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Pbbbuaby 23, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



759 



Basket of Violets and Roses Trimmed With Chiffon. 



law, start the stems of the roses and 

 the bud from the same point on the 

 right handle. Pull a few long stemmed 

 violets across the rose stems and the 

 design is complete. Gkrtrude Blair. 



TUBEROUS RCXDTED BEGONIAS. 



Do tuberous begonias do well in this 

 country, or is it too hot in this sec- 

 tion (Indiana) for them to grow to per- 

 fection t When ought they be planted 

 to have good plants at bedding out 

 time! H. D. S. 



In western New York, which is cer- 

 tainly a cool section of the continent, 

 these begonias are fine bedding plants. 

 We have eeen beds of them in our public 

 parks that surpassed any geranium in 

 brilliancy of color and in varied form 

 of flower, and many shades were most 

 fascinating. The Eeview illustrated last 

 summer at least two beds of these plants. 

 One was very close to the writer's front 

 door and was a great success. People 

 walking along would simply glance at 

 a bed of cannas or geraniums, but they 

 would come to a full stop opposite the 

 begonias. 



The begonias are aristocracy compared 

 to most of our other bedding plants. 

 It is not necessary but with us begonias 

 are benefited by partial shade, not be- 

 hind a wall or building or directly be- 

 neath a tree, but say by a tree some 

 distance to the south of them that would 

 shade from the noon sun. We believe, 

 however, that Indiana has a much warm- 

 er climate and more bright hot sun- 

 shine and that i>artial shade would be 

 an essential. Watering has much to do 

 with success. Make the bed almost level 

 and then you can water thoroughly by 

 running the hose between the plants and 

 give the bed a soaking twice a week 

 in hot, dry weather. This sprinkling 

 the bed daily and its not soaking in 

 more than half an inch is simply an 

 abomination and aggravation, especially 

 to these begonias. 



I think* failure with these plants has 

 often occurred because they were too 

 much grown inside and felt the change 

 from, perhaps, a shaded bench to the 

 sun and wind outside. I don't know 

 when you bed out tender plants, in In- 

 diana perhaps by the middle of May ; 

 we can't plant with safety before June 



1. About April 1 we put the begonia 

 bulbs in fiats of sandy soil mixed with 

 leaf-mold or very rotten manure. If 

 placed over some hot water pipes they 

 soon start and should be given a light 

 place on the bench. We pot them about 

 May 1 into 3-inch or 3 1/^ -inch pots and 

 plunge in a very mild hotbed. Here 

 they grow rapidly, but stout and robust, 

 and by the middle of the month we 

 can remove the sash and let them be 

 exposed to sun and air and by planting 

 out time they feel no change. For an 

 interesting pretty bed, all colors and 

 double and single varieties mixed is the 

 thing to please. The single flowers, how- 

 ever, make the greatest show. W. S. 



STEVIA. 



I have a stevia which does not bloom 

 until February 1 to 15. In the same 

 greenhouse Stevia variegata blooms De- 

 cember 1 or sooner. It seems impossible 

 to make the other come earlier. The 

 kind seems to be Stevia serrata. I am 

 compelled to keep the plants in the 

 house all the time here in Alabama be- 

 cause outside zero is more than they 

 wiU stand. F. J. U. 



If the species is S. serrata it flowers 

 in the north in December and by keep- 

 ing very cool after showing flower it 

 is most useful as a cheap flower at 

 Christmas. There is in the query some 

 mention about zero. Surely there is no 

 zero in Alabama. This stevia, although 

 a cold blooded plant, will not endure 

 a single degree of frost. Perhaps our 

 chilly October days arrest growth and 

 induce flower, while the balmy October, 

 November and perhaps December of the 

 sunny south encourage growth and hin- 

 der the great function of reproduction, 

 which is flowering. The variegated 

 form of S. serrata may flower earlier 

 from the fact that it is variegated and 

 therefore less vigorous in growth. 



We plant out the small plants of this 

 stevia the end of May and lift before 

 there is danger of frost. If you were 

 to grow them entirely in pots, as we 

 used to do years ago, and starve them 

 for root room, it would likely induce 

 them to flower a month earlier. Send 

 me a spray of leaf and flower. 



William Scott. 



STANDARD SIZES OF PLANTS. 



I was much interested in the effort to 

 secure the adoption of some sort of a 

 measure of quality of plants at the last 

 convention of the S. A. F. The society 

 seems to have shelved the problem as one 

 impossible of solution. 



Some sort of a measure of quaUtv 

 more definite than size of pot and ad- 

 jectives is certainly much to be desired, 

 both by those who buy and those having 

 stock of good quality to sell, and it 

 seems to me that the matter did not re- 

 ceive at St. Louis the consideration to 

 which its importance entitled it. Why 

 not invite a discussion of the subject in 

 the Review t I believe that the com- 

 bined wisdom of the thoughtful members 

 of the trade could evolve some sort of a 

 scale or classification that would be a 

 vast improvement on present methods, 

 even if not as exact and complete as to 

 be wished. W. E. S. 



[We shall be pleased to hear from 

 any one who has a suggestion to make 

 along the lines indicated. The determina- 

 tion of a rational standard for the desig- 

 nation of sizes of stock is certainly de- 

 voutly to be wished for. How can it 

 be donet — Ed.] 



FREESIAS. 



Will freesias bloom from seed in four 

 months? I see in some of the catalogues 

 that they will. As we have never grown 

 any we would like to know what W. S. 

 thinks about it. I have his Manual, 

 but he does not say anything about 

 growing them from seed. We have a 

 bench here 4x95 and if we were to 

 plant the bulbs in it next fall how 

 many could we plant in a bench of that 

 size? Will they grow in boxes four 

 inches deep in good earth? My idea is to 

 put the boxes on the bench "and, after 

 they have bloomed, take the boxes off 

 and plant something else on the bench. 

 Will they grow that way? R. & S. 



We have never raised these bulbs 

 from seed. It is possible they may send 

 up a flower spike from the strongest 

 bulbs the first year, but we doubt it, 

 and you most assuredly could not depend 

 on these seedlings for a crop. The 

 bulbs or, more properly, corms, are sold 

 to us so cheap that it would be folly 

 for us in the northern states to go into 



