1506 



The Weekly Rorists* Rlt^^cw. 



liAT 11, lOOS. 



eight hours the leaves lose their color. 

 Therefore^ express is the only way they 

 Bboold be shipped. The small 2-iiich or 

 2^ -inch ^ot plants are the sizes mostly 

 shipped in winter and nothing is easier. 

 A tight iboz of moderate depth, well 

 lined to k^^B^/rost, each little plant 

 wrapped ^ «eme pliable paper and then 

 laid tightly in layers till the box is full. 

 I say tightly, because there should be no 

 chance for any plant to move which ever 

 way the box may be tossed about. Any 

 small plants, roses, carnations, verbenas, 

 petunias or anything else, travel finely 

 except that with carnations or plants 

 with small tops, four plants can be put 

 in one parcel instead of each plant 

 singly. The principal thing is that there 

 should be '. no chance of any plant mov- 

 ing in the box. Plants should be dry 

 when shipped, never just watered. Moist 

 would be correct, and tiie foKage dry. 



We often have to ship a few hun- 

 dred fine 4-inch zonals in full flower at 

 bedding time. To pack these plants 

 tightly in a closed box would mar their 

 appearance a good deal, although no 

 permanent injury would be done, but 

 these we wrap in paper and stand in a 

 box with the sides as deep as the tops 

 of the flowers. There is a way which 

 must suggest itself to everyone; that is, 

 after the first row of plants is stood 

 firmly in the end of the box, another tier 

 can be put between the stems of these. 

 The next row is stood on the bottom of 

 the box, and so on. If compactly packed 

 no foliage will be bruised or broken. 

 Then the box is covered with a few 

 strong strips, leaving plenty of space 



for the plants and flowers to be seen. 

 Then I never knew an express man to 

 turn the box on its side or on end, but 

 they can stand other boxes on top of 

 your box without harm and charge only 

 reasonable rates. 



Boxes of plants unprotected must be 

 charged high. A few experiences in 

 packing we won't forget. "We onoe wired 

 to an auction sale in New York to buy 

 us 1,000 single petunias. They arrived 

 in flats. The petunias cost $10. The 

 express charge was $11. Wrapped in 

 paper in a closed box 50 cents would 

 have been the charge. We once ordered 

 200 pansies from some pansy man, "fine 

 plants in bloom." They were poor little 

 wretches. Threa of them would not 

 have weighed as much as one good bloom. 

 A dozen were wrapped in a bunch, 

 packed in the bottom of a box and then 

 tightly nailed down. It took us half 

 a day to run the whole conglomeration 

 through a half-inch sieve and separate 

 the little plants from the soil. I dare 

 say we have made our own mistakes in 

 days gone by. A good packer is a valua- 

 ble man and it is a great advertisement 

 for a firm when they gain the reputation 

 of packing well without making expen- 

 sive charges. We once received $400 

 worth of herbaceous plants from an Eng- 

 lish firm which has an international 

 fame on some specialties. When un- 

 packed it was a disgusting mass. There 

 was neither moss, straw, hay nor paper 

 and you could scarcely tell whether it 

 was delphinium roots, sour kraut in an 

 advanced state, or tripe. 



W. S. 



IPREPARATIONS FOR BENCHING. 



Pew if any of the average florists' 

 establishments are in shape to plant out 

 chrysanthemums until after the bedding 

 plants are disposed of, the combination 

 of bedding plants and mums being a 

 very common one and one that, as a 

 rule, gives satisfactory results, the bed- 

 ding plants filling the house during the 

 winter and early spring and the mums 

 the balance of the year. 



While the space for planting is not 

 yet available, still everything should be 

 in readiness so that when ready to begin 

 operations everything can be done 

 smoothly and expeditiously. It is easy 

 to figure out how many plants one needs 

 and if there are not enough propagated 

 yet, cuttings should be got into the sand 

 without delay. The weather is warm 

 now and cuttings do not root nearly so 

 easily as they did a month ago, so that 

 enough cuttings should be put in to 

 allow for a reasonable percentage of 

 loss.. 



Kind of SoiL 



Soil should be chopped down and got 

 in readiness and if it can be turned 

 over once or twice before planting it is 

 all the better for it, as during these 

 turning operations bone and other in- 



gredients can be added and much more 

 thoroughly mixed with the soil than they 

 could with one single mixing. The ques- 

 tion of what kind of soil is best to use 

 is not of so much importance to the 

 mum, since it seems to do well in almost 

 any soil if properly handled and the 

 necessary fertilizing elements supplied. 

