14 



1 he Florists' Review 



Apbii. 8, 1015. 



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SEASONABLE iir 

 Mt SUGGESTIONS 



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temperature of 55 to 60 degrees at first, 

 later lowering to 50 degrees, will suit 

 either of the plants named. C. W. 



Hydrangeas for Memorial Day. 



You have probably disposed of a 

 good many hydrangeas for Easter, es- 

 pecially the new French varieties, which 

 have come to the front rapidly the last 

 two years and have quite displaced the 

 Otaksa for early flowering. Hydrangeas 

 had not hitherto been good Easter 

 plants, but the pure white, rich pink 

 and lavender shades in the newer 

 French sorts are taking and it is no 

 wonder that they are in demand. For 

 Memorial day, however, the old Otaksa 

 still is the hydrangea par excellence. 

 It has much tougher foliage and flowers 

 than the French varieties and is, there- 

 fore, better adapted for outdoor and 

 piazza uses. Plants which have been 

 confined in frames or crowded in the 

 greenhouses can now be spread out and 

 given a little more heat to bring them 

 along. As the pots become filled with 

 roots, commence feeding and keep it up 

 until the flower heads show color, when 

 it must be stopped or the color will 

 suffer. 



By the way, have you remembered to 

 put in a good batch of hydrangea cut- 

 tings? If not, get them in now. The 

 French varieties are so floriferous that 

 it is usually necessary to cut a few 

 plants back for propagating purposes. 



Poinsettias. 



It is time to overhaul the poinsettia 

 stock plants and pot them up if you 

 want some long stems with big bracts 

 on them. Cut the tops back somewhat 

 and either pot or place in flats in a 

 warm, moist house. Do not water too 

 much until growth starts, but spray 

 freely. The cuttings are best rubbed off 

 with a heel when three to four inches 

 long. If you do not want any long- 

 stemmed stock with big heads in 

 benches or pots, leave the stock plants 

 where they are for another month. 



Cyclamens. 



Do not neglect the little cyclamens 

 in the rush of Easter and other spring 

 work. They can be either potted singly 

 or grown thinly in flats on a shelf or 

 bench well up to the light. Let the 

 compost at this time be light, contain- 

 ing an abundance of leaf -soil of a flaky 

 nature. Give the surface soil an oc- 

 casional stirring, remove all weeds as 

 they appear and give the plants a daily 

 spraying during bright weather. A 

 minimum temperature of 55 degrees 

 will be found exactly to the liking of 

 the plants. 



Primulas. 



The seedlings of P. Sinensis and P. 

 obconica, to be in season for next 

 Christmas, should have been pricked off 

 into flats before now and must be kept 

 growing on in a night temperature of 

 50 degrees. There is still time to sow 

 seed of these varieties for blooming in 

 the spring of 1916, but do not make the 

 mistake of sowing P. malacoides yet; 

 the end of June is sufficiently early for 

 sowing seeds of this beautiful primrose. 

 If started earlier, the plants will be 



much too large. This is far and away 

 the most graceful and decorative of all 

 the primulas and every florist who sells 

 pot plants should grow a batch. 



WHEN TO SOW SNAPDEAOONS. 



Will you please tell me when is the 

 right time to sow snapdragon seed for 

 summer, late fall and winter blooms 1 

 Also, when is the right time to take 

 the cuttings? I shall grow the sum- 

 mer blooms outside. M. W. C. — Mich. 



COMPOST CAUSES DAMPINO OFF. 



Can you tell me what is the matter 

 with my salvias? I have them trans- 

 planted in small boxes in about three 

 inches of good black soil from hotbeds, 

 mixed with sand. They fall over just 

 above the ground and seem as if rotted. 

 I have tomatoes in another house in 

 about the same soil which act in the 

 same way. C. U. — Ohio. 



