.■?..'''*^?''7- '■*:>' 



August 9, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



697 



It may happen that you have a bed 

 occupied with a crop of early chrysan- 

 themums and you want to cut them and 

 then plant sweet peas. In this case you 

 should sow the peas, seven or eight seeds 

 in a 4-inch pot, and transplant to the 

 bed as soon as the mums are gone. This 

 can be done with fair success, yet our 

 experience is that it is much better to 

 sow where they are to flower. 



As for the white-seeded varieties be- 

 ing best sown in sand, it is quite easy 

 to scoop out a little cup of the soil 

 and fill in with sand. We think the 

 ideal distance is to have the hills twelve 

 inches apart in the rows and the rows 

 eighteen inches apart. Mr. Zvolanek 

 impresses on us the necessity of light 

 and ventilation, to all of which we say 

 amen. "We noticed last winter that with- 

 out sunlight we picked few peas, but 

 after a bright day the picking was won- 

 derfully increased. Therefore, a house 

 running north and south is not suf- 

 ficiently light. A house running east 

 and west, and the middle or north bench 

 of that house, would be ideal. A raised 

 bench would do, still I should much 

 prerer a "bed on the ground, drained with 

 three or four inches of gravel, rubble- 

 stone or tiles. 



Forty-five degrees at night and a rise 

 of 10 degrees is right for dull weather, 

 and 10 or 15 degrees higher on bright 

 days will be very beneficial. A high 

 temperature by artificial heat, especially 

 in cloudy weather, will be most harmful. 



Greenfly is easily kept down with 

 regular weekly smoking with tobacco 

 stems. In connection with sweet peas 

 I should say that the great grower of 

 this flower, William Sim, of Cliftondale, 

 told me that his magnificent vases of 

 white shown at several of the carnation 

 conventions was Mont Blanc. Whether 

 this variety can be had in flower by 

 Christmas I don't know. It is grand 

 when it does come. 



Altemanthera. 



Those interested in carpet bedding 

 plants should propagate alternanthera 

 now, while the weather is warm. Flats 

 holding a depth of three inches of 

 sandy soil should be prepared. If your 

 soil is not sandy, then mix your garden 

 soil with equal quantities of pure sand 

 and insert the cuttings of alternanthera 

 thickly in the flats. One good water- 

 ing and the cuttings will root anywhere, 

 inside or out. This is an economical 

 way to winter these little tropical weeds, 

 so useful in carpet bedding. 



Poinsettias. 



There is little occupying the cutting 

 beu just now except the poinsettias. It 

 will soon be time to propagate the 

 plants you intend for pans or half pots. 

 The single plant in a 5-inch or 6-inch 

 pot meets with little favor nowadays. 

 The half pot, or azalea pot, as we call 

 it, holding four or five plants, is the 

 popular arrangement. Pans are rather 

 shallow for the purpose because the 

 plants become exhausted by Christmas. 



Eemember there is no science in root- 

 ing or growing this showy plant. It 

 will root in the hottest weather, if kept 

 faithfully shaded and the sand sat- 

 urated, but when potted off from the 

 sand, for the first week there must be 

 no neglect of shading and watering. 

 When once they begin to root in the 

 little pots they will enjoy the brightest 

 sun. 



Asters. 



Where rains have been frequent and 



BEHER JOIN NOW. 



copious, asters are doing well, but where 

 a long, dry, hot July prevailed, they 

 are poor. We are now cutting early va- 

 rieties of good quality because the hose 

 has been playing on them often enough 

 to keep the soil moist. 



The best asters are yet to come and 

 if rains do not come the fall crop will 

 be poor. An investment in a few hun- 

 dred feet of 1%-inch pipe may profit 

 you several hundred dollars. Pipe is 

 always useful on any florists' place. It 

 takes but a few minutes to screw to- 

 gether 500 feet of 1^4 -inch pipe from 

 your water supply to your aster field, and 

 then you can, by moving the hose occa- 

 sionally, thoroughly irrigate them. I 

 said 1^4 -inch because in conducting 

 water through pipes there is much fric- 

 tion in 1-inch. If your aster patch is 

 several feet lower than your greenhouses, 

 then gravity will help, but where there 

 is little or no drop, friction in the 1-inch 

 pipe will reduce the force or pressure 

 to almost nothing. Anyway, don't hesi- 

 tate to afford means to irrigate your 

 asters, sweet peas and gladioli, but not 

 carnations. Oh! Nol Not on your life! 

 Hoe them, but do not hose them. 



William Scott. 



We consider the Review the best pub- 

 lication in its line. — W. T. Stephens & 

 Co., Brookfield, Mo. 



NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



Eoses are booming in England this 

 year. A host of new varieties is being 

 placed on the market. Covent Garden, 

 and every provincial market, is over- 

 loaded with cut roses, but they all are 

 cleared at some price or other. Alex 

 Dickson & Sons, of Newtownards, Ire- 

 land, are offering quite a catalogue in 

 itself of entirely new roses. The firm 

 has a magnificent stock, and is no doubt 

 nearly as well known in America as here. 



I notice that some of the more suc- 

 cessful growers of lancifoUum lilies are 

 blooming their bulbs the second year, 

 especially the album and Krsetzeri 

 forms, and they find that if properly 

 treated the blooms are larger and far 

 more numerous, and the growth cleaner 

 and stronger, when bloomed the second 

 year. There is little art in the drying 

 off, as the growths, when done flowering, 

 are simply allowed to cue down. The 

 pots are laid on their sides outdoors, 

 and when the proper time comes aronnd, 

 the bulbs are shaken out and repotted 

 in fresh soil. If the bulbs are skilfully 

 grown during the first season, they will 

 give a great improvement the second 

 year, but it is absolutely useless to pot 

 up a second time any bulbs that show 

 the slightest sign of disease or of fall- 

 ing away of scales, as these will hardly 

 make a growth a second year. 



