' 3 



^■v 



340 



The Weekly Florists' Review*' 



Jolt 14, 1904. 



with flowers and foliage to the rim of 

 the pot. 



The Azaleas Outdoon. 



Look well after your azaleas that are 

 plunged outdoors. They increase in size 

 considerably during July and August 

 and should not be allowed to crowd, A 

 fresh mulching of manure about now 

 will do them the greatest good, but, of 

 course, the all-important point is to see 

 that they do not suffer for water. If 

 they are strong and vigorous, and the 

 soil filled with roots, once a day is not 

 enough on bright, . hot days. Evening 

 is the time to water, principally be- 

 cause the soil has all night to remain 

 moist and the roots have long hours to 

 enjoy the moisture. But if by the fol- 

 lowing noon your azaleas are dried 

 out, which they likely are, as they 

 , should be in the broad sun, don 't be 

 afraid to water them. There will be 

 no burning, no harm of any kind, but 

 the plants will bless you foi* your at- 

 tention. 



Wetting Foliage in Sun. 



The question whether it is wise and 

 proper to water or wet the foliage of 

 plants when the sun is shining on them., 

 was threshed out some years ago in/ff 

 contemporary journal, yet it seemed no 

 argument with practical gardeners. To 

 think that water on the leaves of plants 

 in sunshine hurts them, belongs to tho 

 same class of knowledge as the belief 

 that toads produce warts on your hands 

 or that a snake with its head cut off 

 does not die before sundown, and many 

 other interesting natural history facts 

 handed down to us by keen observers 

 who .flourished before the flood. 



Pruning the Hedges. 



^ ■ As you have a nursery column now 

 • which, is always interesting, I may be 



. allowed to say that this is an excellent 

 'time to do a lot of pruning among the 

 ornamental trees, both deciduous and 

 evergreen, and particularly with almost 

 all kinds of hedges. I am not a friend 

 of hedges of any kind except where 

 they are needed, yet there are many sit- 

 uations where a formal hedge is not 

 out of place. As has been remarked in 

 your columns more than once this sea- 

 son, the beautiful little Berberis Thun- 

 bergii has no rival. It is lovely at all 

 seasons and lucky is the man who has 

 50,000 of it, for it is sure to be wanted 

 this fall to replace the miles of kjlted 

 California privet. J^pjs<?in_jj>itfifthis 

 beautiful, absolutely Mrdy^'shrub needs 

 little if any pruning, except to stop a 

 strong growth here and there. To 

 prune it into any stiff, formal shape 

 would spoil its beauty. Privet hedges 

 should now be pruned, not the severs 

 shearing back that may be necessriry in 

 the spring, but just a shortening back 

 with the shears, enough to give it a 

 trim, neat appearance, for, unlike the 

 berberis, a privet hedge is nothing if 

 not trim and straight in outline. 



Evergreen hedges, of Norway spruce, 

 arbor-vitffi or, best of all, hemlock 

 spruce (Abies Canadensis) can and 

 should be trimmed into shape. It takes 

 longer and perhaps more skill to prune 

 these hedges with a knife, yet that 'a 

 what should be done. The shears on a 

 privet hedge is entirely right, but they 

 are mutilation on the evergreen hedges. 

 When a tree stands alone, say on a 

 lawn or an avenue, if not crowded, no 

 man can improve on its beauty of form 

 with a knife. A maple, beech, elm. 



sycamore or any of our shade trees, is 

 , pleasing from its very natural irregu- 

 larity of growth. Still there are con- 

 stantly cases where trees are spoiling 

 from crowding. They may, by their 

 growth, have shut off some vista you 

 . wished kept open, are getting too near 

 the sidewalk, and there are many times 



occasions when "Woodman spare that 

 tree, touch not a single bough," would 

 not be good advice or practice, and now 

 is a good time to use the saw and hat- 

 chet. You can see much bettor now, 

 when the trees are in full leaf, the ef- 

 fect of crowding than you can with 

 the bare branches. William Scott. 



