AronsT 25, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Revkw. 



659 



Plant of the United States Cut Flower Co^ Elmira, N. Y. 



be as good as wood ashes. If you can 

 get plenty of manure it would seem un- 

 profitable to use the stems in the stead 

 of manure, but it might pay you to burn 

 them and use the ashes instead of wood 

 ashes. I doubt, however, whether that 

 would really pay you, as wood ashes are 

 not expensive unless you have to ship 

 them. It would take considerable time 

 and work to burn enough stems to make 

 a barrel of ashes and it would likely 

 cost you more than wood ashes would 

 cost. If I were in your place I would 

 be disinclined to bother with the stems, 

 except what I wanted for fumigating, etc. 



A. F, J. Baur. 



TEMPERATURES. 



I have Portia, Ine, Hill, White Cloud, 

 Hoosier Maid, Scott, Lawson, Marquis 

 and Eldorado all in one house. One end 

 will be cooler than the other. How shall 

 I plant them the best? J. L. 



I would begin at the warm end and 

 plant the varieties in rotation as they are 

 named: Mrs. Lawson, Flora Hill, Scott, 

 Eldorado, Portia, Ine, Hoosier Maid, 

 The Marquis, White Cloud. I suppose 

 you have two or three benches in your 

 house, and you will have to arrange the 

 varieties accordingly. This will not be 

 diflScult when you know which varieties 

 to plant at the warmej end, etc. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



THE POINSETTIA. 



[The following is the essay by W. F. Rowles, 

 which won first prize In a competition con- 

 ducted by the Hull Horticultural Association. 

 The culture Is British, but the principles are 

 the same the world over.] 



The poinsettia is particularly valued on 

 account of the warmth and brilliancy 

 of its bracts, and more especially bo- 

 cause of the period over which its beauty 

 extends, a period when any flower pos- 

 sessing rich color in so marked a degree 

 is a boon to the gardener. It goes witli- 

 out saying that good bracts of this plant 

 are not obtained without bringing to 

 bear on the subject untiring care and 

 intelligence. However well versed in the 

 principles of culture the grower may be,, 

 he will never reach the truest success in 

 the growth of this or any other plant, 

 without acting up to the fullness of his 

 knowledge and avoiding neglect. 



But let us to the question of ways and 

 m^ns. Unlike many other subjects, the 

 poinsettia does not require a very long 

 period of annual growth; in fact it is 

 possible to root the cuttings and sec 

 the expansion of the bracts within the 



space of three calendar months. This, 

 however, is not the usual method. Prob- 

 ably the best time for inserting the 

 cuttings, (which is the orthodox metho-J 

 of propagation) is early in June, thus 

 allowing six months before the bracts 

 show color in Decem.ber. The cuttings 

 should whenever possible be detached 

 from the old plant with a heel; not that 

 they derive any special facility for root- 

 ing therefrom, but mainly that the older 

 portion being harder diminishes the ex- 

 cessive exudation of sap, and thus pre- 

 vents the cuttings flagging to such an 

 alarming extent as they often do when 

 taken off heelless. 



Immediately on detaching them thrust 

 the cuttings into a bucket of cold water 

 which will greatly stop the bleeding. No 

 time should then be lost in having them 

 inserted in "thimble" pots, filled with 

 a mixture of equal parts loam, leaf soil, 

 cocoanut fibre refuse and sand. Make 

 firm, and without delay plunge in fibre 

 refuse in a propagating case. Water 

 well, keep a close atmosphere, damp daily 

 overhead (leaving the case open for an 

 hour afterwards) and shade from direct 

 sunshine until they root. 



From that time the air admitted to 

 the case should daily be gradually in- 

 creased, and the period of shading pro- 

 portionately decreased. With alwut a 

 week of this treatment they should be 

 ready to quit the case altogether. But 

 at this time more than at any other is 

 the grower 's vigilance most necessary ; 

 for he must recognize the fact that as 

 in the ethical and moral so in the horti- 

 cultural world there is but a thin and 

 almost imperceptible line dividing right 

 from wrong, and at no period of their 

 early existence are the young plants in 

 so close proximity to that none too imag- 



inary line as at the time of which I am 

 now treating. Once a poinsettia is al- 

 lowed to flag, whether through lack of 

 water, cold tlraughts, or fierce suhshiue, 

 its constitution, and especially the facul- 

 ty of retaining its foliage is considerably 

 and conspicuously impaired; and here 

 on the threshold of the subject I might 

 remark that the true criterion of correct 

 culture in this plant is the retention of 

 the foliage in a healthy condition right 

 down to the pot. If this condition exists, 

 nothing but an unusual absence of sun- 

 shine to ripen the wood, will adversely 

 affect the expansion of desirable bracts. 



As soon as the plants have accustomed 

 themselves to the change consequent on 

 removal from the propagating case to 

 a mora open atmosphere, they will in 

 all probability require a shift; which 

 event should not be delayed, for they 

 quickly become dry in such small pots. 

 The size should not be less than three 

 inches in diameter, and the compost may 

 consist of loam, leaf soil, peat, sand 

 and charcoal. Let them remain in the 

 same temperature for a few days to 

 recover from the inevitable check of pot- 

 ting, and above all things water care- 

 fully, endeavoring to keep the soil al- 

 ways in that happy state which lies mid- 

 way between extremes of dust dry and 

 complete saturation. 



Syringing overhead may be performed 

 twice daily, using water of about the 

 same temperature as the house. A max- 

 imum night temperature of 50 to 55 de- 

 grees will then be suflScient for them for 

 a few weeks, after which they may be 

 transferred to a cold frame and potted 

 as soon as necessary in 5 or 6-inch pots, 

 using four parts fibrous loam, one part 

 leaf soil, one part peat, some dried cow 

 manure broken up, mortar rubble, and 

 charcoal. Firm potting is advisable, but 

 the use of a ramming stick is wholly 

 unnecessary. 



Shading should be employed as little 

 as possible, and only immediately the 

 plants have been repotted or are shifted 

 to cooler quarters, when the tendency to 

 flag would only be heightened by fierce 

 sunshine. The aim should be to keep 

 the stock as cool and airy as possible, 

 Jind thus build up a robust constitution. 

 As they outgrow the limits of height al- 

 lowed them in a frame, it will be nec- 

 essary to remove them to a cool structure 

 where an abundance of air can be al- 

 lowed. 



This feature is equally as important 

 as the watering, for in a closed house on 

 wliich the sun strikes strongly, and where 

 the plants are far from the glass, they 

 must according to all the canoas of hor- 

 ticultural science inevitably become 

 drawn, and all who are in the smallest 



Service Buildings of the United States Cut Flower Co., Elmira, N. Y, 



