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502 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



JtLY 27, 1005. 



of tar or say two ouiicos of j)ine tar 

 to twelve quarts of liot rain water and 

 give al least two api)lieations. 



Kdvvakd Snow. 



SAVES PROFANITY. 



Once upon a time ex-Prcsident Grover 

 Cleveland went on reeord as of the be- 

 lief that if, when a member of the great 

 brotherhood of fishermen loses from his 

 hook a particularly likely specimen, 

 his expression of pent up feeling is a 

 well-modulated, if clearly enunciated, 

 • ' damn, " it is not written down 

 against him. Now, surely, if the fisher- 

 man has exemptions, so, too, has the 

 greenhouse man who suff'ered all winter 

 with leaky pipe-joints and who now, in 

 order to repair the difficulty, undertakes 

 to take down liis ])i]ting and finds some 

 of the joints rusted fast. If profanity 

 be permitted to the exasperated fisiier- 



man on the shady bank of the babbling 

 brook it could not be withheld from the 

 j)erspiring man wrestling with the ob- 

 durate pipe beneath the greenhouse 

 bench. 



But while it may be necessary for the 

 fisherman to plead his exemptions, it is 

 not so with the florist, for if he reads 

 the advertising columns of the Keview, 

 as all good florists do, he will know that 

 there is means at hand for putting an 

 end to exasperation and inclination to 

 profanity. In fact, with the pipe-joint 

 fillers now offered joints on which it is 

 used will always be tight and still, after 

 many years, will come apart with per- 

 fect (iase. The expense is so small, the 

 trouble so slight, with the certainty of 

 tight joints which will come apart when 

 wanted, that it is no wonder that the 

 manufacturers find the greenhouse trade, 

 next to the plumbers, worth most to 

 them. 



CARNATION NOTES -WEST. 



Benching Young Stock. 



Just now most carnation growers are 

 busily engaged in replanting their 

 houses, or at least refilling the benches 

 preparatory to replanting. If you 

 started this laborious operation when 

 the plants began to be unprofitable you 

 may have all your beds refilled ready 

 to plant, and you were wi.?e in going at 

 it early. We have a few beds that 

 were filled a month ago, but we also 

 have many that have paid us well right 

 up to now. No further delay must be 

 allowed, however, as every day's delay 

 after August 15 we consider a loss to 

 the next season's crop. The demand 

 for high grade carnations comes just 

 as soon as carnations are ready and, in 

 fact, good carnations are always in de- 

 mand. So do not delay any longer, but 

 get your houses refilled and, if possible, 

 replant the first week in August or, if 

 your j)lants are in good order, plant any 

 time now. 



When I say if your plants are in good 

 order I do not mean if they are large. 

 Large ])lants are not always the best to 

 plant, just as large blooms are not al- 

 ways the best to buy for commercial 

 use. A large, soft plant should always 

 be avoi<led at planting time. We do 

 not object so much to the size as we do 

 to the softness, but extremely large 

 plants this early are very apt to be soft 

 unless they were planted out of large 

 pots in the spring. What I mean when 

 I say in good order is a nice, bushy plant 

 that has been topped at least the second 

 time and which has had enough dry 

 weather to make the growth sound and 

 firm. I w^ould rather plant a carnation 

 that was dug out of dust dry soil than 

 one that had been continuously moist 

 and made a recent rapid growth. Pro- 

 viding, of course, that the soil is such 

 as will crumble readily in digging up 

 the plants. That is why a rather sandy 

 soil is the best for planting carnation.^ 



on outdoors; you can get all the roots 

 when digging the plants. Jf your soil 

 gets lumpy when it gets dry you would 

 better wait for a rain and then dig the 

 plants before they start into a new 

 growth again. The idea is to have the 

 plants in that half dormant condition 

 as they will get in midsummer when it 

 is quite dry, and then to get the roots 

 without breaking too many. 



Every grower knows that the best 

 time to transplant or repot any plant is 

 when it is just a little hardened off as 

 a result of withholding water or some 

 such check to the growth, and that a 

 plant in such condition will take hold 

 much quicker and suffer much less than 

 when it is in full growth and full of 

 saj). The carnation is no exception to 

 this rule. When taken from a dry field 

 and planted into moist soil the roots at 

 once become active and take hold of 



the. new soil and the plants start into a 

 new growth. There is little or no wilt- 

 ing, because the foliage is hard and tlic 

 atmosphere in the house is so much more 

 moist than outside during dry weathoi . 

 Less shading is required, too, when the 

 conditions are such as I have recom- 

 mended, but we do like a little shado 

 for a few days to help keep the tempera- 

 ture down and the atmosphere from 

 drying out too quickly. 



We used to practice dipping the plants 

 into a pail of water when digging, but 

 we have come to doubt the wisdom of 

 this, when the ground is dry and the 

 plants are to be planted at once. So wc 

 planted a bed of Lawson last week with- 

 out dipping and they are taking hold fine- 

 ly so far. It is surprising how quickly a 

 plant will respond to the effects of 

 moisture when it is dry and I think it 

 is better to let the plant draw its first 

 moisture from the new soil rather thaii 

 to saturate it before planting. New root- 

 lets will form over night and the plant 

 is soon in condition to supply itself by 

 means of its roots if it is given a fair 

 chance. The soil should not be wet but 

 only moist, and syringing should be light 

 but frequent. The walks and every place 

 the sun strikes direct should be wet 

 down to help keep the atmosphere moist. 

 Of course, the plants nuist be kept cov- 

 ered closely to keep the sun and wind 

 from them until they are planted, so 

 the roots will not dry too much, and, in 

 fact, they should ^*^ ""* of the soil 

 just as short a time as possible. 



If you have beds that were filled some 

 time ago and that are quite dry begin 

 watering them two or three days before 

 you want to plant them, as it will take 

 several waterings to wet the soil clear 

 to the bottom and no bed should ever be 

 planted with the bottom of the soil dry. 

 It will take about a day for most soils 

 to get into j)roper shape for planting 

 after the last watering. It should be 

 moist, but not too moist to crumble 

 nicely when rubbed through the fingers, 

 just about the way you like it for pot- 

 ting. You cannot be too particular in 

 having your soil just right, because if 

 it is too dry it will draw the moisture 

 from the roots and wilt the plants, and 



A Glimpse of the Lewis and Clark Exposition at Portland. 



