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996 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mabch 23, 1905. 



verbena, lobelia, common verbena, and a 

 little later your divided or propagated 

 alternanthera. The latter will make as 

 much growth in three weeks as it will 

 in three months on the benches of any 

 greenhouse. Coleus and achyranthes in 

 3-inch pots in the hotbeds by the end 

 of April will make far finer and more 

 useful plants for bedding than any 

 greenhouse-grown plants. 



Advantage of Hotbeds. 



There is a period, in our climate usual- 

 ly from early in May to planting out 

 time, when firing is often neglected. We 

 have dropped it on account of a very 

 warm spell and when it turns cool and 

 rainy we say, "Oh, this won't last. We 

 won't bother to fire up," and during this 

 time there is immense damage done. Pe- 

 tals drop, foliage damps and such plants 

 as coleus, that have been enjoying the 

 artificial heat, just stand still or rather 

 they go back. Now this does not occur 

 with plants in a hotbed, even if the 

 heat is pretty well spent. There is full 

 light, air and some warmth at the roots 

 and they do not feel these cool, damp 

 days. 



Another advantage vnth these plants 

 in the hotbeds and cold frames is that 

 on warm days and nights after the 

 plants are as large as you want them, 

 you can remove the sash entirely and 

 liarden off these common plants and pre- 

 pare them for bedding out better than 



are those from a greenhouse. Some 

 flowering plants, notably the verbenas, 

 will root through into the soil and 

 grow BO fast they will be slow to flower 

 and early in May it may be necessary 

 to lift each plant, rub or cut off the 

 roots which have grown through the pot 

 and replace the plant in the same hole. 

 This is little more labor than moving 

 over plants on the bench, which you 

 would be sure to have to do at least once 

 inside. 



Valley for Easter. 



There is one important flower, lily 

 of the vaUey, that requires a good three 

 weeks to fully open and a few days more 

 will be all the better. You' do not give 

 them quite as much bottom heat now 

 and they will take as long to develop as 

 they did in January. They should be 

 cut a day or so before sold and if you 

 were a few days early they keep cut 

 finely, so do not be late. 



Murillo Tulips. 



So much depends on weather, but what 

 ever we get, do not get late with that 

 grandest of all tulips, Murillo. Either 

 in pans or cut it is the Easter tulip. 

 They are in perfection when fully out 

 and turning from white to the lovely 

 blush pink. They are better brought 

 along cool, so bring them in twenty- 

 three or twenty-four days before Easter, 

 William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES.-EAST. 



Late Propagation. 



While January and February are the 

 two months in which ideal conditions 

 prevail for successful propagation, it is 

 now by no means too late to increase 

 stock of most varieties. I do not wish 

 to be understood as advocating late prop- 

 agation, but it is often impossible with 

 a limi:cl number of plants to secure the 

 desired amount of cuttings unless at the 

 expense of quality. Under these cir- 

 cumstances there need be no hesitation 

 in the matter, as cuttings taken from the 

 sand during the first half of April, and 

 grown right along, will at lifting time 

 prove very desirable stock. 



Even though you may have enough 

 already rooted to meet your needs, an 

 extra thousand or two propagated at 

 this time, being but a short while in 

 the house and requiring little added la- 

 bor in the field, may be said to cost 

 next to* nothing and are very likely to 

 turn out a valuable asset. Having a sur- 

 plus to select from at housing time you 

 are able to obtain a more even stand 

 of plants, a decided advantage over be- 

 ing obliged to use undersized or ill- 

 shaped specimens, which at best usually 

 drag along like a cow's tail — always be- 

 'Kind. 



I do not mean to advise growing these 

 in any sense as a catch crop but to use 

 the same care in selection of cuttings, 

 etc., as would be exercised earlier in the 

 season. Experience has taught us that 



late propagated stock can be handled 

 very nicely by pricking into flats. When 

 ready to plant out, take the flats to the 

 field, cut out the plants, setting imme- 

 diately. Given a swallow of water, they 

 will not skip a minute. 



