i ■■-'• , 



Mabch 9, 1905. 



The Weekly RcMists' Review* 



881 



Boiiiewhat drier for four to six weeks and 

 giving the house abundant ventilation, 

 but without disturbing the roots hj lift- 

 in(T and replanting. At the conclusion 

 of the resting period all weeds and dead 

 growths are removed, and the bed given 

 a good top dressing of manure or manure 

 and soil in equal parts, and the amount 

 of water gradually increased as the 

 plants start into growth, the strings hav- 

 ing been replaced at the time the bed 

 was cleaned up. 



During the summer months there is 

 always some risk of an attack of red 

 spider or thrips on the smilax and thor- 

 ough syringing is required to keep these 

 pests in subjection. W. H. Taplin. 



LYCASTE SKINNERL 



The accompanying illustration is repro- 

 duced from a photograph of a plant 

 flowering at the greenhouses of H. G. 

 Selfridge, Lake Geneva, Wis., whose 

 head gardener, C. H. Gebhardt, supplies 

 the following descriptive and cultural 

 note: 



"Lycaste Skinneri, from Guatemala, 

 is one of the easiest of orchids to grow, 

 very free flowering, and a fine ornamen- 

 tal plant. It has oblong pseudo-bulbs, 

 oblong, lanceolate, membraneous plaited 

 leaves and single-flowered, radical scapes. 

 The flowers are large, five to seven inches 

 across, and of waxy texture, the sepals 

 oblong, spreading, blush white. The 

 petals are half the length, ovate, erect 

 over the column, with the tips reflexed, 

 more or less tinted with rose. The lip 

 is three-lobed, the middle lobe round- 

 ish, white, spotted with deep rose, some- 

 times crimson. It blooms during the 

 winter months, keeping for a long time. 

 This plant should be in every collection, 

 as it is one of the finest for winter 

 blooming and I think good for any flo- 

 rist, as we have also some pure white 

 varieties. 



' ' We keep them in our Mexican house, 

 which we keep at a night temperature of 

 from 50 to 55 degrees and 10 degrees 

 higher in bright weather. We pot them 

 in fern roots, a little moss and a little 

 chopped sod, with plenty of drainage and 

 give a liberal supply of water during the 

 growing season. They are easily propa- 

 gated by division after flowering and 

 these plants will stand for a long time 

 in flower in a dwelling room without 

 the slightest injury arising therefrom, 

 which we cannot say of other orchids, so 

 this would be an ideal plant for a com- 

 mercial florist for a high class trade." 



OiiAHA, Neb. — A. Delaney is remov- 

 ing his store from South Omaha to the 

 new Bergquist building, Twentv-fourth 

 and L streets. 



Cleveland, 0. — The city council has 

 provided $2,500 for the erection of a 

 greenhouse at Gordon park for growing 

 bedding stock, etc. 



RHINBSEX3K, N. Y. — According to re- 

 ports the violet growers here will add 

 something like fifteen or twenty new 

 houses this spring. 



South Charleston, O. — C. S. Battin 

 has sold his ereenhouses and business to 

 Arthur Duffey and Lendal Petterson, 

 who will continue as Duffey & Petterson. 



Milwaukee, Wis. — Holton & Hunkel 

 Co. does not propose that its calendar 

 shall become soiled and thrown away. 

 It is very handsome and made on tin. 



Lycaste Skinneii. 



ASTEBS FOR CUT FLOWERS. 



Sowing the Seed. 



Aster seed should be sown from March 

 1 till the end of May, at intervals of 

 two weeks, if you want a continuous 

 crop and variety. The varieties, how- 

 ever, differ greatly in their time of 

 flowering. For instance, if you were to 

 sow Boston Market, Truffaut's Peony 

 Flowered and Semple's Branching all on 

 March 15 and treat them alike you 

 would have in bloom, first, the Boston 

 Market, three weeks later the Peony 

 Flowered and in another three weeks 

 the Semple's. The white Boston Market 

 is very useful, because it gives you 

 flowers juat when there are no carna- 

 tions. Yet the later you can pick good 

 asters the better price you can get. We 

 usually firet a killing frost about the end 

 of September or the flrst week of Oc- 

 tober, so that a crop not cut by that 

 time is lost and you must be guided by 

 your climate in this respect. 



We use flats of convenient size, say 

 24x12x2 inches for starting the seed. Fill 

 the flats with light loam, press the sur- 

 face even and rather firmlv, then water 

 enough to wet the soil thoroughly. 

 When soaked away the surface of the 

 soil is not wet enough to be sticky. Sow 

 the seed thinly and nress it lightly into 

 the soil. Then sift over the surface 

 enough soil to cover the seed. If the 

 Feed is out of sight the coverine is 

 thick enough and the slightest sprinkling 

 of water is suflScient. A temperature of 

 50 degrees is about right. As soon as 

 the third or character leaf is developed, 

 transplant into similar flats of three 

 inches depth and give them the full 

 Hgrht. Put the seedlings about one and 

 a half inches apart. Get the roots down 

 straight in the hole you have made for 

 them with you* wooden dibble and be 

 sure you get the seed leaves almost rest- 

 ing on the surface of the soil. It may 

 seem to you that the little soft Stem is 

 being buried deeply. That won't hurt. 



Keep them down. Now, if you are going 

 into asters by the acre, all this can be 

 done by using the benches instead of flats 

 and after the first of May a cold frame 

 will answer the purpose. The flats we 

 prefer for all March sowings, as we can 

 set them out of doors in May and hard- 

 en off the plants before planting. 



Planting in the Field. 

 The time of planting must be i^oV^ 

 erned by your climate and if you are 

 in no danger of getting a frost, say, 

 after May 15, then plant the earliest 

 crop and after that you can plant at in- 

 tervals until the end of June. For the 

 early, small growing varieties you can 

 set them twelve inches between the 

 plants and fifteen inches between rows, 

 but the stronger growing varieties neetl 

 eighteen inches each way. We have 

 tried less room and found it poor econ- 

 omy. Also leave a space of two feet 

 after every fourth row. You will weil 

 that to walk through and pick the flow- 

 ers. 



Character of Soil. 

 I should be inclined to say that tex- 

 ture of soil is not of material importance 

 providing it has plenty of manure and 

 water can be applied. We have seen 

 fine asters grown in everything from a 

 light gravelly loam to pretty stiff clay. 

 Perhaps the finest produced in this lo- 

 cality are on a heavy yellow loam. It 

 is almost impossible within reason to 

 give the soil too much animal manure 

 and if there is any crop would well repay 

 sub-plowing the land, it is asters. In or- 

 dinary summers you cannot get along 

 without watering. Water is the life of 

 them. More than one fine field of Sem- 

 ple's Branching aster we have seen be- 

 come worthless because it did not rain a 

 drop in the month of August. A 

 thorough soaking once a week in dry 

 spells is the all-important feature in 

 producing fine fiowers. 



Cutting and Snipping. 



There is no disbudding needed witb 



