APRIL 12, 190C. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



U99 



The Store of an Enterprising; G>ncern at Milwaukee. 



apparently long season under glass can 

 be reduced to six months of winter and 

 three months of summer all told. 



Dormant Ramblers. 



But this first winter's growth to pro- 

 duce fine canes is not necessary; it can 

 be dispensed with. You can start now, 

 with dormant plants from the field. It 

 is all in the first six weeks' management. 

 Cut them down low, very low, and place 

 in a cool house or pit the first two weeks. 

 Shade slightly and syringe often if the 

 weather is bright. A dormant plant that 

 will go into a 6-inch pot is large and 

 strong enough. 



In two weeks they will have broken at 

 many eyes, more than you observed, and 

 at other adventitioua eyes. Rub off all 

 but five or six breaks or growths. The 

 next three weeks is the critical time. 

 Don't take them from the pot or frame 

 and slam them in a cool, draughty house, 

 especially near an open door. Give 

 them 10 degrees higher temperature, full 

 light and frequent syringing or light 

 spraying. "When the young growths are 

 two or three inches long, rub off the two 

 weakest, for three canes is all you want 

 to make the best furnished plant. As 

 the young growths lengthen there is also 

 plenty of root action, and six weeks from 

 the time of starting they will endure and 

 ^pjoy the maximum temperature. That 

 time with them will correspond with the 

 month of June with our deciduous trees 

 and shrubs outdoors, which are then 

 making their most vigorous growth. 



By midsummer they have made all the 

 growth desirable, but future treatment 

 I hope to talk about later on; only don't 

 forget that a severe drying out or ex- 

 tremes of temperature when they are 

 making their most vigorous growth, and 

 oonsequently softest, '"^ likely to be fol- 



lowed by mildew, which greatly weakens 

 their vigor. 



All this sounds like a good deal of 

 care, but if you love your plants it is 

 only a labor of love. Without any ad- 

 vice, but with simple earthly inspiration, 

 we tried this plant some seven or eight 

 years ago and it was a great success, so^ 

 we are not guessing. 



Hybrid Roses. 



Hybrid perpetuals deserve a long>i(^ 

 chapter, but there is nothing very sea- 

 sonable to say about them except that 

 any good varieties that have made a 

 strong growth-; with few flowers, are well 

 worth keeping. The strong canes they 

 have made this spring, if ripened this 

 fall, will be sure to flower next spring. 

 J must say a word about them now. The 

 ii. P. roses and the ramblers are totally 

 different in habit and manner of flower- 

 ing. The H. P. can be lifted in Novem- 

 ber, but before starting to force can 

 and must be cut down to within a few 

 eyes. With this small amount of top, 

 the roots, as soon as they become active, 

 are able to support and maintain the few 

 vigorous breaks that eventually flower. 



We are compelled sometimes to illus- 

 trate our arguments by our own experi- 

 ence, therefore will say that last fall 

 we purchased 1,000 dormant plants from 

 Storrs & Harrison Co., treated them as 

 described in these pages last November 

 and again in January, lost none and all 

 broke finely and the great majority flow- 

 ered well; that is, four to six blooms on 

 each plant. 



Yet it is a fact that the flowers are 

 thin and not lasting, which is only what 

 must be expected in a plant that has so 

 little root foundation. 



If I, were going to grow hybrid roses 

 as a specialty I should pursue a different 

 method, slightly more expensive, but it 



would pay. Obtain strong plants in the 

 fall and treat just as you would if going 

 to force them for flower the following 

 spring. Instead of bringing into heat in 

 January, you might defer this till Feb- 

 ruary, then start them slowly and save 

 only five or six of the strongest breaks, 

 and with proper care and ypened off in 

 the fall you would have a plant that 

 would dazzle the eyes of the "get rich 

 quick" florist. Labor and thought would 

 be a bigger factor than the space they 

 occupied in the expense of growing by 

 this method. 



Pansies. 



Just about now have a look at your 

 pansy frames and press into the ground 

 all those heaved out by the late heavy 

 frosts. Don't be disappointed at the 

 first blooms on plants from seed for 

 which you gave $10 per ounce. Remem- 

 ber the glorious Milton, who, with all 

 his wonderful religious poems, dictated 

 to a daughter, his p^n eyes darkened by 

 blindness, must hslve' remembered the 

 sight of nature when his vision \vas per- 

 fect, for he says: 



Abortive like the first-born flowers of spring. 

 Nipped by the lingering rear of winter's frost. 



"William Scott. 



MANURE FOR ASTERS. 



Please tell me what fertilizer is pre- 

 ferred for asters besides manure! Would 

 bone meal be all right? What part of 

 the fertilizer do they like best, ammonia, 

 lime, bone, phosphate or potash t 



E. A. M. 



We have not experimented largely 

 with the different chemical manures for 

 asters. We once put on a good dressing 

 of what is known commercially as super- 

 phosphate, with good results. At other 

 times we depended on barnyard manure 



