246 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Decbmbbe 13, 1906. 



hill and the plants should not be closer 

 than one foot. When the little plants 

 were three or four inches high the center 

 of the leading growth should have been 

 pinched out, which would induce a strong 

 lateral growth. By all means cut out 

 the long center growth now. Cut down 

 to within four or five inches of the last 

 lateral growth and if not too hard and 

 woody you will get more side shoots. As 

 the lateral growths lengthen keep them 

 tied up. This is not a big job, as a 

 slender stake and piece of white twine 



loosely encircling the growths is all you 

 want. Keep the night temperature down 

 to 45 degrees and give ventilation on all 

 possible occasions, even if it is only an 

 inch crack, and that's all you can do. 

 With this rational treatment you should 

 cut mignonette from New Year's on to 

 July. If you did not do it this year, 

 please remember another year that mi- 

 gnonette should be planted only on a 

 bench or bed that has the fullest ex- 

 posure to light. It is useless on a shaded 

 bench. W. S. 



Winter Protection Now Needed. 



At daylight Wednesday morning, De- 

 cember 5, the thermometer stood just at 

 zero, and in the northern parts of New 

 York state 14 degrees below. This is 

 rather sudden, and reminds us that it is 

 time to assume our heaviest overcoats 

 and give fullest protection to our patient 

 plants and bulbs, which we shall later 

 bring into the greenhouse. It is well not 

 to be too early in covering the hardy 

 bulbs. They have been, since putting in 

 the flats, covered with three or four 

 inches of soil. If the frost has gone 

 into this soil two inches all the better, 

 but now it is time to put on five or six 

 inches of stable litter that is mostly 

 straw. This covering is not applied so 

 much to protect the bulbs from injury as 

 to prevent the whole mass, covering and 

 flats, from freezing up tight, which 

 makes it a troublesome and laborious job 

 wh^n you want to get in a few dozen 

 flats. 



Bulbous Stock. 



This reminds me that if you examine 

 your flats of Von Sion narcissi and find 

 them well rooted, you can now bring in 

 a supply that will do you for the next 

 two months. I would by no means ad- 

 vocate this treatment in the case of early 

 tulips, for the tulips are better left out 

 in the cold earth until you want to put 

 them into a forcing heat. With the nar- 

 cissus it is different. You can bring 

 them in and put the flats beneath a bench 

 in a cool house. They will go on rooting 

 and growing slowly and you can put 

 them into a stronger heat to force as 

 you desire. 



Unless for special demand, don 't 

 bring in any of the early tulips before 

 December 20. There are other flowers in 

 abundance and if you only get fifty per 

 cent of good tulip flowers that does not 

 pay. 



In, case I should not remember to 

 mention it in future notes, don't attempt 

 to force tulips or the Trumpet narcissi 

 unless you have the proper facilities, 

 which are, for January flowering, a top 

 heat of 80 degrees to 90 degrees with a 

 heavy shade over them, plenty of water 

 at- the roots, but not a violent heat at 

 the roots. 



A good material for shade for covering 

 your forcing house is ducking, which in 

 every city can be had second-hand from 

 people who supply this material for cov- 

 ering floors. If somewhat soiled, it is 

 none the worse for our purpose. 



Don 't let any frost touch the bulbs or 



tops of Paper White narcissi and don't 

 let much frost get at your Boman hya- 

 cinths. 



Cover the Roses. 



Hybrid roses that were laid down out- 

 doors last month, and covered with three 

 or four inches of soil, will now want a 

 covering of leaves or long, strawy stable 

 litter or it may be diflBcult to get them 

 out about the middle of next month. 

 That will be about the time you must 

 get them started for the coming early 

 Easter, 



Valley for Early Use. 



l^ly of the valley pips that are out 

 in frames and covered with a few inches 

 of soil should not be exposed to frequent 

 rains or melted snow. Whether freezing 

 of the pips is essential we are not pre- 

 pared to say. We are aware, however, 

 that if not exposed to sudden thawing 

 few of our plants are more hardy. For 

 Christmas and New Year's you must 



since last May and have been prevented 

 because growth has been arrested by a 

 temperature a few degrees below freez- 

 ing. So anxious are they to grow that 

 as soon as released from the cold, life 

 and growth will start. If received from 

 the cold storage house while the pips are 

 actually frozen, let them thaw out 

 slowly. Now, it is evident there is noth- 

 ing in the shape of forcing needed with 

 these retarded little flowers. The requi- 

 sites are a temperature both at root and 

 top of 50 degrees to 60 degrees, no bright 

 flashes of sunshine and no draughts of 

 cold air. The florist who forces hun- 

 dreds of thousands of the delicate flow- 

 ers knows about the process. I am 

 writing for that more numerous class 

 who force 5,000 or 10,000 roots from 

 New Year's to Easter and who can 

 begin with his first batch of November 

 imported roots about December 15. 



Case for Valley. 



A few years ago I took some trouble 

 to write up the details of a frame inside 

 a greenhouse that was used very success- 

 fully. It was simply six inches of sand 

 on a slate bench with four 4 V^ -inch hot 

 water pipes which kept the sand for 

 early forcing up to 85 degrees. The tem- 

 perature of the house was 60 degrees. 

 We shaded with a wooden shutter for 

 two weeks, then for the next week a 

 shading of cheese-cloth, and the last few 

 days gave them the full light. The frame 

 was so arranged we could water the sand 

 between the rows of pips without wetting 

 the bells, a very important point. 5^v- 

 ing to use this house for forcing Easter 

 lilies, we had to raise the temperature in 

 March up to 70 and 75 degrees and that 

 was too high for the valley, which be- 

 came weak. 



Valley Under Benches. 



Last year we tried another plan which 

 was a surprising success. It was one 

 anybody can use who has two hot water 

 pipes beneath the bench. We put twelve 



Valley Forced on Hot- water Pipes Under a Bench. 



rely on the cold storage stock, but the 

 fall imported pips can be had in good 

 flower a few days after New Year 's. The 

 conditions required by these cold storage 

 pips and by the freshly imported ones 

 are almost exactly opposite. The cold 

 storage pips have been anxious to flower 



to fifteen pips in a 6-inch pot in ordinary 

 potting soil, covered with an inch of 

 sphagnum and placed the pots on the 

 pipes, not actually in contact with the 

 pipes but kept off with two pieces of 

 lath. We used soil in preference to sand 

 because it does not dry out so fast. We 



