OCTOBEK 4, 15)06. 



The Weekly Florists^ Re vie w* 



125? 



, : Pans of Poinsettias. 



Now is the time to make up j)ans of 

 poinsettias. Pan is hardly the right 

 term. The seed-pan is too shallow. The 

 azalea pot, or the half pot as it is bet- 

 ter known, is the correct thing. These 

 half pots should be made up from small 

 plants in 2% -inch pots. It is not safe 

 to make them up from plants taken 

 from the cuttiAg-bed, as some may start 

 to grow strongly and others only feebly. 

 Select plants which have become well 

 rooted in the little pots, plants of about 

 equal height and vigor, short-jointed and 

 of firm growth. You may then expect 

 the plants, when the bracts are fully 

 developed, to be about equal in height 

 and development. 



An 8-inch pan will meet with the read- 

 iest sale and next a 9-inch and 10-inch. 

 A few larger than this size can be filled, 

 but there will be much less demand for 

 them. An 8-inch pan will take six 

 plants, a 9-inch seven plants and a 10- 

 inch nine plants. If you want any 

 6-inch or 7-:nch pans wait three weeks 

 before filling them, because if filled 

 too early the soil will become exhausted 

 before time to sell, and exhaustion of 

 soil means loss of foliage. 



In filling the pans of 8-inch size or 

 over, plant three small Boston ferns 

 around the edge. If you have none in 

 pots, then strong runners will do. The 

 green fronds of the ferns will greatly 

 improve the appearance of the pans and 

 contrast with the bright scarlet bracts. 



Although the poinsettia is a tropical 

 plant and should not be below 60 de- 

 grees at any time, the loss of foliage is 

 not so often caused by a low tempera- 

 ture as by impoverishment of the soil; 

 so the soil for these pans hhould be 

 rich. A rather coarse, heavy manure 

 and a 5-inch pot of bone meal to a 

 bushel of the compost will do quite 

 well. Sift neither soil nor manure. 

 "Tlie sieve is the curse of the potting 

 bench. ' ' 



Poinsettias in Pots and Benches. 



We still grow a good many poinset- 

 tias singly in 6-inch pots, as they answer 

 the purpose for cutting or decorations 

 in pots. If now in 4- inch pots, they 

 should be shifted at once into 6-inch, 

 for the roots must not be disturbed 

 when the plants are in leaf. We learned 

 this years ago, and one year to our great 

 loss, by shifting them near the end of 

 November, when their big, green leaves 

 tumbled off as if a frost had struck 

 them. If you have more in pots than 

 you can conveniently handle, then spread 

 five inches of soil on any bench where 

 the temperature is not going below 55 

 degrees and plant out ten inches apart. 

 You will get immense bracts, which are 

 easily managed and useful for cutting. 



Harrisii Lilies. 



Your earliest Bermuda lilies should 

 now be removed from the coldframe to 

 a warm house. The stems are up five 

 or six inches and you may be sure they 

 are well rooted. No actual forcing is 



necessary, yet those you expect in flower 

 by Thanksgiving should be given not 

 less than 60 degrees at night. After 

 several years ' close observation I am 

 convinced that the disappointment which 

 occurs in not having these lilies in 

 flower ill November and abundantly in 

 December is usually from keeping them 

 too cool in October and November. 

 Charles Roney, manager of the Lakeview 

 Bose Gardens, Jamestown, N. Y., where 

 these lilies are grown by the tens of 

 thousands for Thanksgiving and Christ- 

 mas, told me he is not afraid to give 

 them 90 degrees at night when they have 

 to be hurried. 



Your Christmas lilies should be in a 

 house where, as soon as chilly weather 

 comes, you can keep a night temperature 



livered here and to whom the payment 

 for the bulbs was so distant that it did 

 not look formidable. Get the cases ml* 

 })acked and the bags open and placed 

 in a dry, cool place. 



It is quite desirable to be able to cut 

 really good, long-stemmed tulips and nar- 

 cissi by the middle of January and to do 

 th's you should get a few hundred of each / 

 early variety into flats at once. The best . 

 early varieties make a short list. Here 

 they are: Vermil'c n Brilliant, a fine 

 scarlet; Yellow Prince, or Chrysolora, 

 both yellow; La Reiue, white and often 

 coming pink; Cottage Maid, fine pink. 

 There is still an earlier tulip, the Due . 

 Van Thol, which can be flowered at 

 Christmas, but it is a short-stemmed, 

 poor little thing and we easily can dis- 

 pense with it. '. ■ 



Also box uj) a good lot of Von Sion . 

 for January forcing, and above all get 

 into flats at once a lot of Narcissus 

 Golden Spur. This has jiroven to be the 

 finest of all the trumpet narcissi. It 

 can be had in perioction by the middle ^ 

 of January and outsells any bulbous 

 flower. 



Of late years we find tulips and nar- 

 cissi sell best from the middle of Peb- 



Pan of Potns<-tii4s. a Little too TalL 



of 65 degrees to 70 degrees and a rise 

 of 10 degrees to 15 degrees in the day- 

 time. Below this temperature they will 

 only stand still and you will blame the 

 seedsman who sold you the bulbs. 



Dutch Bulbs. 



The so-called Dutch bulbs are iiere 

 and we have contributed our donation 

 to Uncle Sam's treasury for allowing 

 the bulbs to enter the ports of this more 

 or less free country. Perhaps after all 

 this import duty is a good thing for 

 the trade, for in its absence we should 

 be flooded with bulbs ordered by people 

 because it cost so little to get them de- 



ruary ( n to Easter, and for these there 

 is no hurry, for another four weeks, but 

 those you want for January should be 

 in the flats writhout delay and starting 

 to root, for without roots they will not 

 force. 



Boxing EHitch Bulbs. 



I have many times given you my idea 

 of what I consider the ideal box or 

 flat. Perhaps a different size may suit 

 your benches. Don't, however, for sup- 

 posed economy's sake, use boxes of dif- 

 ferent size, old soap boxes sawed in two, 

 etc. We find a flat three inches deep, 

 twenty-four inches long and twelve 



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