J 200 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



March 22, 1006. 



its details I am not lawyer enough -to 

 say, but from my viewpoint it seems 

 like a move in the right direction. Jf 

 the time-limit for tlie letters of registra- 

 tion were made ten years from date of 

 issue it would seem ample as I view it. 

 I confess the bill deserves better thought 

 and more time tliaii I have been able 

 to give it, but 1 cannot help thinking 

 it is only a fair ileal for the originator 

 of ;i new plant. E. G. Hill. 



CAREFUL PACKING. 



I n this season, when the cutting and 

 plant shipments are very numerous, it 

 is worth while to say a word on the 

 sub.iect of packing. The man who packs 

 stock well but lightly has a decided ad- 

 vantage over the shipper who doesn 't, 

 quality of stock being equal. An in- 

 stance was reported the other day where 

 fifty rose cuttings were ordered by a 



mart in Texas. They came to him packed 

 in an old shoe blacking case, weighing 

 eight pounds when empty, and the ex- 

 press charges were $1.75. 



Shippers who care to see their busi- 

 ness grow have several things to do : 

 First, they must send out good stock; 

 it must give satisfaction. Second, it 

 must he packed so that it will travel 

 safely, but at the same time regard must 

 be had for the amount of express 

 charges, especially on long shipments. 

 Third, every complaint must have a 

 courteous answer, and promptly; it is 

 an excellent rule to have all of the goods 

 returned if part are claimed to be un- 

 satisfactory, and refund the money if 

 another shipment is not desired; enclose 

 a printed slip to that effect. Fourth, 

 when you are nearly sold out of stock, 

 cut that item out of your advertisement 

 in the Eeview. 



^ 



Shifting the Geraniums. 



We have for two weeks been busy 

 ^iiiftiug geraniums from .3-inch to 4-inch 

 pots. We should like to leave this job 

 rill after Easter, when we have more 

 room, but this year that would mean 

 April 20 before wo could get around to 

 it ;ind then the tinu> would be too short 

 between the shift and tiie time of plant- 

 ing out, or when there is the greatest 

 denmnd for them. 



Some neighbors lomplain tliat the leaf 



■ liscase is more prevalent than over. 

 While the roots are apparently quite 

 lioMlthy, the leaf is curled and puckered 

 ami the flower amounts to nothing. We 

 noxcr have been .seriously troubled with 

 this disease excejit (jn the good old Emile 

 'k' (Jirardino and it was so addicted to 

 it that the variety became useless. We 

 !ia\e always; considered it more the re- 

 sult of unfavorable conditions than any 

 spcL'itic disease, but 1 should like to have 

 tlu> opinion of Prof. J. C. Arthur, of 

 i!idiana. or some other able plant 

 pathologist. One thing I know, it will 

 iu\er pay to bother with these 10-cent 

 ])lants if once attacked. "Kaus mit 



■ l.'in.'' 



Compost to Use. 



In the last shift of these ever-popn- 

 hu' bedding plants do not use much ani- 

 mal manure. Sod that was piled up 

 last suininer. if of a heavy texture, is 

 ideal, and in place of manure or leaf- 

 mold, whii-h produces leaf growth, use 

 l.oiie meal or flour. We add a fifth 

 of old hotbed compost to the loam, 

 wiiicli must be devoid of ammonia, but it 

 makes the potting soil more porous. Pot 

 firmly and stand the plants on a per- 

 fectly light bench where they will get 

 the full blaze of the sun. 



Plunging versus Shading. 



By the middle of May, if they dry 

 out too frequently, it is much better to 

 plnnL'e the plants on the bench than to 

 shade them. Use tan bark or decayed 

 stable manure, but best of all is refuse 

 hops, if you are not in a prohibition 

 state. There is no need to plunge them 



to the rims of the pots, or with the 

 care you would a fruiting pineapple, but 

 just throw two or three inches of the 

 material against the last row and then 

 push up another row. A man or lad who 

 knows his business will set or stand 

 over almost as many pots in a day as 

 ^e will on the usual %-inch of sand or 

 ashes. The difference in color, robust- 

 ness and vigor of geraniums and many 

 other plants so treated, is remarkable 

 compared to those exposed to the daily 

 drying out process, at least in our cli- 

 mate. The continuous use of the hose 

 soon exhausts the soil. The effect of 

 this partial protection of the pot is not 

 from any stimulant, but from the uni- 

 form moisture of the roots which re- 

 sults. 



