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October 13, 1904. 



ThcWcekly Florists' Review. 



1001 



SUPPLYlNCi aoiL liLEMENTS. 



Stock which has been growing freely 

 since planting time should now have the 

 soil well filled with roots, the small feed- 

 ers of which will now be so close to the 

 surface that further cultivation will be 

 sure to destroy or injure them, and ought 

 therefore to be discontinued. 



To provide sufficient food for coming 

 crops and to supply lae elements which 

 have already been absorbed a light mulch 

 should be applied as often as the plants 

 require it. To obtain the full benefit of 

 a mulch it is not necessary to put it on 

 thick, as this excludes the sun's rays 

 from the soil and prevents the bene- 

 ficial action of the air on its surface, an 

 inch thick being amply sufficient at this 

 season. Besides, small and frequent ap- 

 plications are better and safer than to 

 take any risks by giving an over-dose. 



There is no better or safer material 

 for this purpose than decomposed cow 

 manure, and to render this fit for imme- 

 diate use it should be passed through a 

 screen of %-inch mesh and about one- 

 third of its bulk of good fibrous loam 

 added. This gives it weight and helps 

 retain it in its place on the bench when 

 water is applied. To this compost can 

 be added a 6-inch pot of desiccated bone 

 meal to each bushel. The whole should 

 be thoroughly incorporated before beiim 

 spread evenly over the surface. 



For some weeks after applying tbe 

 mulch a careful inspection of the benches 

 each day will be necessary, as appear- 

 ances are very deceptive. The manure in 

 the mulch absorbs and retains the mois- 

 ture, giving the bencn the appearance of 

 being moist enough, when a careful ex- 

 amination may disclose the fact that the 

 soil underneath the mulch may be bone 

 dry. 



When the mulch has become partly ex- 

 liausted a top dressing of unleached wood 

 ashes will greatly benefit both foliage, 

 stem and color of bloom. This being ;• 

 very concentrated form of food, will re- 

 quire to be used with caution, as an 

 over-dose will quickly sicken the plants 

 and cause the young wood to wilt. For a 

 first application one bushel will be suffi- 

 cient to cover 100 square yards of bench. 

 After the plants get accustomed to this 

 kind of food they will thrive on double 

 the quantity. 



Most of our rose soils are deficient in 

 calcareous matter as regards culture un- 

 der glass and, where that element is also 

 low in the water supply, means should 

 be taken to supply this want from time 

 to time. This can be supplied in tlic 



form of air-slaked lime, a generous 

 sprinkling of which can be given at least 

 once a month all the year around. 



A serviceable fact to bear in mind is 

 that bone meal and lime in combination 

 release so much ammonia that > no rose 

 will succeed where it is used, the foliage 

 t.e.ng sure to suffer from even a slight 

 application. 



Beauties, being gross feeders, require 

 more attention in respect to food than 

 Brides and other teas, but the fact that 

 they are heavy feeders does not warrant 

 us in giving them an extra heavy mulch, 

 as they are just as susceptible to over- 

 feeding as are our most delicate varieties 

 ( f teas. Also, if they are once sickened 

 it takes them a much longer time to re- 

 cover. RiBES. 



roses and have been in the field since 

 last spring, set out from 3% -inch pots. 

 Can we take up tea roses and make dor- 

 mant plants of them, and how shall we 

 treat them? A. T. B. 



PLANTS FROM FIELD. 



We would like some information on 

 roses. Can we take tea roses from the 

 field into the greenhouse with any suc- 

 cess and how should we treat them? 

 They are about the size of 4-inch pot 



It is an easy matter to bring tea roses 

 to a dormant condition and transplant 

 into the house with success. This is be- 

 ing done quite frequently with Califor- 

 nian stock. I, ho\#ever, think it would 

 be a losing transaction to lift such small 

 roses from the field and plant at this 

 late season, as it is an established fact 

 that roses are rarely a success financially 

 unless we can get them into crop about 

 the holiday season, and these plants can 

 hardly be in condition to bear a crop till 

 spring. 



To get them to make a start in the 

 house they should be lifted when tie 

 soil is dry and transplanted into good, 

 rich soil. Give one good watering around 

 the roots, keep the house cool and moist 

 until root action commences, shade the 

 house lightly for a wedt and syringe 

 once a day during bright weather. As 

 root action commences, which will be 

 indicated by the eyes beginning to 

 swell, gradually increase the supply of 

 water and give air more freely. Re- 

 move the shading as soon as the eyes 

 begin to break. Until the leaves develop 

 and young shoots begin to appear the 

 temperature should be kept at about 50 

 degrees at night, not to exceed 55 de- 

 grees during the day, if possible. 



This method of culture has been 

 tried by many experts during the last 

 ten years, but that they do not follow 

 it up is a sure indication that it is not 

 a wholly satisfactory one. Ribes. 



The Dutch Bulbs. 



You will find time now to get all the 

 Dutch bulbs into flats, reserving enough 

 for your bedding trade, and let me say 

 just here that there is no hurry about 

 planting hyacinths and tulips for next 

 spring's outdoor display. The very best 

 display of tulips we ever saw were put 

 into the ground near the end of Novem- 

 ber when it was very wet. No need to 

 wait quite so late or to have the ground 

 unpleasant to work on, yet it is well 

 known that late planting of these bulbs 

 gives a better and more lasting show in 

 the spring than those planted early. To 

 be definite, say, the middle of November 

 will be right. 



Outdoor Bulb Displays. 

 Be sure and plant deep enough. Six 

 inches is not too deep. The bulbs will 

 work up toward the surface during early 

 spring. And plant thick enough. If 

 you have a customer who wants a twelve- 

 foot circular bed of tulips and can only 

 afford to buy 200 bulbs, persuade him 

 to make the bed only six feet across, or, 

 better still, prove to him that a twelve- 

 foot bed needs about 450 tulips to be 

 really handsome. About six inches apart 

 is a good distance for tulips and the 



same for hyacinths. Where large quanti- 

 ties, say 5,000 or 6,000 in one bed, are 

 used the inner rows can be planted thin- 

 ner with just as good effect, because you 

 look over them and if they were one foot 

 apart they would still look a dense mass 

 of bloom. Yet a small bed sparsely 

 planted is a chilly looking object and 

 some nice green grass is pleasanter to 

 look upon. 



While on this subject it is as well to 

 say that a covering of four or five inches 

 of stable litter should be spread over the 

 beds after real winter has set in, not so 

 much to keep out frost, for it's doubtful 

 if the hardest freezing does them any 

 harm, but toward spring the alternate 

 freezing and thawing brings the bulbs 

 to the surface and injures the buds which 

 are already peeping through the ground. 

 Remove the winter covering as soon as 

 hard frosts are over or before much top 

 growth is made. 



Bulbs for Forcing;. 



To return to the forcing operation, 

 there is nothing new to add to what al- 

 ready has been so often told. Briefly, 

 use flats three inches deep and always a 

 uniform size. A light soil, or the old 



