r/- 



Decembbr 22, iy04. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



251 



Bench of Guruition Victonr at Establishment of Charles ^eber, Lynbrook, L. L, N. Y. 



Cyrtomium falcatum, the holly fern, is 

 a beautiful form and always in demand. 

 Other good sorts are : Lastrea opaca and 

 L. chrysoloba, the former from China 

 and the latter from Brazil; Polystichum 

 (lastrea) aristata variegata, a dense 

 green fern with yellow stripes on the 

 fronds; Onychium Japonicum, or parsley 

 fern, of Japanese origin; Pteris Chinen- 

 sis, Polystichum coreaceum, a South Af- 

 rican fern, which, when well grown, will 

 make a nice specimen. 



Cibotium (Dicksonia) Schiedei is a 

 beautiful, graceful fern much in demand 

 by the leading decorators throughout the 

 country, making a beautiful house plant 

 and of which stock is always scarce and 

 difficult to obtain. Sitalobium cicutarium 

 is a very showy fern and a native of trop- 

 ical America. 



In adiantums we have first to mention A. 

 cuneatum, decorum and gracillimum, the 

 latter in demand on account of its light 

 and graceful appearance, also Adiantum 

 Croweanum, the new maidenhair which, 

 owing to its strong, vigorous growth and 

 long stems will become a general favorite 

 with the trade where marketing the fronds 

 is a feature, as well as in private places 

 where cut maidenhair is always used. 



Adiantum Farleyense, the queen of the 

 maidenhair family, is a native of the 

 West Indies and is now grown in quanti- 

 ties by the trade, both as a pot plant or 

 for cut fronds wherever first-class decora- 

 tions are a feature. Alsophila Australis 

 is frequently asked for and very desir- 

 able, on account of its stately appear- 

 ance, together with Dicksonia Antarctica, 

 both of which are Australian ferns. 



The davallias are also an interesting 

 family and the variety buUata is being 

 sold in large quantities when made up in 

 fern balls and various other shapes as 

 received from Japan. The variety Cana- 

 riensis makes a nice pot fern and readily 

 develops into .a nice specimen, also the 

 varieties Fijieosis plumosa and major are 

 desirable forms to cultivate. 



Platyceriums, or stag-horn ferns, are 

 always interesting on account of their 

 unique shaped fronds, resembling a stag- 

 horn. The variety alcicorne ma jus is 

 a free growing variety and grande a fine 

 variety, but somewhat scarce. 



In taking survey of the ferns I have 

 mentioned, we owe a great deal to Japan 

 for her part of the fern flora, as a great 

 many of our most beautiful species are 

 natives of that countrv. There are thou- 



sands of other varieties of most beautifrl 

 ferns that time will not permit me to talk 

 about. Suffice it to say the varieties men- 

 tioned in my paper are the most popular 

 from a commercial point of view, and as 

 ferns increase in demand day by day let 

 us each do his part to make them more 

 and more interesting to fern lovers, so 

 that it can be truly said of each of us, 

 as by the poet, when he stated: 



The green and graceful fern. 



How beautiful it Is; 

 There is not a leaf In all the land 



So wonderful, I wis. 



Have ye e'er watched it budding. 



With each stem and leaf wrapt small. 

 Coiled up within each other 



Lilce a round and hairy ball? 



Have ye watched that ball unfolding? 



Each closely nestling coll. 

 Its hair and feathery leaflets. 



Their spreading forms uncoil? 



O. then most gracefully they wave 



In the forest like a sea. 

 And dor as they are beautiful. 



Are these few leaves to me. 



VIOLETS IN SASH HOUSE. 



Under separate cover I sent you a box 

 containing two bundles of violet plants 

 which I grew in a sash house but am 

 having trouble with. In order that yon 

 may see better what the trouble is I will 

 go way back and describe the treatment 

 they got as well as I can. 



About May 1, I received a lot of clumps 

 from a place fifteen miles distant. They 

 reached me in fine condition and were 

 very fine, healthy plants. I divided them 

 and put them in soil in the house. Be- 

 fore I put them in the soil I took out 

 about six inches of the old soil and put 

 in fresh soil from the fiehl. I put in no 

 manure, although the soil was not rich. 

 I kept them syringed well and they all 

 rooted fine. 



In Julv I took out the old soil from 

 the benches and replaced it with six 

 inches of field Foil. On top of this T 



put about two inches of stable manure, 

 which was quite rotten, mostly cow 

 manure mixed with some seaweed, which 

 1 used for bedding. This seaweed I 

 got along the bay shore, being washed 

 up by the water. There was very little 

 of this seaweed in the manure and it 

 was well washed out by the rain before 

 I used it for bedding. I then mixed this 

 manure well with the soil and planted 

 my violets in it. This wfts the third week 

 in July. 



I forgot to state that after I had re- 

 moved the old soil I loosened what re- 

 mained to the depth of about three inches 

 and gave it a sprinkling of air-slaked 

 lime, just enough to whiten the surface, 

 and raked it into the soil. 



I did not take off the sash, as half of 

 them are ventilators, and I was able to 

 keep down the temperature nicely. I 

 shaded the glass with whitewash, but re- 

 moved it gradually from the middle of 

 September until near the end of October, 

 when I took it all off. 



I watered them quite often ; that is, 

 when I thought they needed it, also syr- 

 inged them occasionally. Have not been 

 bothered with red spider to my knowledge 

 and no flies, either, as I fumigated with 

 hydrocyanic acid gas when I noticed any. 

 I keep them at 43 degrees at night and 

 60 degrees in the day time. I heat with 

 hot water. I have the regular violet 

 pits, two benches four feet wide and a 

 walk dug out in the center of the house. 

 I have solid benches with the soil on the 

 level with that outside of the houses and 

 heating pipes fastened to the side of the 

 house. 



On the east side of the south bench 

 the plants are fine and healthy, but the 

 west ends of some benches have been go- 

 ing back for the last six weeks, I send 

 you two plants to see if you can make 

 out the cause of my trouble. I also sena 

 you one plant of the north bench of the 

 same house, which did finely until about 

 three weeks ago. Since then they seem 

 to have stopped growing. The leaves of 

 this north bench seem to be wrinkled 

 and yellowish green in color, showing 

 that they are sick. 



I had some stem-rot this summer in 

 the same house but gave them a top 

 dressing of air-slaked lime in the end of 

 September and worked it into the soil. I 

 also surfaced t,hem once in a while be- 

 fore that and kept the runners cut off. 

 The lime stopped the stem rot. 