In speaking of bone dust, or any of 

 the finer grades of this excellent fer- 

 tilizer, it is very necessary that you 

 procure it pure. We have indisputable 

 evidence that hundreds of tons of 

 hydraulic cement, which in appearance 

 much resembles bone dust, is shipped to 

 fertilizer works and you can guess it is 

 not used for concrete or building water- 

 tight cisterns. 



Acacia Armata. 



Eeferring once more to Easter plants, 

 the attractive Acacia armata has a bad 

 habit of many of the little globular yel- 

 low blossoms turning brown a few days 

 after they are fully developed. There- 

 fore 1 think it best to bring this pretty 

 plant out slowly and only giving suffi- 

 cient heat a few days or a week before 

 you expect to sell them. When fully out 

 for ten days we have lost the sale of 

 many plants by losing the flowers, as 

 stated above. There is no telling what 

 the weather will be. It has before now 

 upset all our prearranged program. 



Timing Easter Crops. 



Single tulips it will be well to give 

 seventeen or eighteen days in a light 

 house, at about 55 degrees. Von Sion, 

 any of the early narcissi, and Dutch 

 hyacinths often need only two weeks in 

 the greenhouse. At this time of the 



year much will also depend on the con- 

 dition of the bulbs out of doors. If 

 frost has penetrated the covering of soil 

 and has held the bulbs in arrest they 

 will need several more days indoors than 

 if they have been growing all winter un- 

 der protection and are almost ready to 

 pop their petals open with a few days of 

 genial heat and light. This will be ex- 

 ercise for the gray matter and will be 

 more profitable study than memorizing 

 the individual scores of the ladies of 

 the Kalamazoo Bowling Club. 



Altemantherju 



The most useful of carpet bedding 

 plants, the alternantheras, will want at- 

 tention between now and the first of 

 April. Some growers will have struck 

 plants from cuttings taken in August 

 and put into flats as per advice in these 

 columns; others, where very large quan- 

 tities are used, lifted the old plants and 

 after trimming them back put them in 

 three or four inches of light soil in 

 flats. In any case, if further quantities 

 are needed, any fragment of the plant 

 will root in a short time and after a 

 few days in the house can be put into 

 a hotbed with the old plants. They can 

 be divided and potted and go into a 

 hotbed by the middle of April, or you 

 can defer dividing the old plants till the 

 above date and just plant them into 

 two or three inches of soil on the sur- 

 face of the hotbeds. 



Some may wonder at a twentieth cen- 

 tury florist recommending such old-fash- 

 ioned structures as hotbeds, but I do for 

 two reasons: First, the alternanthera 

 will make more growth in a hotbed in 

 two weeks than it will in two months in 

 the lightest and warmest bench in an ex- 

 pensive house. 



Tuberous-rooted Begonias. 



Tuberous-rooted begonias and gloxin 

 ias can be started now, the former for 

 bedding plants, the latter for summer- 

 flowering window plants. Begonia bulbs 

 one year old are very quickly started by 

 using flats of two or three inches depth 

 and half full of light loam, with one 

 inch of sand on the surface. Bed the 

 bulbs half their depth in the sand and 

 place the flats over some mild hot-water 

 pipes. They will soon make a bunch of 

 roots and send out leaves and should 

 then be potted, the strongest in 4-inch 

 and others in 3-inch pots. 



If intended for bedding here again is 

 a case where the hotbed is better than 

 a greenhouse, not the hotbed that old 

 gardeners made for cucumbers and 

 melons, four feet deep. If it is only a ' 

 foot in depth after treading down and 

 four inches of some refuse loam is put 

 on top, it will be sufficient warmth for 

 most bedding plants. 



The Second Reason. 



And this reminds me that I did not 

 give my second reason for advocating 

 these primitive greenhouses: It is that 

 if the materials are thrown in a heap 

 at midsummer, the following winter it is 

 a most excellent material for lighten- 

 ing soil, an excellent substitute for genu- 

 ine leaf -mold and a little better. Plunged 

 in a mild hotbed, the begonias can be 

 given the full sunlight, plenty of ven- 

 tilation and after the middle of May 

 the sash can be removed entirely, fitting 

 the plants for their future environment. 



The tuberous begonias are not well 

 thought of as bedding plants. I think 

 it is because the experimenters have 

 tried only large plants grown soft in a 

 shaded house. 



