Ai'»ii// y. 



7 



1906. 



z. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



^97 



CLOSE OF THE SEASON. 



IIow quickly the seasons come and 

 go! While our winters seem long as a 

 •whole, still it seems but a short time 

 since we were making the last prepara- 

 tions for the violet season which the 

 coming Easter time practically closes. 

 Undoubtedly nearly every grower has 

 already made a survey of the season in 

 retrospect, and with the aid of his 

 records of cut, sales, notes of stock, etc., 

 is making his plans for the coming 

 season , 



Of course, the good grower will be 

 continually planning the whole season 

 through ; however, as the season draws 



after importing and make much better 

 plants the second year. 



If the azalea plant is out of flower, 

 pick off all old blossoms and the seed 

 pods. Be sure of that. If a number of 

 young growths have started you can 

 pinch back the strongest and keep the 

 plants in a temperature of 55 degrees to | 

 60 degrees, with plenty of water at the i 

 roots and syringing daily. The growth 

 they are then making is the flowering 

 •wood for next winter. 



If you are in possession of any old 

 plants that have been misused, for in- 

 stance, on sale at a retail store for two 

 weeks and kept another week in the rear 

 of the store waiting for the wagon to 

 take them back to the greenhouse — the 

 sort of place where the wide-awake (?) 

 shopmen have been so busy they had no 

 time to give them a drop of water, think- 

 ing more of the arrangement of their 

 hair or the crease in their pants than of 

 the poor, thirsting plants; these plants 

 will likely have lost their leaves and look 

 pretty hard. They will quickly recover. 



Take a sharp pair of shears and cut 

 back not only the growth made last 

 spring and summer, but back into the 

 hard Avood made two years ago. This 

 hard wood will break out with a great 

 number of growths. Keep them at from 

 55 degrees to 60 degrees with frequent 

 syringing. About the first of June plunge 

 them to the rim in a frame outdoors in 

 the full sun. • Some material like old hot- 

 bed compost will do very well. 



In the hottest months one watering a 

 day may not be enough. Never let them 

 suffer for water and when you do water 

 with a hose give them as well a lieavy, 

 fierce syringing that will keep down spi- 

 der, thrips, mealy bug, etc. 



By the first of July put an inch of 

 cow manure on the surface of the i)ots. 

 It will do them much good. Bring into 

 the house before any danger of early 

 fall frosts. Spring is the principal time 

 of growth with Azalea Indica and, there- 

 fore, they must not be crowded. 



Where you have a black mud for soil 

 or a sandy, peaty soil, occasionally seen, 

 you can remove the plants from the pots 

 and plant them out, as they do in Bel- 

 gium, and lift and repot in fall, but I 

 think you will find it better to keep them 

 in pots. W. S. 



A Naturally Grown Azalea. 



to its termination so will our plans, and 

 then comes the work of pushing them 

 forward energetically, lest the following 

 season be no better than the last, or, 

 perhaps, not quite so good. Your 

 records of the number of varieties you 

 grow and tlie number cut of each kind, 

 together with the knowledge you have 

 of what your customers most prefer, 

 will be the greatest aids to you in de- 

 termining what kinds to plant and the 

 proportionate quantities. If you have 

 been trusting to your memory for these 

 details, it will be one of your wisest 

 resolutions for the coming season to 

 make a New Year resolve, even if late, 

 to keep the records henceforth so that 

 hereafter you will know where you 

 are at. 



Memory is Not Accurate 



I think I am safe in saying that none 

 of us have good enough memories to 

 carry these details accurately enough 



ovi?n to go by from year to year; cer- 

 tainly we cannot after the lapse of two 

 or three seasons. 



T1h> man wlio makes a success of any 

 l)usiness nuist pay close attention to 

 details in every point, otherwise a leak, 

 though small, in some one particular 

 may be the cause of a failure to make 

 a profit, even if he be so fortunate as 

 to come out even, and I take it we are 

 none of us in business for the sake of 

 doing this. 



1 was reading the following onlv 

 yesterday, which illustrates my point; 

 yet how many violet growers can say 

 definitely how much each plant costs 

 them, how much it has produced in cash, 

 how many blooms it has had for the 

 season, and for each month: 



A young o.ml mine operator, who before his 

 thirtieth year had built up a property worth 

 $.>0(i.(M)(). was telling. In an Indirect way how 

 he hiiil made the |500,000. This was the w-iy 

 he put it: 



••Most eonrerns that go to the wall nowadays 



