

814 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



August 81, 1906. 



trowel, leaving a good earth ball at- 

 tached to each plant. 



(3) By cuttings made from young, 

 unrooted crowns, or divisions' of the old 

 plant, ' removed during the winter or 

 spring without disturbing the mother 

 plant. 



(4) By removing well-rooted young di- 

 visions, crowns or offshoots, without in- 

 juring or disturbing the flowering plant, 

 then carefully nursing them the same as 

 the divisions in spring. 



Strong, hardy plants should always be 

 chosen, with an abundance of good foli- 

 age and well defined roots. 



Field Planting. 



Plants set out in May to sun-ripen 

 where the soil is perfectly drained, get 

 splendidly established, are stronger, 

 healthier and more vigorous than those 

 set out later in the season, when the 

 weather is invariably hot and dry and 

 the soil parched and cracked. They 

 should not be planted so deep as to re- 

 tard their growth or injure the life of 

 the plant, and they must be kept free 

 from weeds, runners and dscayed leaves, 

 and the flowers should always be picked 

 at this time, whether marketable or not. 



The soil during the violets' stay in 

 the field should be frequently stirred 

 and great caution must be used to elimi- 

 nate the possibility of injury to the roots. 



Three or four months in the field will 

 make them strong enough to transplant 

 about September to the greenhouse and 

 it will be found advantageous to take as 

 much earth with the roots as possible. 



Soils. 



Benches should be so constructed as 

 to be able to take in five rows nine 

 inches apart and should contain at least 



cubic ca])aeity of your benches to insure 

 having a sufiKcicnt quantity. 



Where practicable this soil might be 

 sterilijed, and if scientifically treated 

 shoula Spake it in ideal -pondition for 

 your beds and for the time being elimi- 

 nate such pests as red spider, aphis and 

 fungus. 



A number of authorities upon steriliz- 

 ing quote 212 degrees as being the cor- 

 rect temperature. This is erroneous. It 

 should be 176 degrees, because 212 de- 

 grees would free the ammonia, one of 

 the most important factors, and besides 

 the salts would lose their fertilizing 

 power. I have the highest authority for 

 this statement. 



Equipment. 



The plants should be properly bedded 

 to avoid being drowned during syringing. 

 Syringing should only be done on bright 

 days during the winter, as the plants 

 must not be wet late in the day. 



In my experience with many furnaces, 

 the Kobert W. King takes the palm. It 

 is easily attended to, low pressure, 

 reasonable in cost, nothing to get out of 

 order and should last for years with care. 

 The piping should run the whole length 

 of the building, underneath the benches. 

 My great objection to placing them near 

 the glass is that you are losing heat 

 through radiation outside (coal costs 

 money) and then besides you are encour- 

 aging the prolific incubation of the very 

 pests that you wish to exterminate. 



Your house should have King's auto- 

 matic thermostat for proper regulation 

 of temperature, and if correctly set will 

 close the ventilators securely before any 

 damaere can be done to the olants. A 

 bell attachment to this will notify you of 

 the change in the temperature and will 



Tremont Street Store of Thos. F. Galvin, Boston. 



six inches of loam. At the bottom of 

 the bench should be i/^-inch openings, 

 carefully covered with loose broken stone 

 and ashes. This is to ensure perfect 

 drainage, as violets will not thrive where 

 the earth becomes sour or sodden. 



The compost should be made in the 

 autumn for next winter's benches. Good, 

 strong, fibrous loam and barnyard ma- 

 nure is best, properly mixed in the pro- 

 portion of one part of manure to two of 

 loam. This should be left standing until 

 the spring, when it should be chopped 

 down and thrown into a heap to facili- 

 tate the continuance of decomposition. 

 This earth should measure up to the 



aid you in the attendance needed at the 

 furnaces. 



The violets' susceptibility to frost ne- 

 cessitates the house to be 50 degrees in 

 the day and 38 degrees at night. They 

 should also be protected from the direct 

 rays of the sun by having the glass 

 frosted the proper way. 



Pests. 



Great care of the plants is required in 

 the greenhouse in keeping them free of 

 red spider and aphis. The red spider 

 can be kept down by syringing the plants 

 three times a week, bearing in mind at 

 the same time that the more advanced 



your plants are the more careful must 

 your syringing be. 



Fumigation to rid the house of pests 

 is resorted to by many. I do not advo- 

 cate it, as it is d{^ngerous and poisonous, 

 being a combination of cyanide of potas- 

 sium and sulphuric" acid, termed hydro- 

 cyanic-acid gas. In using this gas the 

 cubical contents of your house must be 

 accurately figured out, or all your pains 

 and propagating will go for naught. 



Picking and Marketing. 



It may be mentioned here that the 

 early violets are nothing like as large as 

 the ones gathered later in the season. 

 When the violets are ready to ship in 

 commercial quantities they should be 

 gathered carefully. No plant should be 

 wounded in any way during the process. 

 The best method is to straighten out the 

 stem to its full length between the thumb 

 and index finger; then follow the stem 

 down to the plant with the third or 

 fourth finger; then break the stem off. 



The flowers should be bunched the 

 night before marketing, and let me say 

 here that great caution, good taste, sound 

 judgment in selection, artistically ar- 

 ranged bunches, and neatness in packing 

 is the only way to succeed in gaining or 

 retaining your own reputation and a 

 fair share in the profits. 



After bunching the stems should be 

 put in water, allowing the leaves indi- 

 vidual to each particular variety to rest 

 upon the edge of a trough in the shape 

 of a "V" with holes large enough for 

 the stems to go through. This will keep 

 them in shape and prevent the flowers 

 from being drowned and losing their 

 fragrance. 



One must make a judicious study of 

 the local markets and pander to the pre- 

 vailing taste of the public to command 

 the best prices. Care should be taken to 

 pack securely from Jack Frost and in 

 such a way as to retain their delightful 

 fragrance during shipment. It will be 

 seen that marketing is a high art and an 

 essential factor to success. The grower 

 must be thoroughly familiar with the 

 needs, peculiarities and eccentricities of 

 his market to be able to cope successfully 

 with its demands. 



The crop can be disposed of in several 

 ways, retail, wholesale, through an agent 

 or by commission. These all have ad- 

 yantages and the grower must be guided 

 by his own sound judgment. Any ex- 

 periments on these lines must be well 

 thought out in a rational, judicious and 

 practical manner. 



Nearly every department store of any 

 importance has a flower stand, and if 

 the grower gets in touch with their pur- 

 chasing agents and has a special flower 

 with a distinct and popular name, one 

 that will fill all requirements, it will be 

 a good advertisement for your violets, as 

 thousands of people must see them dur- 

 ing their season every day. This would 

 be a good start and a splendid business 

 could be built up and increased as de- 

 mand necessitated or opportunity offered. 



Don'ts. 



Don't let friends smoking a pipe or 

 cigar walk through your houses when you 

 have a large crop. Violets are super- 

 sensitive to outside influences. 



Don 't. let your house get too cold or 

 yet too hot. 



Don't attempt too many things; bet- 

 ter make a success of one. 



Don't sell the best you have all the 

 time; they may become a drug in the 



