JUNB 21, 1906. 



ThcWeekly Florists' Review. 



28t 



Peony M. BarraL 



As to soil, I would say ferns are thO' 

 least particular of any plant. Osmunda 

 regalis is found growing in a wet bog,. 

 while Pteris aquilina is at home in a 

 stiff clay. The most successful adiantum 

 grower in the country uses the same soili 

 that he does for his rose beds, a yellow 

 loam sod well decomposed, with a fourtlv 

 or fifth of cow manure not too much de- 

 cayed. If it is adiantum you want to 

 grow for the fronds, then sprinkle plenty 

 of air-slaked lime on the soil between 

 the plants and on the crowns of th.e> 

 plants where the slugs hibernate. 



W. S. 



Have them in water if possible. They 

 are frail out of water, but last for days 

 if in water. 



At a chapel decoration for a daylight 

 wedding the windows on either side of 

 the altar were raised slightly so as to 

 show glimpses of palms and Easter lilies, 

 supposedly visible from a garden beyond. 

 No palms or plants were used in the 

 decorations about the altar, only cut 

 greens and flowers. White and green 

 was the color scheme, Kaiserin roses 

 being the sole flowers, arranged in two 

 large sized French baskets with long gar- 

 lands of roses and asparagus, hanging 

 downward and draped back to a 

 groundwork of asparagus over white 

 cheese-cloth. Gertrude Blair. 



FERNS VITH OTHER PLANTS. 



Can ferns be grown successfully in the 

 same house with a general line of bed- 

 ding plants! If so, what soil is best? 

 Anything else regarding their care to help 

 a beginner in their culture will be thank- 

 fully received. S. C. C. 



There is not the slightest reason why 

 ferns of almost all species cannot be 

 grown with flowering plants. Specialists 

 who grow the adiantum do a little bet- 

 ter with houses devoted entirely to them, 

 because thej do not like tobacco smoke 

 or any strong insecticide. 



The great majority of the ferns we 

 grow commercially are natives of the 

 tropics, Although we do not always treat 

 them as such. The nephrolepis, the most 

 useful of all ferns, will grow anywhere 

 and so will all strong-growing species' 

 Broadly, I would say ferns like^cooi 

 bottom and a warm atmospher^ The 

 A. cuneatum type does best on a bench 

 with no heat under it, but should have 

 bO to 60 degrees of temperature. 



I have many times spoken of the folly 



of keeping little ferns in 2-inch or 3-inch 

 pots on a bench that has a lot of steam 

 or hot-water pipes beneath it. The roots 

 quickly dry out and the little ferns 

 shrivel up. If pipes are beneath your 

 bench, which is so beneficial for the ma- 

 jority of bedding plants, put on two 

 inches of sifted coal ashes for ferns. 



A WIDE, FLAT HOUSE. 



I am going to build a house 43x54 

 feet, but before doing so would like to 

 have your advice. I have two houses now 

 and intend to build another one 43x54 

 feet. The ground slopes seven feet in the 

 fifty-four feet. If I build the house ten 

 feet above the grouad at the upper side 

 and the lower end eight feet, which 

 makes a slope of two feet, then add the 

 slope of the ground, seven feet, making 

 nine feet slope altogther on the fifty- 

 four feet or length of the house, do yon 

 think I would have enough fall in the 

 roof to give satisfaction? I thought at 

 first I would build three houses on the 

 short-roof plan, but if a house with a 

 slant roof will do I can save money in its 

 construction. I intend to raise carna- 

 tions and bedding plants in this house. 

 The house runs east and west and gets 

 full sun from morning to night. Do yon 

 think a house like this would get too 

 hot in summer? G. J. L. 



I think. your house fifty-four feet wide 

 would be dark in winter and snow and 

 ice would lodge there. It would also 

 be very hot in summer and difiScult to 

 adequately ventilate. It would be much 

 better to build two houses each twenty- 

 two feet on two different ground levels; 

 then the south house would not in the 



Peony M. Jules EUie. 



