542 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



jANUAuy 10, 1907. 



rating a cathedral. Not only is Mr. 

 Beyer able to execute any order lie may 

 get but he is thoroughly acquainted with 

 the purchasing power of a dollar under 

 varying conditions and applies himself 

 closely to business, two qualifications 

 which go a long way toward success. He 

 has made good progress since he started 

 for himself at South Bend. He early 

 found he had not the patronage that 

 would stand the prices charged for the 

 best stock in high class metropolitan 

 stores, but that a satisfactory volume of 

 business could be done with dependable 

 stock, living prices, and on this line he 

 is steadily developing his business. 



SEASONABLE FLOWER SEEDS. 



"Will you kindly inform me what flower 

 seeds can be sown for both Easter and 

 Decoration day? W. C. E. 



We know of few, if any, flower seeds 



that can be sown as late as this and be 

 in flower at Easter, unless it be the 

 candytuft, which you should sow at once 

 in flats and when an inch or so high 

 transplant in four or five inches of soil, 

 six inches apart, in a cool house and on 

 a light bench. In plants or roots there 

 is a greater variety that could be brought 

 in by Easter if planted and started at 

 once. There are astilbe and freesia, be- 

 sides many hardy shrubs that there is 

 plenty of time to start yet for Easter, 

 and deutzia and lilac. But I really can- 

 not think of any seeds that can be sown 

 now that would be useful or profitable. 

 Sweet peas can be sown now in a light, 

 sunny house and would be in flower for 

 Decoration day, and cold storage Japan 

 lilies, if procured at once, started and 

 kept in a cool house, would come in by 

 the end of May. The above is too big a 

 query. Ask us something more specific. 



W. S. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



Continued Use of Propagating; Sand. 



As has many times been stated in these 

 notes, cleanliness is essential in all ope- 

 rations connected with propagation, and 

 to express more clearly the full meaning 

 of the word, it may be well to state that 

 there are at least three degrees of clean- 

 liness: tolerably clean, clean and spot- 

 lessly clean — the latter, figuratively 

 speaking, being the degree to strive for. 

 This is especially true as regards those 

 details which have to do with maintain- 

 ing the sand in good condition for suc- 

 cessive batches of cuttings. 



My recent advice, to leave the propa- 

 gating sand outdoors until near the time 

 needed was with the object of exposing 

 it to the action of frost. This, I be- 

 lieve, is not only, for all practical pur- 

 poses, as beneficial as sterilization, but, 

 as is the case with soil, it is in a certain 

 sense improved mechanically, or physi- 

 cally, as you may choose. 



After being screened to remove peb- 

 bles, sticks and all other foreign matter 

 possible, a still further inspection should 

 be made during filling and leveling in 

 the bench to make sure no matter subject 

 to decay remains. 



Before firming it is our practice to 

 flush the bench; that is, to apply suffi- 

 cient clear, cold water to flood the whole. 

 In passing off the water will carry out 

 small particles of soil or clay if present. 



Prepare cuttings in a place apart from 

 the propagating house, at least from the 

 bench, to guard against any trimmings 

 getting into the sand. Any and all in a 

 batch of well cared for cuttings showing 

 signs of wilt should be removed. The 

 chances are they will decay, causing 

 trouble, and even if revived and eventu- 

 ally rooted they will turn out cripples. 



During the interval between insert- 

 ing in sand and rooting, give two or 

 three weak applications of ammoniacal 

 copper solution, A teaspoonful to five 

 gallons of water is about the proper 

 strength. These are not extra applica- 



tions of water, but the addition of the 

 solution to the regular watering, and 

 applied in the same manner, it being as- 

 sumed that this operation is done with 

 a fine rose. 



After removing a rooted batch, loosen 

 up the sand to a depth of an inch* or 

 so by raking, allowing a few days to air 

 out; and if during this time the sun 

 can have full play on the space, all the 

 better. This depends, however, on the 

 weather, arrangements of shade, etc. 



