January 3, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



471 



Care of the Left-overs. 



Just a Avord about some left-over 

 etock of which you will need' a few 

 plants later on. Save half a dozen old 

 plants of sweet stevia. Cut them down 

 to within six inches of the pot and stand 

 in some cool corner. In March you will 

 get more cuttings from them than you 

 need. 



The stools of poinsettias that have 

 been cut, or spoiled at some decoration, 

 place under a dry, warm bench, where 

 not a drop of water will reach them, 

 or a warm part of the potting shed will 

 do as well, so long as they are kept per- 

 fectly dry. Keep them in this dry state 

 until the first part of May. There is 

 plenty of time to propagate after that, 

 for next winter's crop. 



Unsold plants of Begonia Gloire de 

 Lorraine in 5-ineh or 6-inch pots should 

 be kept in a cool house, about 50 de- 

 grees at night, and slowly dried off. In 

 May the old bulb will send' up young 

 growths which will make fine cuttings, 

 or if the old growth is pinched off and 

 the old soil is shaken off the bulb, they 

 will, with care, make the largest speci- 

 men plants. 



Of all unsold Christmas plants the 

 azalea is most worth taking care of. 

 Old, wilted flowers and seedpods should 

 be faithfully picked off, and if the 

 plants are started to grow they should 

 be kept in a house where it is 60 de- 

 grees at night and daily sprayed to en- 

 courage the young growth. If any of 

 these young, vigorous growths are taking 

 the lead strongly over others, you can 

 pinch them. There is plenty of time 

 for them to branch and make several 

 heads of bloom in place of one. 



Stock for Forcing. 



On some fine day bring in a good sup- 

 ply of Von Sion and Golden Spur nar- 

 cissi. As mentioned several weeks ago, 

 you can bring in three or four weeks' 

 supply of these narcissi. They will re- 

 ceive no harm beneath a cool bench. 



You can with safety now bring in a 

 few plants of lilac. They will flower 

 freely if given a night temperature of 

 60 degrees and sprayed several times a 

 day. Marie Legraye is the easiest for 

 early forcing. 



Hybrid Perpetual Roses. 



You all realize that Easter is very 

 early this year. The later Easter arrives, 

 the nearer we approach the natural time 

 of blooming of our early-flowered hardy 

 shrubs, H. P. and Eambler roses, and 

 the le?8 time will it take under glass to 

 force them into flower. When, as this 

 year, this most important floral date is 

 early, then more time must be allowed. 

 Therefore, I advise you to bring in your 

 hybrid perpetual roses at once. These 

 have been covered, root and branch, 

 Y^th four inches of soil and protected 

 further with five or six inches of stable 

 litter. We find no frost has penetrated 

 to the roots and the wood of the stems 

 w as plump and green as when dug. 

 Bring them in and stand in a cool house. 

 As there is no possibility of root action. 



there need be no hurry about pruning tlie 

 tops. The roots and tops will start to- 

 gether and you will be better able to 

 tell in a week where to cut off the canes. 

 If too much stem is left, the lower eyes 

 will not break at all. The sap will run 

 to the top of the stem and your roses 

 will have a leggy and naked appearance. 

 If cut too low you may leave only eyes 

 that are what we call blind; eyes that 

 will make a vigorous growth but no 

 flower. So if you wait a week or ten 

 days before cutting down the canes you 

 will be better able to see just where 

 to prune. 



The Rambler Roses. 



The Kamblers are entirely different. 

 There is little if any pruning to be done 

 on them. If plentifully supplied with 

 strong canes, you can cut away the wood 

 that flowered last spring, also the un- 

 ripened tips of the shoots, and that is 



all the pruning that is required by the 

 Ramblers. If grown in pots last sum- 

 mer and you intend to give them a mulch 

 of cow manure, delay this for two weeks, 

 or until they are breaking their buds be- 

 cause the roots are as yet inactive and 

 the plants would not be benefited by the 

 manure. 



