Dkcembeb 3, 1914. 



The Florists' Review 



26 



PELABGONIUM EASTEB OBEETING 



Is Its Fropf gation DifflciQt? 



Having received inquiries from a 

 good many florists in regard to the 

 propagating and growing of Easter 

 Greeting pelargoniums, I concluded that 

 the most satisfactory way of replying 

 to the questions would be to tell my 

 experience to the whole trade through 

 the columns of The Review. In my 

 opinion, there is nothing else on the 

 market today that is so easily grown 

 and at the same time so beautiful as 

 Easter Greeting. 



I have heard that when Easter Greet- 

 ing was first brought to America, the 

 growers had trouble in propagating it. 

 For this, I think, climatic conditions 

 were largely to blame. After Easter 

 Greeting became acquainted with Amer- 

 ica's climate and soil, and America be- 

 came acquainted with Easter Greeting, 

 the difficulty in propagating was prac- 

 tically ended. 



One grower says that Easter Greeting 

 is, without a doubt, one of the best pot 

 plants in America, but that its great 

 flowering qualities make it a poor pro- 

 ducer of cuttings. Here are the facts 

 which show what success we had in that 

 respect last summer: We put 800 5-inch 

 stock plants in the field. Owing to our 

 busy season and the weather conditions, 

 we did not get these planted until June 

 20. We cultivated them in the same 

 way as we would any other plants in 

 the field. We got three crops of cut- 

 tings. The first cuttings were taken 

 July 31 and the last ones September 25. 

 From these three crops we got 17,500 

 cuttings and we rooted an average of 

 ninety per cent of them. As judged by 

 that record, is Easter Greeting a poor 

 cutting producer or not? We did not 

 have an imported expert employed as a 

 propagator, but just an ordinary, Amer- 

 ican-born florist. 



The secret is this, if it may be called 

 a secret: You must keep the flowers off 

 your stock plants. After the cuttings 

 are in the sand, no one is likely to have 

 much trouble about rooting them if he 

 just uses a fair amount of what is 

 known as good, common, horse sense. 



Keep the Plants Orowlng. 



After they are potted, care for them 

 as you would any other plants. When 

 they have taken hold of the soil, keep 

 them going. If you let them get too 

 dry, the stems will become hard and you 

 cannot produce nice plants. If they are 

 properly cared for, you do not need to 

 top them to secure satisfactory plants. 

 Give Easter Greeting a chance and you 

 will be surprised at what it will do for 

 itself, but do mot forget for a moment 

 that all of your plants must be kept in 

 a healthy, growing condition all the 

 time. If they need repotting, do it at 

 once. In the case of large stock plants 

 that cannot be repotted, you can feed 

 them. 



We think a temperature of 45 to 50 

 degrees will produce the best plants. In 

 a higher temperature the plants are 

 liable to make a soft growth, which may 

 mean trouble later. We have had no 

 trouble with disease. As to insects, you 

 can keep them at bay by following the 

 old adage, "An ounce of prevention is 

 worth a pound of cure." Hydrocyanic 

 acid gas is the cure. 



To have nice plants in bloonj for 

 Easter, you must have good plants to 

 shift to 4-inch pots in November. Then 



Pelargonium Easter Greeting Grown by J. N. Spanabel & Sons, East Palestine, O. 



keep thein going and you will not need 

 to worry about their not being in flower 

 in time. 



The plants shown in the illustration 

 are in 5-inch pots. The cuttings were 

 taken late in August. The photograph 

 was taken April 1. J. N. Spanabel. 



KANSAS CITY. 



The Market. 



The florists of this city have two 

 things to be thankful for. We may 

 not be contented with conditions as 

 they have been for the last three 

 months, but we should be thankful that 

 an increase of business was done at 

 Thanksgiving. It was noticed, also, 

 about ten days before Thanksgiving, 

 that business in general made a jump 

 to the old standard of a year ago and 

 has kept going along nicely ever since. 

 This is the general report. The florists 

 have made every effort to attract atten- 

 tion. Window displays were a big im- 

 provement over those of last year. 



Thanksgiving day practically cleaned 

 out all the chrysanthemums for this 

 year, as there are only one or two 

 growers who have any left. November 

 23 everybody thought there were plen- 

 ty, with some to spare. No one had 

 any idea chrysanthemums would retail 

 as high as 75 cents to $1 each, which 

 they did just before noon. Yellow 

 mums were cleaned up entirely, only 

 a few white and pink remaining. It 

 is thought the latter were not far 

 enough developed to sell. 



With chrysanthemums out of the 

 way, carnations will make some ad- 

 vance within a few days, as the prices 

 now asked are below those of last year. 

 Carnations are showing better quality, 

 have stiffer' stems, are better in color 

 and larger in size. Eoses are not so 

 plentiful as they were, especially in 

 red. Last week there was a shortage 

 of Beauties and Mrs. Chas. Kussell. A 

 shortage also was noted in Milady and 

 Richmond in the better grades. Killar- 

 ney and White Killarney were plentiful. 

 Killarney is losing its color and it 

 means that the call for other roses will 

 bo hpavipr. Yellow roses are in little 



4 



demand. Good violets are scarce. Peas 

 are plentiful and of good quality. 

 Stevia and narcissi are more plentiful. 

 A good many cattleyas are grown in 

 this city, but the trade seems to keep 

 the market cleaned up on them. 



Various Notes. 



L. C. Fields, Tenth street and Spitlog 

 avenue, Kansas side, had quite an ex- 

 perience November 23. A man of 

 prosperous appearance, driving a fine 

 car, stopped at the Fields store and 

 ordered $2.50 worth of flowers to be 

 delivered to 741 Washington boulevard. 

 He presented a check for $14.50, pock- 

 eted $12 cash change and departed. 

 Afterwards $10 was missing from Mr. 

 Fields' pocketbook, which was on the 

 counter, and the check was found to 

 be bogus. The address given was 

 found to be a vacant lot. The police 

 say the car was stolen. 



A. F. Barbe is cutting some nice 

 carnations and stevia and says business 

 has been all that could be expected. 



W. J. Barnes reports Thanksgiving 

 shipping business as a big increase over 

 that of last year. He was sold out of 

 chrysanthemum plants. 



The Geo. M. Kellogg Flower & Plant 

 Co. reports a clean-up on all cut flowers. 

 Prices were better than expected. 



The Rosery sold out on everything 

 and reports business better than last 

 year. 



For one decoration Samuel Murray 

 used 125 orchids for the table alone. 

 He reports business good for Thanks- 

 giving. Mr. Murray's window display 

 included two large standard azaleas, in 

 full bloom and about six feet high. 



A. Newell had a big run on yellow, 

 chrysanthemums and sold them at a^ 

 price above what he expected. 



T. J. Noll & Co. received a heavy 

 consignment of stock for Thanksgiving, 

 but by noon everything was disposed of. 



W. L. Rock Flower Co. had two 

 houses, 27x225, filled with mums this 

 year, which gave an exceptionally fine 

 crop of flowers. 



J. E. Murray & Co. report a big 

 increase of business in the last ten 

 days. 



Mrs. T. A. Mosoly, across the state 



/ 



