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1002 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



OCTOBEB 13, 1904. 



carnation soil that you threw out last 

 summer will do. Put the bulbs in thick- 

 ly, almost touching, and you will save 

 space, time and labor. Soak the soil in 

 the flats and then lay some old boards 

 down on the open ground and place the 

 flats on them. We don't mean a whole 

 floor of boards, but a strip at ea<;h end 

 of the flats, so that they lift up clean 

 when you want to bring them in to 

 force. 



After the first thorough watering has 

 soaked in, cover with three inches of 

 soil. Some use tanbark. And that's all 

 that's needed unless the weather is dry. 

 If 80, you must give these beds a thor- 

 ough watering once a week or the soil 

 in the flats will be dry and little root 

 growth will occur and they will be in 

 poor condition to force. After the soil 

 covering the flats has an inch or so of 

 frost in it, cover the beds with six inches 

 of stable litter. 



Now we have never failed to have 

 good tulips and daffodils with these 

 methods, yet our winters vary so much 

 in duration, severity and amount of 

 snow that I have seen us have to actu- 

 ally chop the flats out with an ax. At 

 other times the snow was so constant 

 and heavy that frost never even entered 

 the soil or tanbark covering the flats 

 and by April 1 you would see the green 

 leaves of Yellow Prince shoving up 

 through soil and litter into daylight. 

 That's not good. It does not often oc- 

 cur, but to keep the top growth dwarf 

 until forcing time is desirable. 



Bulb Stock in Pans. 



Bulbs that we grow in pots or pans 

 we prefer to put into frames or where, 

 in addition to the covering of soil, we 

 can protect them with sash or shutters, 

 because if frost should reach the pots 

 and pans there would be a good deal of 

 breakage. Many growers of hyacinths 

 put them in flats as you would tulips or 

 Roman hyacinths for cutting. Then at 

 forcing time they lift them carefully out 

 of the flats without losing any of their 

 roots and make them up into pans or 

 single pots; they flower just about as 

 well as those put into the pots or pans 

 in October. 



We constantly during winter make up 

 8 to 12-incb pans of single tulips taken 

 from flats in full flower and thsre is 

 no fraud or harm in doing so, for the 

 customer has just as much pleasure from 

 them. Yet there are some bulbs that we 

 grow especially for Easter that we much 

 prefer to put into the pans now, viz., 

 "Von SioB narcissus, Murillo and Tour- 

 nesol tulips and first-class Dutch hya- 

 cinths. 



Storing Ginna Roots. 



Our late heavy frost has killed the 

 cannas almost to the ground, so at the 

 first opportunity dig them up, shake off 

 most of the earth, cut off the stems five 

 or six inches above the roots and lay 

 them under a bench where there is little 

 or no drip. We often learn how to do 

 things right by observing cases where 

 "how not to do it" was the method. A 

 bench where pot plants are used and 

 where the drip through is copious is the 

 worst possible place for these roots. A 

 carnation or rose bench, where little drip 

 should occur during winter, is a good 

 place for them, but don't put them on 

 the ground. Lay down some boards to 

 keep moisture away from them or the 

 eyes will start growing, which will be a 

 loss. Do your best to keep the varieties 



apart, so that there is no risk of their 

 getting mixed. The roots are not so 

 distinguishable to the average florist as 

 Enchantress and Lawson carnations and 

 when a bed of Tarrytown produces a 

 few plants of Kate Gray or David Har- 

 um they are out of place. 



Caladium Esculentum. 



The Caladium esculentum is so cheap 

 that it does not pay to go to much trou- 

 ble over them, still if you have a lot of 

 medium size corms it will cost little to 

 dig them, cut the stem off nine or ten 

 inches above the root and lay them 

 under a warm, dry bench. These you 

 need not put on boards, as the slight 

 moisture arising from the ground keeps 

 them ji^st right. 



Dahlias. 



We have been more encouraged with 

 dahlias this summer than for many years 

 past. In August and September they 

 flowered finely and sold well. Cut the 

 stems off a few inches above the ground, 

 shake off the soil and store them any- 

 where that the temperature is about 40 

 degrees. Where potatoes will keep is a 

 good place for the dahlia tubers. 