 I have seen the old soil taken from the 

 carnation benches, after having a little 

 manure mixed through it, put right 

 back to grow the muihs in. Such meth- 

 ods, however, I do not like, because, 

 though, as I just stated, the chrysan- 

 themum is not so particular as some 

 other subjects, it amply repays any 

 care that may be bestowed on it and 

 should have a new "live" soil with lots 

 of fibre in it. Any soil that has just 

 borne a crop in a greenhouse bench is not, 

 I consider, in a fit condition mechani- 

 cally to immediately carry another, aside 

 from the fact that it has been robbed 

 of its "goodness" to a large extent. 



A good loam that has been stacked 

 up the previous fall, with one-fourth of 

 its bulk of cow manure, will, with the 

 addition of a little bone, furnish the 

 ideal soil for the mums to make a good, 

 healthy, normal growth in. Later on, 

 when the soil is full of roots, the ques- 

 tion of feeding can be taken up to 

 better advantage. 



Pot Plants. 



Plants intended to be grown in 6-inch 

 pots may be footed any time for the 

 next four ireeks, the sooner the better in 

 the case of such dwarf growers as Merza 

 or Cheltoni. I believe that man^ flo- 

 rists could grow more plants of this 

 class to their pecuniary advantage if 

 they only would. An exhibition flower 

 on a stem twelve to eighteen inches in 

 height, with the foliage hanging over 

 the pot, would sell at sight in many of 

 our florists' stores, and yet they are 

 never met with outside of an exhibi- 

 tion. Half the pot plants usually shown 

 in the stores as such are not worthy of 

 the name. C. H. Tottt. 



Y^etable Forcing. 



'iJ'^ VEGETABLE MAHKETS. 



Chicago, May 10. — The market is still 

 unsettled because of the strike but gen- 

 erally lower on greenhouse products. Head 

 lettuce, 20c to 40c box; leaf lettuce," 15c 

 to 20c case; cucumbers, 35c to 90c doz. 



Boston, May 9. — Lettuce, $1 to $1.50 

 box of three doz.; parsley, $2 bu.; to- 

 matoes, 25c lb. ; cucumbers, $2 to $4.50 

 bu.; carrots, 80c to $1 doz. bunches; 

 bsets, $1.75 doz. bunches. 



New York, May 8. — Cucumbers, $1.50 

 to $S0 case; cauliflower, $2 to $4 case; 

 lettuce, 50c to $1.25; mushrooms, 25c to 

 50c lb.; radishes, 75c to $1.25 per 100 

 bunches; tomatoes, 10c to 20c lb. 



SEASONABLE WORK. 



Cucumbers in most cases will be the 

 principal indoor crop at the present time. 

 Though the setting of the fruit is easy 

 at this season, compared with the duller 

 months of the year, they will neverthe- 

 less need watching, as a crop cannot be 

 depended on unless the flowers are prop- 

 erly fertilized. Less hand pollination 

 will be necessary as natural agencies, 

 such as bees and other insects, will be 

 sure to find their way through the open 

 ventilators and help distribute the pol- 

 len. If bees are very plentiful the work 

 can safely be left to them but other- 

 wise they can hardly be depended on to 

 do it all. The syringe must be kept 

 going pretty freely to keep the plants 

 clean. Both red spider and thrips quick- 

 ly show themselves if syringing is neg- 

 lected but if syringing is thoroughly 

 done it is the best means we have of 

 keeping them under control. 



Cantaloupes require practically the 

 same general treatment as cucumbers, 

 only in the setting of these care must be 

 taken to try and get as many fiowers 

 pollinated at about the same time, for if 

 one or two are set on a plant and get 

 the lead they will take the whole strength 

 of the ^lant and no more fruit can be 

 set, or, if set, they will never mature. 

 We have often seen fruits set in such 

 cases swell until they were about as 

 large as a small chicken's egg but here 

 they stop, gradually turn yellow and 

 fall off. The inexperienced might think 

 they were all right and begin to make 

 sure of a good crop but disappointment 

 is usually the outcome unless enough 

 for a fuU crop can be set at one time. 

 It may look like wasting flowers to pick 

 them off when two or three good strong 

 pistilate blossoms appear, but this is the 



