■y 'l- ' 1^ 



Mat 81. lOOe. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



83 



Forcing Lily of tlie Valley at Establishment of E, Neubert, Wandsbaek, Germany. 



say, plant lots of the good market vari- 

 eties. Chrysanthemums would be very 

 unprofitable if they occupied the benches 

 until Christmas, but they don't. They 

 are out of the way before you want the 

 space for lilies, azaleas and much other 

 stock. 



We had thousands of flowers go to 

 waste last fall because they did not sell, 

 but of Ivory and Appleton, Nagoya and 

 Alice Byron we ran short. I don't want 

 to say anything against the beautiful 

 novelties, for it is most fascinating to 

 see them develop, but costly experience 

 has taught us that you only want a few 

 of the exhibition varieties and thousands 

 of those mentioned, also Maud Dean, 

 Mrs. Weeks, Golden Wedding, Major 

 Bon naff on, etc. Australia has raised 

 wonderful chrysanthemums, but it seems 

 to me that America is still to the front 

 with the best commercial varieties, and 

 please remember to have at least half 

 of all your crop white. The demand for 

 white last fall was very marked, for 

 funeral bunches. They were in great 

 demand, and for this the Ivory type of 

 flower is unequaled. It is the right 

 size and the right form. While some 

 varieties should be on the bench by the 

 middle of May, there is time for many 

 until the first of July. 



Azaleas Outdoors. 



The azaleas that were unsold at Eas- 

 ter, if given a warm house and plenty 

 of syringing, will have a young growth 

 and should now be plunged outdoors in 

 the full sun. Put them in a frame of 

 boards. Even if the boards are only six 

 inches high, it holds the plunging ma- 

 terial in place, and the tidy appearance 

 is worth something to you. For a 

 plunging material refuse hops ia un- 

 equaled, and when fall comes the hops 

 are a most valuable ingredient for . pot- 

 ting soil, especially for the nephrolepis 

 ferns. If you don't have that, then 

 stable litter will do. 



Choose a place for your frames where 

 water will not stand after heavy rains, 

 or the copious watering and syringing 

 that the azaleas need daily. Let the 

 plunging material be up to the rims of 

 the pots, or drying out will occur too 

 often. Don't plunge the azaleas too 

 closely together, for thev grow a good 

 deal during summer. There should be 

 daylight between each plant, for you 

 want to get at them with the hose to 

 keep down mealy bug, thrip and red 

 spider. 



I will say here that the best flowered 

 plants we have for Easter are the plants 

 we have carried over summer. Strange, 

 but they are not suited for Christmas 

 forcing, but at Easter they are grand, 

 and there are some varieties, such as 

 Bernard Andre and Bernard Andre alba, 

 that are unsatisfactory the first winter 

 after importing, but are grand the sec- 

 ond winter. Now, the greatest danger 

 to these azaleas is neglect of watering. 

 In July and August once a day is often 

 not sufficient. They need water every 

 evening and maybe again the next noon. 



There was a time when I delighted to 

 get into rubber boots and water my 

 frames In the cool of the evening, but 

 since I joined the union I am not al- 

 lowed to work after 5:30 p. m. When 

 a man will take as keen delight in re- 

 freshing his thirsty plants as he did in 

 going to a circus when a lad, he is 

 pretty near a gardener, and if he has 

 not some serious failings he will make 

 good. 



By the first part of July these azaleas 

 will liave grown and will need more 

 room, and while moving them put an 

 inch of cow manure, rather fresh, on the 

 surface of the soil in the pots. You 

 will see a noticeable deepening of the 

 * color of the foliage and it will also be 

 a mulch to prevent drying out. There 

 is nothing more to do all summer except 

 that some strong growths will start from 

 some varieties. Where this occurs they 

 can be pinched back. Bemove the 

 plants to a cool house before any danger 

 of frost. 



Other Stock. 



The Acacia armata and metrosideros, 

 which you shortened back after Easter, 

 can be treated the same as azaleas and 

 will do well plunged in frames. 



Plant out bouvardia now, about fif- 

 teen inches apart. Choose a light, sandy 

 soil that has been manured. You must 

 not lose any roots when lifting in Sep- 

 tember, which you will do if the soil is 

 heavy, and also plant out Stevia serrata 

 two feet apart in a light soil. We never 

 have too much of it. 



William Scott: 



FoxBORO, Mass. — A. P. Belcher states 

 that he is going out of business. 



Sedalia, Mo. — C. A. Pfeiffer, who has 

 12,000 feet of glass, reports a good 

 trade on cut flowers all winter and 

 spring. 



FISCHER'SIPURITY FREESIA. 



Last year Budolph Fischer, Great 

 Neck, L. I., offered under the name of 

 Purity a new and particularly free- 

 flowering freesia, evidently developed 

 by long selection from the commercial 

 Freesia refracta, so extensively grown 

 by florists for winter bloom. Corms 

 were procured in August, says the Rural 

 New Yorker, and potted up about the 

 end of the month, placing three each 

 in 6-inch pots of rich but very light 

 compost. The pots were kept outside, 

 exposed to the weather until frost 

 threatened, receiving no care further 

 than weeding and regular watering. 

 Sprouts appeared in November after 

 housing under glass in an average tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees, and the plants 

 grew so vigorously that at blooming 

 time in January they were over twenty 

 inches high, with many branching flower 

 scapes. The three plants in the best 

 pot opened 218 perfect blooms, and 

 none fell below 195 blooms to the pot. 

 Some of the best branches had eleven 

 fine blooms, though the average freesia 

 does not often bear more than five or 

 six to a branch or axis. The individual 

 flowers were large, well-rounded and of 

 a very good white color, with scarcely a 

 trace of the common and objectionable 

 yellow in the throat. The fragrance was 

 pleasing, but much fainter than in most 

 florists' freesias. The strong growth 

 and extreme abundance of bloom make 

 this a very desirable variety, though it 

 is scarcely as pure in coloring, nor as 

 richly fragrant, as best strains of the 

 usual type. The originator says that 

 Purity may be grown to cut stems two 

 feet long. The effect of the long sprays 

 of graceful blooms is very pleasing. 

 There is little doubt concerning the 

 value of this fine new freesia for green- 

 house use. 



WATSONIA ARDERNEI ALBA. 



Speaking of Watsonia Ardernei alba 

 an English firm says: "It is very 

 strongly recommended to practical high- 

 class florists for wreath and bouquet 

 work; the choicest flower for best work; 

 the purest white flower in cultivation; 

 as easily grown as a gladiolus, lasts 

 fresh for a long time after cutting; 

 bulbs planted in the open now will blos- 

 som from early July to late September. 

 Bulbs potted can be had in flower for a 

 very long period; a perfect gem for 