Make up your mind to grow some 

 dahlias this winter. What little I know 

 will be told later. It is easy to do very 

 satisfactorily and profitably. The roots 

 now dug up and that have flowered this 

 fall may be all right for starting at 

 New Year's for an Easter crop, but I 

 would rather depend on roots especially 

 prepared for the purpose, that is, grown 

 in pots during the summer and ripened 

 off early, so that they would be more 

 willing to start. A low bench where you 



have grown chrysanthemums and can 

 keep a night temperature of 50 to 55 

 degrees is the place and the cactus and 

 pompon varieties are the types to grow. 

 There is no "crop" about them. They 

 will flower from April to July. We con- 

 sidered our 100 plants of dahlias last 

 spring a decided ten-strike. 



Gladioli. 



Wherever potatpes will keep, so will 

 gladioli. The gentlemen who grow nine- 

 ty acres, or one-third of it, must have 

 cellars or cool houses especially adapted 

 for their purpose. A dry basement where 

 there is a furnace is too dry for these 

 roots and corms. But laid out in shal- 

 low flats or boxes, beneath a bench in a 

 cool house, will do very well. 



Cyclamen. 



This is the time to sow cyclamen if 

 you want fine plants for Christmas, 1905. 

 They can be sown from September 1 

 to New Year's. This month is all right. 

 Keep in a temperature of 55 to 60 de- 

 grees and keep moderately moist. Cycla- 

 men seed is rather slow to germinate, 

 so have patience and keep the weeds 

 picked out. Now here is a case where 

 baking the soil that is to be used to 

 cover the seed is most beneficial. It may 

 be nearly three months before the little 

 plants are ready to transplant. In that 

 time you may have a botanic garden on 

 the surface of the soil. A few minutes 

 roasting of this small quantity of soil 

 will kill seeds of all the coarser weeds, 

 as well as the many species of minute 

 plant life that quickly infest any vacant 

 territory. William Scott. 



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FLORIST 



GIVE A MUM SHOW. 



Why don't you wake things up a bit 

 this fall? It isn't so very difficult and 

 usually it's quite worth while in point of 

 profit. Besides, have you no pride in 

 having your place known, in seeing your 

 business grow, not only for the money 

 there may be in it but for the pure joy 

 of doing things! By the way, did you 

 ever notice that the fellow who does ra- 

 tional things for the mere .loy of doing 

 is usually the one who has all the money 

 he needs to do things with? No, it isn't 

 the money that does the things; it's do^ 

 ing the things that makes the money, 

 usually. 



There are not many florists so slovenly 

 that they wouldn 't do more business if 

 their places were better known. Get the 

 people in, treat them politely, don't urge 

 them, mark the prices on a few things 

 and they'll buy. If not this time, they'll 

 come again. But don't urge; nobody 

 will come back to a place where he can't 

 get away unless he makes a purchase or 

 leaves, his self respect. 



But to get the people? That's not so 

 hard. Give a chrysanthemum show. If 

 you grow your own stuff it's easy. Clean 

 up the greenhouses; fix up the store. En- 

 gage a couple of men to fiddle. Get a 



punch bowl, fill it with pink lemonade 

 and get a pretty girl to serve. Possibly 

 it will be worth while to give each lady 

 a rose, each gentleman a carnation; but 

 what will you give the children? That's 

 always a problem when you begin to give 

 things away. 



Now don't forget the advertising. The 

 smaller the town the easier this is. The 

 average country editor is the nicest fel- 

 low in the world. Take him a box of 

 flowers; he'll be very glad to hear that 

 at last the town is going to have a 

 flower show to which he and his wife are 

 specially invited. Don't forget to tell 

 him about the fiddles and the punch 

 bowl. In a bigger town you will have 

 to pay for a small advertisement to get 

 a bigger one free in the reading col- 

 umns, and in a big city it's a case of 

 cash with order if your standing isn 't 

 known. But it's worth it. If the city 

 is too big to draw people from all parts 

 of it, print some handbills and distribute 

 them in your vicinity; or print a neat 

 invitation and mail it, but stamps cost 

 monej:. 



If you are a retail florist and haven't 

 ii-ny greenhouses you can have a show 

 just the same. You can get all the stock 

 you need in the wholesale markets. And 



