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August 16, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



^ 



y57 



Bouvardias. 



Pinch back the strong growths of the 

 bouvardia. The little, weak growths that 

 were made in the small pots before you 

 planted them out are useless and should 

 be cut away. The only growths of use 

 to you are the strong growths that 

 spring from the root. By September 1 

 or the following few days they should be 

 benched. We have learned from ex- 

 perience that it is of little importance 

 whether or not you lift a carnation with 

 Hoil attached to the roots, so long as 

 you get most of the roots when lifting. 

 This will not hold good with the bouvar- 

 dia. Lift with all the roots as little 

 disturbed as possible, or they will wilt 

 for many days. They will need spraying 

 and the house must be damped down 

 several times a day, even if the plants 

 are lifted under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances. 



For the first week under glass som,e) 

 shading will be a great help. There is 

 nothing better for this short period of 

 shading than clay diluted with water. If 

 there is no clay on your farm, you will 

 find it on the banks of the nearest creek, 

 where the muskrat loves to disport, and 

 there is no better way to apply it to the 

 glass than with your wife's dipper, the 

 old tin dipper that hangs by the well. 

 The first heavy shower will wash the 

 glass and sashbars clean. This very 

 primitive shading has been a boon to 

 many a carnation grower, who wanted a 

 shade for the first ten days after plant- 

 ing in July and August, and none after- 

 wards. 



Cyclamen. 



This is about the time to give your 

 earliest cyclamens their last shift. The 

 best plants in 4-inch pots should go into 

 6-inch, and the lees strong from 3-inch 

 into a 5-inch. I know good cyclamen 

 growers who, after the last shift, plunge 

 the plants in coldframes, in tobacco 

 stems, and shade by lath shading nailed 

 on light frames. If this is not con- 

 venient, then a bench in a house where 

 an abundance of ventilation will reach 

 them will do very well, but not wttb-^ 

 permanent shade overhead. It shoula 

 be a small house, where shading can be 

 used during the hot, bright hours and 

 removed during morning, evening and on 

 dull days. 



Begonia Lorraine. 



There is no particular date when Be- 

 gonia Gloire de Lorraine should be shift- 

 ed. It depends on the condition of their 

 roots, as from now on to flowering time 

 they grow rapidly. They will bear and 

 enjoy plenty of root room, so shift from 

 4-inch to 6-inch pots or from 3-inch to 

 5-inch, While growing fast they must 

 of necessity receive an abundance of 

 water at the roots. The whole big genus 

 of begonias gets along well without the 

 leaves being wet, so it is well to water 

 without wetting the foliage, although a 

 humid atmosphere in the house is bene- 

 ficial, as it is to all the vegetable king- 

 dom, except an Arizona cactus. 



Show Pelargoniums. 



Those who grow these fine plants, the 

 show pelargoniums, should now prepare 

 to propagate them. Plants unsold in 

 June will have made a strong, flowerless 

 growth and should have been kept rather 

 dry for the last month. If you wish to 

 save the old plants you should cut last 

 year's growth hard back, leaving only 

 an inch or two of the current year's 

 growth. The old plants, if kept for two 

 weeks almost dust dry, will break out at 

 adventitious eyes that you don't see and 

 about three weeks from cutting down 

 should be shaken clean of any old soil, 

 their roots shortened back and repotted 

 in smaller pots than they flowered in. 

 Pot firmly and do not overwater for the 

 first month. 



The mistake that inexperienced grow- 

 ers make is that they are afraid to cut 

 back these plants short enough. Don't 

 be afraid; cut them hard back. The 

 tops you cut off the old plants will be 

 of several degrees of hardness. The top 

 tender growth cut off with three or four 

 eyes will root readily in the cutting bed, 

 with a slight shade and moderate mois- 

 ture of sand, and so will the next few 

 eyes if you can save a leaf or two on 

 the cutting. Don't expect these cuttings 

 to root as quickly as a verbena or agera- 

 tum, but if kept moderately moist and 

 shaded only in hottest weather you will 

 lose few. In communities w,here this 

 good old plant has not been ovCTdone it 

 should be a grand market plant) as it 

 was thirty years ago in the east, but the 

 rise and improvement of the semi-double 

 geranium has made it "go away back 

 and sit down." 



