

 nished with a top-dressing of fine bone 

 or Clay's fertilizer pvery eight or ten 

 days at this season. The avidity with 

 which the roots eat up the fertilizer is 

 an eye-opener. 



YOUNG CYCLAMENS. 



Christmas this year has clearly prov- 

 en that cyclamens are now the most 

 popular and at the same time the most 

 satisfactory of holiday plants. They 

 realized higher prices than ever before 

 and the demand far exceeded the sup- 

 ply. With these facts in mind, give the 

 young cyclamens the best of attention. 

 Probably they are still in flats. Keep 

 them well up to the light in a tempera- 

 ture of 60 degrees and stir between the 

 little plants occasionally. On bright 

 days a fine spraying will prove benefi- 

 cial. You can still sow seed and get 

 plants large enough for 5-inch or 6-inch 

 pots for next Christmas, but the sowing 

 should be done without delay. 



FLOWERING SHBUB SHOOTS. 



Usually we do not see many of the 

 forced deciduous shrubs, such as lilacs, 

 Azalea mollis, apples, laburnums, 

 etc., before the end of February, but it 

 is possible to cut shoots from some of 

 the large flowering shrubs, place them 

 in water in a warm house and force 

 them into bloom much earlier than 

 plants. Forsythias are probably the 

 easiest and most satisfactory of these 

 to flower in water, but magnolias, early 

 spiraeas, like Thunbergii, Corchorus 

 japonicus, the Japanese quince, orna- 

 mental apples and several other sorts 

 can be forced into flower and will prove 

 attractive in any window decoration. 



