MVY 17, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



1855 



Aq Example of what H. H. Battles Considers an Extravagant Luxury. 



above the boards of the bench and the 

 depression between these little elevations 

 perhaps only three inches from the 

 boards. This information was imparted 

 at least eighteen years ago, and I did 

 not see the utility of it as I do now. 



On a level surface of bed the copious 

 syringing necessary into late fall would 

 keep the soil saturated and render a 

 slight drying out of the roots difficult, 

 but planted on an elevated position sur- 

 face water would quickly flow to the 

 lowest level, and I believe the secret of 

 getting Gardenia florida to flower in 

 January and February is this: In Oc- 

 tober lower the temperature, give more 

 ventilation and decreased the water at 

 the roots; in other words, ripen the 

 growth of the summer, when flower-buds 

 will form, which a renewal of heat and 

 moisture will soon expand. 



I have been rather lengthy and elab- 

 orate on a beautiful evergreen shrub in 

 which only a few commercial men are 

 at all interested, and I will conclude by 

 saying that in small communities there 

 would be little call for it. Its cultiva- 

 tion in the neighborhood of large cities 

 would be most profitable. Remember 

 that Texas and other southern states 

 would be no opposition in the winter 

 months and the greenhouse-grown flowers 

 would reign supreme in this unequaled 

 sweet-scented flower. 



For Crowded Plants. 



We read in the correspondence from 

 many cities that flower gardening is in 

 lull blast. With us it is three weeks in 

 the future, and until we get relief we 

 are much crowded. Those who do not 

 like the sound of the word hotbed, good 

 old greenhouses as they are, can find 

 much relief in cold frames. There are 

 few of our bedding plants but will do 

 perfectly well now in a cold frame, and 

 they cost little to put up, either in time 

 or money. 



The chief plant of our flower garden- 

 ing, the zonal geranium, is better out- 

 side in a frame than being exhausted in 



the hot greenhouse. It would be a long 

 story to enumerate those plants that are 

 better in a frame than kept in a green- 

 house, but a reliable guide is this: 

 Plants of a tropical nature want the 

 slight artificial night temperature of the 

 greenhouse and those of cold-blooded 

 temperament will do very well with the 

 protection of sash, and they stand the 

 winds and bright sun much better when 

 planted out than do the soft plants from 

 the greenhouse. 



A Simple Frame. 



Did it ever occur to you that there 

 are more ways of making a cold frame 

 than nailing boards together? I can 

 remember, when 19 years of age, a plan 

 of making a cold frame in England. 

 If you are blessed with access to a pas- 

 ture or field of sod, cut a few loads of 

 sod a foot wide, as long as you like and 

 three inches thick. Build a sod wall for 

 the walls of the frame. Place a plank 



or board on top of these little walls for 

 the sash to rest on, and you have an 

 idcjil cold frame, much warmer than an 

 inch board, and when the frames have 

 fulfilled their purpose the sods chopped 

 down are invaluable material for pot- 

 ting soil. 



Queen Charlotte Geranium. 



A few days ago 1 renewed the ac- 

 quaintance of a fine geranium. Queen 

 Charlotte. We had a bed of this at the 

 dear old Pan-American, and I was not 

 impressed with it as a good bedder, but 

 as a pot plant for Memorial day it is^^ 

 a wonder, far surpassing that goo<8 

 salmon, Beaute Poitevine. 



William Scott. 



NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



At a recent sale at its rooms at Cheap- 

 side, Protheroe & Morris, the well-known 

 auctioneers, obtained 1150 guineas, or 

 £1,207:10, for a plant of Odontoglos- 

 sum crispum Pittianum, the highest price 

 ever realized under the hammer. At the 

 same sale a plant of O. crispum Abner 

 Hassall realized 470 guineas, or just 

 under £500. Protheroe & Morris are 

 justly proud of these results. 



Covent Gardens at this time of the 

 year is well worth a visit. The quantity 

 of bedding plants is simply immense- 

 Every day, during the four hours of 

 business, large numbers are disposed of, 

 and this season prices are leaving a very 

 fair profit to the grower. Pansies, cal- 

 ceolarias, geraniums, lobelias, fuchsias, 

 daisies and all sorts of herbaceous plants 

 are offered in great quantities, some 

 growers having as many as ten acres of 

 pansies alone, and 200,000 bedding 

 geraniums in 3-inch pots is no uncom- 

 mon thing. Petunias in 3-inch pots are 

 also done in prodigious quantities, larger 

 this year than ever, and some of the 

 strains of these propagated from by the 

 big plant growers are magnificent. 



This spring bedding trade is at very 

 cheap prices, but generally profitable. 

 Tlie establishments in which the stuff is 

 produced are veritable plant factories, 

 but everything connected with them must 

 be done cheaply, so that the proJRct can 

 be sold at low prices. Many of the 

 houses in which they are grown are only 

 frame structures with movable roofs, as 

 many as fifty or sixty of these cheap 

 structures in one block. Everything 



An Example of what H. H. Battles Considers an Economical Necessity. 



