November 17, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



J 327 



water. This is important, since if kept 

 exposed to the air very long after being 

 severed from the plant the exuding sap 

 becomes dry, searing over the cut and 

 preventing the free passage of water 

 5nto the stem. 



Some growers cut each grade sepa- 

 rately; others gather all qualities to- 

 gether, grading afterwards. "With the 

 former method there is no need of de- 

 lay in getting into water; neither is 

 there with the latter, b\it I am aware 

 of the custom of grading before put- 

 ting into vases and would caution against 

 this needless delay. 



Never use scissors to clip the stems; 

 this mangles the tissues and reduces the 

 capacity of the stems to draw water. 



Have the water in the vases about the 

 temperature of the houses in which the 

 blooms are grown. 



When graded remove to a place free 

 from draughts but not close or stuffy. 

 The temperature here should be about 

 45 degrees. 



Remember these blooms will continue 

 to develop, so do not crowd too many in 

 a vase. 



Flowers after being twelve hours in 

 the cooling room will be in excellent con- 

 dition to pack for shipment or to sell 

 over the counter. Many small details 

 will suggest themselves, such as main- 

 taining a pure atmosphere and absolute 

 cleanliness in all operations. Attention 

 to these minor points will result in pro- 

 ducing ' ' the smile that won 't come off, ' ' 

 at least for a while. 



Geo. S. Osbokn. 



PROPAGATING NEW SORTS. 



Last spring Ave bought a few of some 

 of the new sorts for trial but our summer 

 was so hot that they did not do well. 

 However, we got a few plants to bench. 

 It always takes one or two years to get 

 plants from the north acclimated here in 

 thn south. We want to grow as much of 

 these new ones as we can from these 

 plants. Will it do to keep them from 

 blooming and make them furnish cut- 

 tings? I mean will it have any effect 

 on the blooming qualities for next sea- 

 son? You understand we do not want 

 to mismanage and then throw anything 

 aside which is really a good carnation. 

 Any information to secure as many cut- 

 tings as possible without injury I) next 

 year's crop will be appreciated. 



Texas. 



There is no danger of impairing the 

 blooming qualities if you are careful in 

 selecting your cuttings and if you do not 

 cut the plants down too hard each time 

 you take cuttings. The blooming quali- 

 ties will be impaired only just so much 

 as the plant's vitality is impaired. You 

 should bear in mind that in most cases 

 when a varietj' makes a good record at 

 the shows the demand for the cuttings is 

 sa great that the disseminator is hard 

 pushed to make enough cuttings to fill 

 his orders and seldom is his stock of the 

 variety large enough to supply as many 

 strong selected cuttings as he needs as 

 early as we demand them. Consequently 

 many a grand variety is sadly weakened 

 before it leaves the disseminator's place 

 and it would be ruinous to subject it to 

 a second siege of overpropagating. How- 

 ever, if your plants are vigorous and in 

 good health you need not hesitate to 

 make all the good strong cuttings you 

 can. 



While it is a little early yet to fully 

 make up your minds as to how many 



Poehlmann's Winning 100 Beauties at the World's Fair Show. 



plants you want to bench of each one 

 of the new ones next year, there may be 

 some few which have struck your fancy 

 and you will want all you can get, pro- 

 viding they do not develop some fault 

 later in the season. I would not cut 

 down all the plants for propagating this 

 early, but leave at least a few plants to 

 keep on blooming to see how it will be- 

 have throughout the season. You may 

 possibly change your mind about some 

 of them before spring, and think how 

 sorry you would be next season with per- 

 haps a whole bench or a houseful of a 

 variety you would not have wanted at all 

 if you had seen more of it while you had 

 the chan<*e. A dozen plants will give you 

 a fair idea although of course a larger 

 bntch would be better. 



I^et each shoot on the plants show a 

 l>ud before you cut it down to where 

 the breaks will be strong. This will not 

 give the plant any more check than cut- 

 ting the blooms would and it will also 

 prevent too many cuttings from being 

 large enough to take off at one time, 

 thus always leaving a quantity of growth 

 on the plants while propagating. By 

 going over the plants once in two weeks 

 and taking off only the strong cuttings 

 you will not rob them of too much growth 

 and the plants will not be weakened. 

 Whatever you do. don 't take a lot of 

 small, weak cuttings, as there is no surer 

 way of weakening a variety than that. 

 These small cuttings will grow into 

 strong ones in a couple of weeks if left 

 Oil the plants and the plants will be bet- 

 ter off, too. by having them left on. If 

 this method could always be adhered to 

 bv disseminators there would be less com- 



l)laint about weak and soft cuttings, etc. 

 Most of them begin propagating along 

 that line, but usually long before the 

 I)ropagating season is half over the buy- 

 era begin to write for their cuttings at 

 oiHie, without delay, etc., until tho poor 

 disseminator is driven to taking every 

 cutting in sight, and then trouble be- 

 gins. A. F. .T Baur. 



RINGS THEM UP. 



In the office at the greenhouses of J. F. 

 Wilcox, Council Bluffs, la., there is a 

 bell of about the size used on trolley cars, 

 and it is connected with the telephone. 

 As a result the foreman can hear the tel- 

 ephone call even if he happens to be in 

 a distant range of houses. The big bell 

 can \)c rung independently of the tele- 

 phone and a card under it announces that 

 OIK" ring calls the foreman, two rings 

 brings Mr. Wilcox, three rings calls a cer- 

 tain crnpldyo and four rings still another. 



Minneapolis, Minn. — H. L. Patthey, 

 ot Murtfeldt & Patthey, promoter and 

 manager of the Minneapolis Journal's 

 sweet pea show of 1903 and that paper's 

 mid-season flower show of Aug. 10, 11 

 and 12, 1904, was in Chicago this week 

 attending the flower show. 



Adams, Mass. — Robert Groves is pre- 

 paring for his annual trip to New York 

 with a big lot of Christmas trees. He 

 reports a heavy demand for ferns. 



Denver, Colo. — The Denver Florists' 

 Bowling League opened its season No- 

 voniber 7. 



