June 25, 1914. 



The Florfets'' Rcvicw^ 



13 



OPEN LETTER^^- KEADEG^ 



SYSTEM FOB SELLERS. 



Permit me to commend a paragraph 

 noted in a recent issue of The Review; 

 it is so much to the point that perhaps 

 you will have space to reprint it here: 



"It will pay any florist doing a 

 wholesale mail order business to adopt 

 a thorough system and follow it religi- 

 ously. Every order should be acknowl- 

 edged with a post card stating when the 

 stock will be shipped. If it can not be 

 shipped on the day specified a card 

 should give notice of the delay and a 

 new shipping date. The day the ship- 

 ment goes out a notice should be mailed 

 stating route and date of the merchan- 

 dise. Such a system, used with stock 

 that unquestionably is worth the money, 

 will build a list of satisfied customers 

 that will make advertising doubly prof- 

 itable." 



I wish the people I deal with would 

 take heed. April 30 I sent an order to 

 a seed house for $1.50 wort^i of seed; 

 no answer to June 15. May 20 I or- 

 dered $3 worth of snapdragon plants 

 from a party who advertised to ship in 

 twenty-four hours; nothiag came of it 

 yet. May 30 I ordered vincas, amount 

 $5; nothing happened. In each case 

 cash was sent with order; no acknowl- 

 edgment; no answer to requests for 

 information. Probably the stock will 

 show up sometime, but I am sure these 

 houses would not like to have their 

 names mentioned in connection with 

 such a system of handling orders. 



Josiah L. Young. 



FROM LONDON TOWN. 



Chancing to take up a copy of the Pall 

 Mall Gazette on the morning of my last 

 day in London, I came upon a note that 

 I am siwe will be of interest to readers 

 of The Review. This is the way it be- 

 gins: 



"The whole conception of the growth 

 of plants may have to be altered as the 

 result of some important experiments 

 that have been made at King's College, 

 London, and since submitted to success- 

 ful tests at Kew and Chelsea. 'Some- 

 thing almost uncanny, ' to quote a phrase 

 used by Prof. W. B. Bottomley in de- 

 scribing • these results to the Royal 

 Botanic Society, seems to have been at 

 work in producing them. Fuchsias, for 

 example, have increased, not only in 

 foliage, but also in flower; the colors 

 of coleus have been greatly intensified; 

 in fact, it does not seem to matter what 

 kind of plant is treated, but all benefit 

 enormously — roughly speaking, their size 

 and splendor are doubled — by adding to 

 the soil a little bacterized peat — peat 

 converted into soluble humus — or even a 

 little solution extracted from it." 



This is written on the eve of sailing 

 for home after a business tour of 

 Europe. "While we have seen some really 

 good flower stores, those in the United 

 States excel them, except those in Paris, 

 where the artistic arrangements of 

 plants and flowers simply are gorgeous. 

 Daring and striking combinations of 

 colors are used. Few of the European 



flower shops have anything in the way 

 of up-to-date delivery service, wagon or 

 automobile. "I have seen large funeral 

 designs fastened to the front and back 

 of trolley cars for transportation to the 

 place of delivery. 



Mrs. Eschher and I have had an en- 

 joyable trip through Italy, Hungary, 

 Austria, Germany, Belgium, France and 

 England, but probably will be home 

 again before this letter reaches The Re- 

 view, as we sail tomorrow on the Vater- 

 land. B. Eschner. 



VARIETIES OF AMPELOPSIS. 



Is there more than one kind of am- 

 pelopsist Are the. leaves of some varie- 

 ties more elongated than others? A 

 patron has found it impossible to get it 

 to cling to the wall above the founda- 

 tion. The brick was painted several 

 years ago. The plants are strong, but 

 the little feelers dry up. In another 

 place the vines have a few leaves where 

 seed pods had formed the year before, 

 but the plant does not grow ont nicely. 

 Why do some runners die out? Can a 

 disease attack them, causing part of 

 them to die? D. B. 



