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April 20, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



1307 



A ROSE CENTERPIECE. 



One group of Meteor roses composed 

 the very simple, round centerpiece shown 

 in the accompanying illustration. The 

 foundation is a wire frame about an 

 inch deep lined with tin foil and filled 

 with sphagnum to tha. depth of two 

 inches. Avoid making a pyramid-shaped 

 center of the moss filling. The top need 

 not be exactly even, either. In fact, a 

 decidedly uneven surface is desirable, 

 both in plaque centerpieces of this kind, 

 in baskets, and in vases of standing 

 funeral or display designs. A design 

 Buch as a lyre, harp or anchor which 

 should be trimly outlined is most appro- 

 priately set upon an irregularly filled, 

 loose base. 



Wrap around the frame over the 

 sphagnum with your green thread to se- 

 cure the moss and flowers in place. This 

 not only secures the moss in place, and 

 thereby holds the flowers better, but in- 

 sures against serious injury from being 

 tipped over. Often a piece of this kind 

 must be shipped, and upside down is 

 sometimes the traveling position, in spite 

 of signs and cautions to the contrary. 



Either over or under this wrapping 

 place a green background of ferns, rose 

 foliage or some such material as sheet 

 moss. Let the green background extend 

 over the edge, so as to hide every scrap 

 of tin foil. It is too common a fault 

 with designers to allow patches of foil or 

 sphagnum, or parts of picks, to be seen 

 in the finished piece. This is very poor 

 workmanship and a sign of neglect of 

 the very first principles of construction. 

 Often in the loose style of design con- 

 struction the whole side lining of the foil 

 may be plainly seen around a wreath or 

 other flat piece and is one of the unpar- 

 donable faults of this popular style. 



Another fault is the use of the foil 

 at all. A green lining is by far better 

 in appearance and cheaper for funeral 

 pieces. It is proper and necessary in a 

 centerpiece of this kind to protect the 

 table linen or the polished wood from 

 damage by moisture. In addition to the 

 inside foil lining cut an outside mat of 

 tin foil exactly the size of the wire 

 frame to set under the finished center- 

 piece to guard against scratching the 

 table. 



Choose roses about half blown and 

 with good, strong stems and there will 

 bel no need of wiring. Stem on three- 

 qnarter picks, one to each, and begin to 

 insert from the center out. The stem 

 lengths may vary from four or five inches 

 to eight or ten inches. It is worth re- 

 peating here, and drilling into one 's fiber 

 of thought, that the natural bend of a 

 single stem determines its place in a de- 

 sign. There is but one best grouping of 

 flowers in a design of any kind. Find 

 this out and set in among the other flow- 

 ers so that^ taken altogether, the group 

 will appear to spring from a comiion 

 source. The principle is not a new state- 

 ment in this series but is so important 

 «s to bear repetition. 



If this statement is clearly understood 

 and illustrated in the accompanying pic- 

 ture one can see h(Mv the design falls to- 

 gether of its own accord and needs no 

 further explanation. If a few flowers 

 fall to one side or the other, let them 

 alone. That is the charm of the arrange- 

 ment. In this piece no ferns or addi- 

 tional foliage is used among the roses. 

 When as closely grouped "as these are, 

 part of the rose foliage should be re- 

 moved, say about one-third. 



Gertrude Blair. 



PRIMULA OBCONICA. 



We have quite a demand for primulas 

 in pots. We have always bought the 

 young plants in the fall, but they were 

 small and did not make very big plants 

 for Christmas and this spring we sowed 

 our own seed and it will soon be time 

 to pot them off and we want to plant 

 some in the bench for cutting for make- 

 up work. The bench will not be empty 

 before the last of August and what we 

 want to know is how to care for them 

 until then. Can we plant them in the 



sash raised a few inches both back and 

 front, so that there would be a current 

 of fresh air at all times over them and 

 shade during the hot, bright hours with, 

 cheese-cloth. We think planting them, 

 in the field as we do carnations would 

 be all wrong and most inadvisable. 



DAMPING OFF. 



Damping off is a fungous growth that 

 attacks cuttings in the propagating 

 bench, spreading over the surface of the 

 sand in patches and enveloping the necks 

 of the cuttings, rotting them off. Some-' 

 times, and under certain conditions it is 

 more virulent than others. Poorly drained 

 benches, over-wet sand or soil, a close or. 

 muggy atmosphere, shading the cuttings 

 while they are damp by laying news- 

 papers flat over them, also by using the 

 same sand bed two or more times, all 

 tend to the encouragement and spread 

 of the disease. 



A positive cure or antidote is unknown 

 to me. But we can greatly modify the 

 pest by intelligent cultural conditions. 

 First of all have the bench sweet and 

 clean and no decaying wood about it, and 

 wash it over with lime of liquid cement. 

 Then use clean, sharp river sand if ob- 

 tainable. If not, use clean or washed pit 

 sand. If you are afraid of the sand yoo 

 can sterilize it before using, with steam 

 or hot air. This will kill all fungous 

 growth in it. 



When old sand has to be used it cer- 

 tainly should be sterilized. 



Never keep the bed in a soggy state. 

 You may water as freely as you please, 



A Simple Table Centerpiece. 



field like carnations and keep them grow- 

 ing until we bench them ; or ought they 

 to be put in frames and shaded! If so 

 will cloth tacKed on light frames do in- 

 stead of glass sashf R. & S. 



These transplant easily. As soon as 

 they must be handled from the seed pan, 

 transplant into flats and keep them in 

 a cool house. When crowded in the flats, 

 transplant again, giving them more 

 room, or plant out in a frame in a few 

 inches of good, light soil. My ideal 

 would be to cover the frames with glass 



providing the water runs right through 

 the bed. Don't have the propagating 

 bed in a close, dark, choky corner, ana 

 if you have to shade it let the shading 

 be high above the cuttings, as on the 

 glass, so that there is never a stagnant, 

 stuffy atmosphere on the bench. 



Keep careful wateh over the bed and 

 the moment a bit of "damp" is dis- 

 covered rub it off together wi*h the cut- 

 tings affected. Sometimes the fungoHS 

 spreads in a thready mass. Better rub 

 it all off, and if it is persistently bad, 

 lift out the cuttings from the diseased 