Weeds. 



I am going to say a word on a very 

 plebeian subject, and that is weeds. I 

 once heard a well-known nurseryman of 

 Chicago say, at a convention of the Park 

 and Outdoor Art Association, at Detroit, 



that on his nursery of 400 acres he di(( 

 not believe you could find a dozen weeds. 

 This fine looking and manly gentleman 

 might have been carried away by the 

 exuberance of his own verbosity, but if 

 his statements approached the truth he 

 deserves a Carnegie hero medal. Many 

 florists are extremely untidy and care- 

 less of their outside crops. They will 

 have a quarter of an acre of carnations, 

 or a batch of vincas, stevias, bouvardias 

 or many other things, and while they 

 know that it is to their interest to keep 

 weeds out of the beds, they will leave 

 a forest of them on the sides and ends 

 of these plantations, the sight of which 

 pierces the heart of an old gardener. 



As far as the margin of your little 

 farm reaches, see that no weed goes to 

 seed. You may say: "Oh! Over the 

 fence our neighbor will send us all the 

 weed seeds we want." Don't think so. 

 Show him a good example and after your 

 carnations and other crops are lifted 

 don't think the so-called weeds will have 

 a right to assert themselves. There will 

 be time and weather for them to flourish 

 and bear seed and give you endless work 

 next year. Keep down the weeds in the 

 waste places, as well as in the cultivated 

 spots. The Creator sent the weeds as 

 well as the rose, jasmine and dianthus, 

 but he sent them so that the industrious 

 should reap the benefit of their hard 

 work and the lazy and indifferent should 

 be smothered with ragweed, quackgrass 

 and dandelions. Don't send one lone 

 man out to hoe the weeds on an acre. 

 Get up good and early and say, "Hur- 

 rah, boyi?! We are going to kill all the 

 weeds on the farm today." So polish 

 your hoes and set the whole gang at it 

 and it will go merrily. 



Pertinent Paragraphs. 



Don 't forget to pinch your sweet ste- 

 via about now. It will be growing ram- 

 pantly and what you want is a broad, 

 stout plant. Every break made now 

 means a spike of flowers later. 



Pansy seed I notice is well up, sown 

 in the broad sun about July 25. Keep 

 moist until out of the seed leaf. After 

 that it is safe, even if dry occasionally. 



Don't forget to have your winter- 

 flowering sweet peas sown by September 

 1, and sooner is better. The fall sun- 

 shine is what makes them early, 



William Scott. 



SELECTING THE BUDS. 



The question of selecting the proper 

 bud is a thorn in the flesh of many cul- 

 tivators, and causes more worry than 

 any other detail of chrysanthemum cul- 

 ture. Many inquiries reach me at this 

 season relative to this subject, and I 

 shall endeavor to make it as clear as 

 possible. 



The terms first crowns, second crowns, 

 etc., have served to puzzle many people, 

 because while plants propagated in Feb- 

 ruary may produce four or five crown 

 buds, late struck plants may produce 

 only one. The average plant set out in 



May has produced one or perhaps two 

 buds to date, and any bud that sets 

 after the middle of August will produce 

 a flower, I always figure on a date 

 rather than on whether the bud is a first 

 crown, etc. 



An experience extending over some fif- 

 teen years has proved to me that on 

 general principles a bud set around Au- 

 gust 20 is an all-round reliable bud and 

 will always produce a satisfactory flower. 

 There are some exceptions, of course, A 

 few varieties can be taken earlier and 

 some should be taken later. These I 

 shall name. Varieties that can be taken 



