Fbbbuaby 16, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



843 



between the bods, with gravel walks 

 eight feet wide on the four sides. The 

 beds were planted with camellias, 

 acacias, clethras, luculias and many other 

 things which I have quite forgotten. 

 Each plant had a space in brickwork 

 three feet deep and from three to six 

 feet square, filled with suitable soil, the 

 whole surfaced with soil and planted 

 with Selaginella denticulata, the beds and 

 slate walks running east and west. At 

 the east end of each bed was a daphne 

 trained as a pyramid, from five to six 

 feet high, perfect in shape. 



When I took charge of the house the 

 daphnes were in a starved, poor state, 

 like many of the other plants. It was 

 then in August and many of the camel- 

 lias had lost their buds. I found on 

 examining the soil that the trouble was 

 all caused from want of water. It took 

 me nearly all of the first month to thor- 

 oughly water the house. There being no 

 hose at that time, all the water had to 

 be carried in a can from a tank at one 

 side of the house. The foliage of every- 

 thing soon showed the effect of the 

 watering, but it was then too late and 

 not desirable for new growth on that 

 class of plants, so flowers were scarce 

 and poor the following winter and 

 spring. The following spring and sxim- 

 mer the daphnes made new shoots six 

 and seven inches long, foliage almost 

 double the usual size, of a fine deep 

 green and when in bloom they were a 

 mass of bloom from ground to top, many 

 of them with flower-heads two and a half 

 inches. These were by far the finest 

 plants of Daphne odorata seen by many 

 old plant growers. I never could grow 

 them like it in pots. S. Taplin. 



A ROLL OF CARPET. 



I intend to make next spring a flower 

 design representing a roll of carpet and 

 I would like to find out how to construct 

 the frame and what size is best and what 

 kind of plants are best to use. W. D. 



It is not quite clear what is meant by 

 a roll of carpet and we should think that 

 a carpet laid out as it would appear in 

 a room is to be represented. Make the 

 dimensions what are usually seen in car- 

 pets, say 12x16, or 16x24 feet. A carpet 

 is always seen perfectly flat, without 

 any undulations in its surface; there- 

 fore it should be on a moderate incline 

 or it would not be observed with any 

 clearness or pleasure. We have more 

 than once seen the great American flag, 

 the stars and stripes, done in plants and 

 made perfectly flat. Now, whoever saw 

 a flag streaming in the breeze without 

 some waves in itf A dead flat surface 

 representing a flag was a dead flat un- 

 natural affair and a failure. 



You don 't need a frame if the edge of 

 the bed is clean-cut, rising two or three 

 inches above the sod. That is all that 

 is necessary, but let the edge be clearly 

 defined. If this is not practical with 

 your soil, then sink a 1-inch board into 

 the soil and paint it green. I mean 

 1-inch thick and four or five inches 

 broad, but only let it project two inches 

 above the level of the soil. 



You will find a carpet bed a very ex- 

 pensive affair, worth double the price 

 of a bed of flowering plants such as 

 cannas or geraniums. The plants that 

 can be used are not very limited, but 

 need lots of pinching and trimming to 

 keep them of a uniform size and remem- 

 ber when it is all done at inflnite labor 

 and pronounced a success and "how 



Erica Melanthera. 



lovely" by your lady friends, that there 

 is not a particle of art or good taste 

 about these beds. They are purely me- 

 chanical. 



The plants suitable can be selected 

 from the following: Altemantheras, five 

 or six varieties ; Echeveria secunda glauca 

 and a few other species; the dwarf Tom 

 Thumb sweet alyssum, creeping bronze 

 oxalis, Othonna crassifolia, Pilea repens, 

 SantoUna incana, variegated sage, Pyre- 

 thrum Golden Feather and golden thyme. 

 We could include lobelia, but it only 

 does well in moist and cool climates. 



W. S. 



MAKING A START. 



I wish to build a greenhouse in the 

 fall and ask what kinds of plants can 

 be grown successfully in one house for 

 cut flowers and pot plants and how I 

 can be preparing stock now and next 

 spring! Would you kindly teU me of 

 some books that treat fully on the sub- 

 ject? T. H. H. 



It would be impossible even in an ex- 

 tended article to answer the above. Don 't 

 put off building your greenhouse until 

 the fall. Get at it this spring, when you 

 will have the benefit of fine weather. It 

 won't be finished too soon and unless 



you have a mechanical turn of mind and 

 past experience in building, glazing and 

 heating, give your order to a first-class 

 firm of horticultural builders. 



I consider Bailey's Cyclopedia of 

 American Horticulture the best garden- 

 ing book published. It is voluminous 

 and expensive, but its chief value to 

 the ordinary florist is that its cultural 

 directions for all our popular flowers are 

 written by the most practical men in the 

 trade. A much less expensive book, 

 which contains plain practical directions 

 for the culture of all our commercial 

 flowers, is the Florists' Manual written 

 by Wm. Scott. 



TEMPERATURE AND BLIND WOOD. 



I would like to grow in one house a 

 red, pink and white rose, growing Liber- 

 ty for red. Now, will you kindly sug- 

 gest what varieties will do the best and 

 at what temperature they will do best? 



I purchased last season, from one of 

 the largest concerns, Brides and Maids. 

 They started off well and have looked 

 well all through the season. When I gay 

 they have looked well, I mean plenty of 

 foliage and most of the time appear as 

 though they are about to produce a fine 

 crop, but everything is blind wood and 

 what flowers I have cut have been short- 