There are a number of varieties and 

 forms of ampelopsis. By far the most 



popular is. A. Veitchii, oonnnonly called 

 Boston or Japanese ivy. Of this there 

 is a form named purpurea, with darker 

 purple foliage. Bricks and woodwork, 

 continuously, painted, form too smooth 

 a surface for the roots to cling to read- 

 ily. You could assist the shoots by 

 using wire staples here and there. This 

 ampelopsis has a faculty of dying out 

 in spots, especially where the roots are 

 not well nourished. I do not know of 

 any cure for this, but where the plants 

 are in good soil and have sufficient 

 moisture there is usually little trouble 

 of this kind. 



Other varieties of ampelopsis are 

 heterophylla, with three to five-lobed 

 leaves, suitable for covering low walls 

 and rocks; quinquefolia, the common 

 Virginia creeper, of which the forms En- 

 gelmangi and muralis are distinct, and 

 A. Lowii. The last named is of com- 

 paratively recent introduction; it clings 

 closely to even the smoothest surface, 

 and colors up beautifully in the fall. 



C. W. 



FOINSETTIAS IN SUMMER. 



How should poinsettias be grown dur- 

 ing the summer, in full sun or partly 

 shaded? Should they be kept wet, or 

 on the dry side? M. L. N. B. 



Poinsettias, once they are rooted and 

 established in the pots, should have the 

 fullest sunshine all the time. Like 

 other plants, they must not b© kept 

 either extremely wet or extremely dry. 

 Poinsettias will soon lose their foliage 

 unless carefully watered; that is, they 

 require intelligent watering, like any 

 other plants — neither too much nor too 

 little. C. W. 



A OBOWEB'S NOTES. 



[A paper by Ira H. I.andis, of Taradise, Pa., 

 read at tbe meeting of the Lancaster County Flo- 

 rists' Club, at Lancaster, Pa., June 18.] 



The gladiolus is becoming more de- 

 servedly popular each year, with its 

 beautiful flowers of such wonderful last- 

 ing qualities, which place it above many 

 other cut flowers. By merely trimming 

 a small portion of the stem away each 

 day the same bouquet will last over a 

 week. It may be had during a long 

 blooming season by different plantings 

 at intervals of two weeks from the time 

 the frost is out of the ground until July 

 1, and you may enjoy their beauty for 

 ten or twelve weeks. 



This flower succeeds everywhere. The 

 gladiolus responds so quickly to good 

 treatment and requires so little effort 

 that there can be no excuse for not pro- 

 ducing good flowers. According to the 

 varieties, the bulbs will produce flowers 

 in from sixty-five to ninety days. 



Well-rotted stable manure is one of 

 the best fertilizers and should be spread 

 over the land in the fall and plowed 

 under in the following spring. Plant 

 them from three to four inches deep, the 

 larger bulbs the latter depth. The se- 

 cret Of growiijg good flowers is thorough 

 cultivation. In nearly all parts of the 



country artificial watering is unneces- 

 sary, provided a dust mulch is kept on 

 the surface to conserve the moisture. 

 Stir the surface as soon as fit after each 

 rain and give frequent cultivation. A 

 sunny situation, not too close to build- 

 ings, is best. 



In cutting gladioli the greatest satis- 

 faction is obtained by cutting the spike 

 when the first bud opens and allowing 

 the flower to develop indoors. Every 

 bud will then open and more perfect 

 coloring will develop than would be pos- 

 sible if they were left in the sun. Cut- 

 ting the spike when the first bud opens 

 is also a benefit to the bulb, as the 

 strength of the foliage is required by 

 the bulb to develop it for the next 

 year's growth. For this reason, always 

 allow two or more leaves to remain. 



About the latter part of September, 

 or after the first frosts appear, the 

 bulbs should be taken out of the ground 

 and allowed to dry several hours in the 

 sun. However, the more drying or cur- 

 ing there is done, the greater the loss of 

 vitality, and only enough drying should 

 be practiced to free the bulb of sur- 

 plus moisture contained in the skin or 

 husk, so that there will be no tend- 

 ency to mold. Store at 32 to 40 degrees. 



