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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Decgmbeii 7, 1903. 



We have more than once tried to ex- 

 plain how to form a box for the forcing 

 of this little flower and won't go into 

 it now, but the conditions are these: For 

 early forcing, say New Year's until 

 March 1, 85 degrees for the sand; 55 

 or 60 degrees for top heat. Water the 

 roots every day, but when the buds are 

 formed, and more particularly when 

 turning white, never wet the spikes or 

 bells. Too high a top heat as spring 

 advances makes the foliage as well as the 

 spikes weak and wilty. The first ten 

 days the roots are in tlie sand a board 



covering a foot above the pips gives them 

 a good start. Then for the next week a 

 covering of cheese-cloth is best and when 

 showing color they can be given the full 

 light but never exposed to bright sun 

 or a draught. 



Depend on cold storage roots for 

 Christmas. If you did not start any in 

 l)ots for Christmas you can lift the full- 

 blown spikes from the sand and place 

 them thickly in pots or pans and it is 

 just as satisfactory as growing them. 

 They will not feel the change. 



William Scott. 



A YQUNG GROWER'S TROUBLES. 



T send under separate cover sample 

 of my roses. Sample No. 1 were planted 

 the latter part of August, in the soil as 

 per sample, without any manure, being 

 unable to secure any. They made a 

 good growth and were apparently do- 

 ing nicely but now are a mass of blind 

 wood of a weak, reaching nature, the 

 buds on some coming small and dry up, 

 leaving the shoot blind. Others come 

 green and crippled, the latter on good 

 stems. I have fed them once with ma- 

 nure water. They have had lots of -air 

 on fine days, but have kept the hduseis 

 closed on dark, cold days. Once or 

 twice the temperature has been low at 

 night, down to 50 degrees. Had I better 

 feed them with bone instead of cow ma- 

 nure, alternately with lime? What is 

 the cause of the buds coming green a^d 

 deformed? Sample No. 2 is old stock. 

 They are making a fair growth but the 

 flowers are brown and the leaves drop- 

 ping off. They have had the same 

 treatment as No. 1 except that they 

 may have been kept a little more on 

 the dry side. What had I best feed 

 with for that soil? I hope I have made 

 my queries plain enough, as I am a be- 

 ginner and having my troubles, as I 

 presume we all do. H. B. S. 



The samples mentioned have not as 

 yet been received, but as the letter con- 

 tains some very concise statements I may 

 be able to do something by way of ad- 

 vice. 



August is rather late in the season 

 to plant and expect the plants to pro- 

 duce good blooms in November, as the 

 best part of the growing season is then 

 over and any "growth that newly planted 

 stock will make must of necessity be 

 of an inferior quality. This would part- 

 ly account for the blind wood. 



Seeing that the plants cannot have 

 used the nutriment contained in the 

 soil, there could be no necessity for 



feeding, as this would cause the plants 

 to gorge themselves and the conse- 

 quences would be just as stated; the 

 buds would get yellow and drop off. 

 This would also account in part for the 

 malformed and poor colored flowers. 



This erratic temperature also is 

 against the production of good stems 

 and blooms. Keep the night tempera- 

 ture at 56 degrees and keep a crack of 



air on whenever the weather will per- 

 mit. During sunny weather allow the 

 temperature during the day to run up 

 as high as 75 degrees with ventilation 

 on. The ventilation should be adminis- 

 tered by raising the ventilators in the 

 morning as the day warms, a little bit 

 at a time, never so much as to alter the 

 temperature of the house to any appre- 

 ciable extent and keep raising gradually 

 until the sun reaches the highest point. 

 Reduce the ventilation during the after- 

 noon with the same care, never lowering 

 the ventilators so much at a time as to 

 raise the house temperature. 



During the process of syringing the 

 ventilators should be lowered so as to 

 raise the house temperature 10 degrees, 

 thus preventing the house from being 

 chilled. 



Keep the branches and flower stems 

 neatly tied in an upright position, allow- 

 ing plenty of room for free circulation 

 among the foliage. 



It might be advisable to give the 

 benches a sprinkling of bone meal occa- 

 sionally and stir it lightly, in alternat- 

 ing this with a sprinkling of air-slaked 

 lime every three or four weeks. 



During dark weather it is a good 

 practice to open the ventilators a little 

 bit, even at the expense of a little coal, 

 as this causes a better circulation of air 

 and keeps the atmosphere sweet. 



BiBES. 



GRAFTED ROSES. 



The Manetti stocks will soon be ar- 

 riving from Europe, and rose grafting 

 will be beginning. Every one charged 

 with grafting roses for forcing will do 

 well, at the lime of beginning the sea- 

 son 's operations, to re-read The History 



Frond of Nephrolepis WhitmanL 



