Kebiuauv 15, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



843 



hctween the beds, with gravel walks 

 ,'ight foot wide on the four sidos. The 

 hods woro planted with camellias, 

 acacias, clethras, liieulias and many other 

 things which 1 have quite forgotten. 

 Kach plant had a space in brickwork 

 three feet deep and from three to six 

 loot stjuare, filled with suitable soil, the 

 whole surfaced with soil and planted 

 with Selaginolla donticulnta, the hods and 

 slate walks running east and west. At 

 the oast end of each bed was a daphne 

 trained as a pyramid, fnun five to six 

 loot high, perfect in shape. 



When 1 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. 1 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 eti'ect 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 sum- 

 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. 1 never could grow 

 them like it in pots. S. Tapmn. 



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. \V. D. 



it is not quite clear what is meant by 

 a roll of car])ot and we should think that 

 a carpet laid out as it would apf)ear in 

 a room is to be represented. Make the 

 diuionsions wliat are usually seen in car- 

 ])ets, say 12x1 (5, or lGx24 feet. A carpet 

 is alwaj-s seen perfectly flat, without 

 any undulations in its surface; there- 

 fore it shoidd be on a moderate incline 

 or it would not be observed with any 

 cloarnoss or j)loasuro. Wo 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 bioozo without 

 some waves in it? A dead flat surface 

 re[)resenting 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. Tliat is all that 

 is necessary, but lot the edge be clearly 

 defined. If this is not jiractical with 

 your soil, thou sink a l-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 bod of flowering plants such as 

 caTinas or geraniums. The plants that 

 can be usetl 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 infinite 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 those beds. Thoy are purely me- 

 chanical. 



The plants suitable can be soloctod 

 from the following: Alternantheras. five 

 or six varieties; Echeveria secunda glauca 

 and a few other species; the dwarf Tom 

 Thumb sweet alyssuni, creeping bronze 

 oxalis, Othonna crassifolia, I'iloa rojiens, 

 Santolina incana. \ariegatt'd sago. I'vre- 

 thrum Golden I'Vatlier and golden tliytiio. 

 We could includo lobelia, but it only 

 iloes well in moist and cool climates. 



W. S. 



MAKING A START. 



I wish to build a greoidu)uso in the 

 fall and ask what kimls of plants can 

 be grown successfully in one house for 

 cut flowers and pot plants and how 1 

 can be preparing stock now and next 

 spring? Would you kindly tell me of 

 some books that treat fullv on the sub- 

 ject? ' T. II. H. 



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 Ilorticnituie the best garden- 

 ing book j)ublished. It is voluminous 

 and expensive, but its chief value to 

 the ordinary llorist is tliat its cultural 

 directions for all our pojinlar llowers are 

 written by the most practical men in the 

 trade. A much less expensive book, 

 which contains plain practical directions 

 lor the culture of all our commercial 

 flowers, is the I'lorists' .Manual written 

 ^''' Wm, Scott. 



It would be impossible oven in an ex- 

 tended article to answer the above. Don 't 

 put ofl" 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 



TEMPERATURE AND BLIND WOOD. 



I woidd like to grow in one house a 

 rod, pink and white rose, growing Liber- 

 ty for rod. Xow, will you kimlly sug- 

 gest what variotii's will do the best and 

 at what temperature tiny will do best? 



I purchased last season, from one of 

 the largest concerns, P>ridos and Maids. 

 They started ofl' well and have looked 

 well all through the season. When I say 

 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- 