Before the eye breaks into leaf the 

 plants should be tied; if the canes are 

 five or six feet long they are sure to 

 need it. Bending the long canes spirally 

 around three or four stout stakes is a 

 favorite method of tying the Eamblers, 

 but not the only way. You can trim in 

 a fan shape, or any way your fancy may 

 suggest. This bending the canes is not 

 only best done before the eyes break 

 but it induces an even break all the 

 way up the cane. If left upright the 

 sap would ascend to the top of the 

 growth and a feeble growth at the base 

 of the plant would be the result. 



The Baby Rambler will be largely 

 grown for spring sales. If you have to 

 buy dormant plants from your nursery- 

 man, which should be done as soon as 

 possible if wanted to flower at Easter, 

 pot at once and place in cool houses 

 until some root action takes place. Grad- 

 ually increase the temperature. All the 

 pruning they will need is to shorten back 

 the extra strong growths of last summer 

 and cut out old wood that flowered last 

 spring. William Scott. 



|W^^^^ 



OUR CREDIT SYSTEM 



'♦^♦^Wl 



ITS USES AND ABUSES 



%fe^''y^>^^ w ^ >.. «> 



A Tribute to the Qaft. 



1 deem it an honor as well as a priv- 

 ilege to address you upon a subject that, 

 it seems to me, has never received the 

 consideration it merits, either at the 

 hands of our numerous florists' clubs or 

 of our national society. 



At the very outset, however, and be- 

 fore I approach the subject proper, 

 namely, "Our Credit System; Its Uses 

 and Abuses, ' ' I wish to premise my re- 

 marks by paying a brief tribute to the 

 members of our craft, scattered through- 

 out this great American continent. 



It is no exaggeration to assert that 

 there is no body of men more honor- 

 able, more honest and straightforward, 

 than our brother florists. 



It is a noteworthy fact, one scarcely 

 requiring any proof, that during the 

 panic of 1893, when business conditions 

 were most deplorable, when the strin- 

 gency of the money market and the gen- 

 eral stagnation and business depression 

 were most appalling in their conse- 

 quences, when the professional calamity 

 howlers and the unscrupulous demagogues 

 aired their theories to their hearts' con- 

 tent, thereby adding fresh oil to the al- 

 ready kindled fire of fear and discontent, 

 when the so called "first laws" of self- 

 preservation began to assert themselves 

 in a manner that brought disaster and 

 financial ruin to many a business house; 

 our brother florists, as a body, be it said 

 to their everlasting glory and credit, put 

 their shoulders to the wheel that much 



A paper read by S. S. Skldelsky. of Phila- 

 delphia, before the Philadelphia Florists' Club, 

 January 1, 1807. 



the harder, never thinking of joining the 

 procession of bankrupts. It is an actual 

 fact — and I challenge anybody to dis- 

 prove it — that there were less failures, in 

 proportion, among the florists, either 

 compulsory or otherwise, than among 

 any other body of business men. I could 

 easily name a number of florists, who, 

 during those memorable dark days, saw 

 fit to deprive themselves and their fami- 

 lies of things generally considered as 

 absolute necessities, in order to meet 

 their obligations. 



Men capable of such self-sacrifice, men 

 possessed of such moral stamina, of such 

 business integrity and honesty of pur- 

 pose need not hesitate to inscribe their 

 names upon the roll of honor. Perhaps 

 Pope had some gardener in view when he 

 said that "an honest man is the noblest 

 work of God." Of course there are ex- 

 ceptions, but of these later. That much 

 for our honesty and business iutegrity. 



Our Credit System. 



Can we claim as much for our business 

 methods, or, to be more exact, for our 

 credit system, as compared with that of 

 other progressive business men I Hardly. 

 While it is true that we are keeping pace 

 with the times in many other respects, 

 while we are advancing steadily and un- 

 interruptedly along lines of general prog- 

 ress, increasing our facilities, moderniz- 

 ing our stores and our greenhouses, im- 

 proving our products, while we have been 

 exchanging views and opinions as to the 

 best methods of marketing our products, 

 going even so far as to touch upon the 

 ideal employer and employee; it haa 