I think the probable cause of your 

 seedlings falling over and rotting is 

 that you are trying to grow them in 

 pure manure, for, if your compost is 

 black and from an old hotbed, it can 

 be nothing else. If you will use three- 

 fourths loam and one-fourth of the hot- 

 bed manure, you should have no further 

 trouble. Also, remember not to bury 

 the stems of your seedlings. Some 

 growers allow their seedlings to become 

 drawn and at transplanting time, in 

 order to make them stand erect, they 

 bury the stems. Usually a large pro- 

 portion of these damp off. 



Be sure your boxes have proper 

 drainage, shade them from bright sun- 

 shine for a few days until the plants 

 become established, and do not try to 

 grow them in a cool house. A night 



For summer blooming, it would have 

 been better to sow the snapdragon seed 

 early in March, but there is still time 

 to make a sowing. For fall and winter 

 blooming under glass, sow the seed 

 about the end of April, pot off singly 

 and later move into 3% -inch or 4-inch 

 pots. Do not allow the plants to be- 

 come too much potbound before plant- 

 ing out, which should be done by the 

 end of July. There will then be a 

 nice crop of flowers early in October. 

 While snapdragons can be flowered 

 fairly well in solid beds in winter, they 

 do much better when they have the 

 root action restricted, and raised 

 benches containing not over five inches 

 of soil will be found the most satis- 

 factory. Cuttings for fall or winter 

 blooming can be put in about the mid- 

 dle of April. C. W. 



WONDER LEMON SEEDLINGS. 



Will seedlings of American Wonder 

 lemon bear fruit, or must the plants 

 be grown from cuttings? I have about 

 100 seedlings of this lemon. 



E. C. C— Okla. 



It will be your best plan to bud the 

 American Wonder lemon seedlings 

 when they are 2 to 3 years old. You 

 will be sure then to get one true type, 

 which is unlikely in the seedlings. 

 Furthermore, the budded plants will 

 fruit earlier and more freely. C. W. 



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Cjrclamens. 



The little cyclamen seedlings, if they 

 have from four to six leaves, will be 

 ready to transplant once more. When 

 only 1,000 or so are grown for home 

 sales and no regular house is needed 

 for their culture, it is better to use 

 fiats two and one-half to three inches 

 deep for this purpose, and leave plenty 

 of cracks in the bottom to provide 

 drainage. The soil used for the second 

 transplanting can be one-half sifted 

 loam and one-half leaf-mold, with the 

 addition of a 7-inch potful of sheep 

 manure to each barrow load of the mix- 

 ture. On transplanting, keep the larger 

 and stronger plants separate from the 

 smaller ones and do not mix them in- 

 discriminately. Each plant then has 

 an equal chance to develop, without 

 any overcrowding. Give them enough 

 room to grow to double their present 

 size without getting drawn. Plants 

 that are drawn in the young stages of 

 their growth never make good, sym- 

 metrical specimens. In fact, this rule 

 holds good from seed pan to finish. 



A good place for the fiats is on a 

 raised platform at the warm end of 

 the rose house, near the glass. They 

 do not require any shade yet, but will 

 take quite a good watering every day. 

 Pick out any weeds or grass as fast 

 as they appear, and stir up the surface 

 soil occasionally until time for potting. 

 In transplanting, I like to have the 

 plants just deep enough so that the 

 top of the bulblet can be seen after 

 the first watering. They make much 

 better growth in flats than in little 

 pots and really they ought not to be 

 potted until ready for a 3-inch pot. 



I know of no other plants that will 

 so well repay a little extra attention 

 as cyclamens. If well grown, they are 

 easily the best sellers among the winter- 

 flowering plants. In the Piedmont sec- 

 tion of the south they can be grown 

 as well as anywhere in the United 

 States. In the extreme south the sum- 

 mer climate is decidedly against them, 

 but if plants from 4-inch pots are 

 bought in September, they can be 

 grown into fine 6-inch specimens for the 

 holidays. L. 