I have seen cuttings subjected to the 

 heroic treatment of being taken from 

 the sand and at once planted in the field 

 but never saw anything very startling 

 in the way of plants or bloom produced 

 by this method. 



Treatment of cuttings in the sand 

 will not materially differ from the usual 

 mode of procedure, although as the 

 season advances due allowance must be 

 made for more rapid evaporation. When 

 inserting in the sand give about double 

 the usual space between rows, also in 

 the row, and if you are not in the habit 

 of trimming the leaves of your cuttings, 

 at least try the plan on your last batch. 



Lawson. 



Leaving out all theory, it is a mat- 

 ter of fact that there is a limit to the 

 strain that any carnation will stand and 

 American eagerness to get all there is, 

 in the shortest possible time, will prove 

 the rule. Lawson will be no exception. 

 This variety is by no means perfect and 

 its defects will be overcome in the va- 

 rieties destined to take its place. 



Geo. S. Osborn. 



-eABNATION NCfTES.-WESTr 



Tlie Spring Cut. 



During the last week or two we have 

 been having very spring-like weather and 

 it has had its effect on the stock and 



the market. With the thermometer up 

 in the sixties in the shade and the sun 

 shining brightly the carnation buds fair- 

 ly burst open and the cut is doubled in 

 spite of everything we can do. If you 

 had enough to supply your trade before, 

 you will be sure to have too many un- 

 der such weather conditions and it keeps 

 the grower guessing what to do with 

 them. You can not store them long this 

 warm weather, and besides, there are 

 more coming each day. The sun is get- 

 ting too strong to leave them on the 

 plants after they have opened, so the 

 only thing you can do is to cut every 

 day, just as thouglvyou had orders for 

 every bloom that is open, and use on 

 your orders what you need. Put the 

 surplus in as cool a room as you have (a 

 dry cellar is an ideal place) and hold 

 them ready for possible orders. But be 

 careful that you do not send out blooms 

 that have been held too long. You will 

 find that blooms which have been in a 

 cool cellar three or four days will not 

 stand handling like fresh cut stock which 

 has been in water a few hours. You may 

 think they look very fine and large, and 

 so they do, but they are soaked full of 

 water and every little knock causes a 

 bruise and very little handling will 

 knock them to pieces. The difference is 

 that the freshly opened bloom is still 

 growing and producing tissue, while the 

 other is already starting to deteriorate. 



Light Sfiading Necessary. 



All the bright colored varieties, and I 

 might say all the colored sorts, will be 

 •benefited now by a little shade on the 

 glass, especially Lawson, Enchantress 

 and a few others that bleach easily. 

 You do not need much shade but just 

 enough to break the sun a little. Too 

 much will make your stock soft and in- 

 ferior. Eemember that you are not 

 putting on the shade to benefit the 

 plants, because it is not of the least bene- 

 fit to them, but rather a detriment. The 

 plants would prefer the full sunshine. 

 So you want to get along with just as 

 little shading as possible, always. A 

 little you must do, however, to save the 

 color in the blooms. This early you 

 should not put on a permanent shade. 

 There may come weeks in a stretch of 

 rainy weather, when you will want all 

 the light you can get, so it is best to 

 put on something that will wash off easi- 

 ly, and put on another coat the next 

 bright spell, until you get bright, warm 

 weather for good. 



Don't use a mud shade, as it darkens 

 too much and, if applied several times 

 within a short time, it will form a film 

 on the glass which will have to be 

 scrubbed off except in freezing weather. 

 We use air-slaked lime and put it on 

 with a sprayer. You can do ten houses 

 this way in the same time it would take 

 to paint a strip down each row of glass 

 with a brush, and it is better, too. A 

 little practice will teach you to handle 

 the spraver so you will get it on about 

 the same all over. 



Airing and Spraying. 



Give all the air you can but avoid 

 draughts on the plants, as that will cause 

 thera^to flag. Spray lightly overhead- 

 n&etween ten and eleven o'clock each 

 morning and wet down the walks where 

 the sun strikes them. Don't let this 

 spraying be in the form of a syringing, 

 as there is a great difference between the 

 two. It would not be wise to syringe 

 every day, as you would have your plants 



