20 



The Florists^ Review 



Febbuary 25, 1015. 



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I SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS I 

 I FOR SOUTHERN FLORISTS | 



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Chrysanthemums. 



The present time is a good one to 

 prepare chrysanthemum cuttings, espe- 

 cially of the earlier varieties, whether 

 for indoor or outdoor culture. The cut- 

 tings are plentiful and will still root 

 readily in the greenhouse propagating 

 bench. A month later, especially in 

 the more southern sections, they will 

 have to be rooted in coldframes and 

 sha^ded well during the day. These, 

 frames may be from twelve to eighteen 

 inches', high, in order to protect the 

 cuttinas from drafts as much as pos- 

 sible, J^nd whatever kind of shade is 

 u6ed must be elevated both front and 

 back ta provide thorough ventilation. 



Clean \ sand and charcoal dust make 

 an excellent combination for a propa- 

 gating bed. Charcoal dust alone prac- 

 tically eliminates danger from cutting 

 bed tuugus, and may be used for more 

 than one year. 



Shade must be removed entirely at 

 night, which is the proper time to do 

 any watering the bed requires. 



During extremely warm weather, rot 

 is liable to start in the soft tips of the 

 cuttings and work clear down to the 

 sand; so remove the tip»from all the 

 cuttings before inserting thein in the 

 sand, and the trouble is obviated. In 

 fact, in hot weather the cuttings are 

 better to be a little on the hard side, 

 and often more than one cutting can be 

 made from the same shoot. When the 

 cuttings are nicely rooted, which will 

 be in from twenty to twenty-five days, 

 they can be potted in 214-inch pots in 

 a good compost of three parts fresh 

 loam to one part manure. They must 

 be kept moving until you are ready to 

 plant them out. A young plant that is 

 allowed to become hard and stunted in 

 a small pot never seems to lose its 

 woody tendency, no matter how it may 

 seem to flourish after being planted 

 out. 



Carnations. 



Early propagation and early plant- 

 ing out in the field is the watchword 

 for carnations. December and January 

 are the best months for propagating, 

 although it is not too late yet to put 

 in a good-sized batch, as an anchor to 

 windward. Select good pips from near 

 the base of the flowering shoots for 

 cuttings, taking them medium-sized or 

 a little larger, and avoiding the smaller 

 ones, which do not root well and never 

 prove satisfactory when they do. 



The propagating table should be five 

 inches deep. A good layer of rough 

 cinders in the bottom makes the best 

 kind of drainage. The sand must be 

 clean and free from all dirt. It does 

 not matter whether it is coarse or fine, 

 as subsequent waterings will be heavy 

 or light according to its texture. I 

 have used sand for propagating that 

 required heavy watering three times 

 daily, and some that hardly required 

 that much in a week, with equally good 

 results. The sand when pounded firm 

 should be about three inches deep. 



When the cuttings are first inserted 

 they require a thorough watering. On 

 every bright day give them a fine 



spraying before shading, and apply just 

 enough water to keep the sand well 

 moistened, but not waterlogged. The 

 cuttings must be carefully watched and 

 not allowed to wilt. 



If you have to use the same sand 

 for a second or third batch of cuttings, 

 be sure to sterilize it by drenching it 

 thoroughly with scalding hot water 

 from the boiler or a solution of 200 

 parts water to one part formalin. If 

 the latter is used, it is well to spread 

 newspapers over the sand after it is 

 soaked, to cause the fumes to be rle- 

 tained as long as possible. In three or 

 four days the sand will be ready for 

 use again. 



A night temperature of 50 to 52 de- 

 grees must be maintained in the house. 

 It is not necessary to have bottom heat 

 under the propagating bench; without 

 it the cuttings may take a few days 

 longer to root and yet be all the bet- 

 ter for so doing. In such conditions 

 thirty days are required to root the cut- 

 tings sufficiently to be potted. 



When they are rooted, pot them up 

 in 2^-inch pots, place on a bench and 

 keep shaded for a week, until the cut- 

 tings begin to establish themselves in 

 their new quarters. An excellent pot- 

 ting soil for this purpose is obtained 

 by screening two inches of the top soil 

 from one of the old chrysanthemum 

 ' beds, adding about one-eiabth to one- 

 tenth leaf -mold and mixing thoroughly. 

 " No cow manure or other fertilizer is 

 needed, Give A thorough watering 

 aft^r potting, spray every bright day 

 and avoid giving too m"\ich water, but 

 don't let the plants suffer from lack of 

 it. Pay particular attention to the 

 ends and edges of the tables, as you 

 will find the plaits there are liable to 

 dry out quickly. 



In about six weeks the plants will 

 be ready for their first pinching and 



this should be attended to just as need- 

 ed. I do not believe in pinching too 

 close to the ground the first time, but 

 allow the plants to get high enough 

 so that after taking out the top joint 

 there will be four to six other joints 

 left. In eight weeks the young plants 

 will want a shift. Instead of repotting, 

 it is better to plant them out on a 

 bench in not over two and a half to 

 three inches of soil. They can be set 

 out rather closely and will thrive until 

 the time comes for planting in the 

 field, which should be in Marcih or the 

 beginning of April, according to lati- 

 tude. The advantages of planting 

 them in shallow beds lie in the facts 

 that such a bed is not easily overwa- 

 tered, the roots are kept compact, and 

 on lifting to plant in the field you can 

 put the trowel under and practically 

 lift all the soil and have the roots 

 intact. L. 



SOWING HARDY PEBENNIALS. 



We have been in the habit of sowing 

 our hardy perennial seeds in July or 

 early August for fall transplanting, but 

 we do not have as good success as we 

 would like. Woul^. it be an advantage 

 to sow in the eajly spring? When 

 do the large commercial growers sow 

 these seeds and w^at treatment do they 

 give the small plants? W. M. R. S. 



More perennial seeds are sown, prob- 

 ably, in July and early August than 

 during any other period. Winter, how- 

 ever, is a splendid time to sow many 

 varieties, a suitable time being from 

 February 1 to March 15. Seeds should 

 be sown in shallow flats of light soil 

 containing a large percentage of leaf- 

 mold. Use some fine sand as a cover- 

 ing after sowing. Give a temperature 

 of 55 to 60 degrees at night; let th^ 

 atmosphere be moist, and be sure tha,t 

 the soil in the flats is not allowed to 

 dry out. Some varieties will germinate 

 in a few days, others not for weeks, a 

 few not for months,, but when sown un- 

 der glass there is a tolerable certainty 

 of a good germination if the seeds are 

 fresh. 



You can move perennial seedlings to 

 a slightly cooler house when they are 



Beauty House of the Dale Estate^ Brampton, Ont., Recently Crushed by ^ow. 