SEASONABLE CULTURE. 



Planting being finished, the care of the 

 stock for some time will engage our at- 

 tention. This care consists of a mul- 

 titude of small duties, any one of which, 

 if neglected or if not performed at the 

 proper time, may lead to disastrous re- 

 sults. 



Water being one of the most essential 

 wants, being needed in quantities suf- 

 ficient during the growing period to pre- 

 pare and keep the food in an assimilable 

 form, must be supplied with a deal of 

 intelligence and care. To the careful ob- 

 server, who notes all the conditions in 

 the house and studies the wants and re- 

 quirements of his stock, and keeps also 

 an eye on conditions outside of the housp, 

 the art of watering becomes a second na-' 

 ture and without this study it is im- 

 possible to approach perfection. 



Ventilation, which plays such an im- 

 portant part in the successful culture 

 of the rose under glass, is too often 

 done in a haphazard sort of a way 

 and many growers, who otherwise treat 

 their stock fairly well, court ruin by 

 neglecting to study and learn the real 

 use of ventilators and the necessity of 

 maintaining a steady temperature and 

 a plentiful supply of pure, fresh air 

 which accompanies their proper use. 



Of equal importance to watering and 

 ventilating in the summer treatment of 

 young stock is the systematic cultivation 

 of the soil. In soils suited to rose cul- 

 ture under glass the copious supplies 

 of water necessary would soon cause the 

 surface to cake and the body of the soil 

 to become sour, in which condition 

 evaporation is interfered with, so in 

 order to keep the soil in a fit state to 

 derive the full benefit of the water ap- 

 plied the surface must be kept well 

 stirred up. 



This cultivation should be about one 

 inch deep and should be practiced at 

 least once a week until tine roots have ap- 

 proached the surface so closely that fur- 

 ther disturbance would be injurious. 



Some time ago, when conversing with 

 a brother grower, he made the remark 

 that he thought I did not attach enough 

 importance to this subject in my notes 



and, knowing the value of regular and 

 persistent cultivation, he thought the at- 

 tention of the younger growers should be 

 specially directed to its importance as 

 one of the principal factors to success. 

 With his views I entirely agree, as T 

 have never seen a good crop produced 

 where this was neglected- or carelessly 

 performed. Bibes. 



DISBUDDING. 



My roses are doing very finely; should 

 I disbud or ctit back a trifle t 



L. H. W. 



It is a great pleasure to know that 

 readers of my notes are having success 

 with their stock and any advice that I 

 give is what I have found to be best 

 after years of experiment, and just as 

 I practice myself. It would simplify 

 matters considerably if querists would be 

 a little more explicit when stating their 

 troubles; such as naming the varieties 

 they want information about, and giv- 

 ing details as to conditions, methods of 

 treatment, etc. 



The method of disbudding as prac- 

 ticed by most experts where teas or hy- 

 brid teas are the crops, is to cut off 

 about half the flower stem. This is done 

 with the object of leaving only the best and 

 strongest eyes to form the future flower 

 stem. By simply picking off the buds 

 and leaving all the eyes on the stem 

 to break it naturally follows that there 

 are mor? eyes to sustain than can be 

 developed into flower stems and the con- 

 sequence is a large crop of blind wood. 



With Beauties the case is somewhat 

 different. During the early stages of 

 their growth they are inclined to run to 

 flower on every point and if the -budS 

 are not required for market they should 

 be removed, taking off along with tha 

 bud three or four of the topmost eyes, 

 cutting them back just far enough to 

 get a good strong eye. By continuing 

 this practice up till within six weeks of 

 the time the first crop is wanted, bushv 

 plants with a wealth of luxuriant foli- 

 age, ready and fit to do good work, can 

 be had. Eibes. 



OUTDOOR ROSES. 



For the past fifteen years I have been 

 growing on an average of about 300 

 rose bushes. For the past two years I 

 have abolished the hybrid perpetual and 

 have gone to the tea and the hybrid tea. 