With all careful preparation and due 

 attention to every detail calculated to 

 prevent trouble, there is no positive as- 

 surance that we shall be free from it. 

 To gain success we must also have strong, 

 healthy stock from which to obtain cut- 

 tings. There must be no laxity on the 

 part of a grower in his attention to wa- 

 tering, temperature, shading and, to 

 touch once more on that perhaps thread- 

 bare subject, cleanliness. How often, 

 alas! do we see the paths of a propagat- 

 ing house strewn with discarded cut- 

 tings, or other refuse, the sashbars sadly 

 in need of a scrubbing and, if nothing 

 more, a coat of whitewash. 



To allow carelessness to enter into the 

 work of propagation, thinking to remedy 

 the evil, more than likely to occur by fre- 

 quent change of sand, seems to me a 

 waste of time and raw material. 



Geo. S. Osborn. 



BENCHING A LOV HOUSE. 



I want to bench a low house for car- 

 nations. The house is four feet at the 

 gutters. I use steam heat. I want to 

 make the benches as low as possible and 

 get the best results. How low should 

 that be? Will it be best to put the heat- 

 ing pipes under the benches? P. H. 



You do not give enough data about 

 your. house for me to form an opinion 

 as to arrangement of benches and pipes. 

 If it is a single, or detached, house, with 

 glass under the gutter on the south side, 

 there should be no trouble. You can 

 make the benches as low as you like in 

 that case. But if the sides are boarded 

 up to the gutters, then you will not be 



able to get much out of the south bench 

 in the way of cut blooms. Either taie 

 off the boards on the south side and put 

 in glass down to within eighteen inches of 

 the ground, or else raise that bench high 

 enough so that it will get the sun all 

 winter and, if it is not far enough away 

 from the glass for blooming plants then 

 use it for low-growing stock, such as 

 your young carnation plants, etc. When 

 there is no shading to be taken into ac- 

 count, then the height of your benches 

 should be governed by what you may 

 consider the most convenient to work. 

 Allow at least thirty inches for head- 

 room, but more will be better. 



The steam pipes do not need to be 

 under the benches; in fact, they should 

 not be unless there is enough room so 

 they can be a foot away from the bench 

 soil. Otherwise you will have trouble 

 in keeping the soil from drying out at 

 the bottom. Distribute them evenly 

 through the house; that is the main point. 



A. F. J. B. 



FEEDING CARNATIONS. 



I want to feed my carnations. What 

 proportion of pulverized sheep manure 

 would you use in the soil for this pur- 

 pose? F. E. M. 



Mix your pulverized sheep manure with 

 soil, say about one part manure to two 

 parts of screened soil. Spread this on 

 the bench about half an inch thick and 

 water soon after. This makes an excel- 

 lent food if your plants are in good con- 

 dition for it. A. F. J. B. 



GOOD COMPANIONS. 



We are going to plant a part of one 

 house to Enchantress next summer and 

 would like to know if Lady Bountiful, 

 for white, would do to plant in the other 

 part. Will they stand the same tempera- 

 ture and treatment? A. E. & S. 



Yes, Lady Bountiful will do splendidly 

 in the same house with Enchantress. 

 Both enjoy the same temperature. Plant 

 Bountiful where the light is the strong- 

 est and Enchantress where there is the 

 most shade from the roof, etc. Bounti- 

 ful will come more free from that pink 

 mottling you sometimes see when the 

 light is weak in cold weather, while En- 

 chantress will have a -better color when 

 not subjected to the glaring sunlight. 



A. F. J. B. 



SPLIT CARNATION FLOWERS. 



Improved methods in growing carna- 

 tions and the introduction of improved 

 varieties, though having made great 

 progress in the last decade, have not as 

 yet mitigated to any great degree the 

 provoking habit of the divine flower of 

 producing a large percentage of mal- 

 formed blooms, commonly termed splits. 

 How to mend these flowers so as to en- 

 able the grower to obtain as high a price 

 for them as possible has no doubt en- 

 gaged the best attention of not a few 

 carnation specialists. Split carnations 

 are a product of every carnation growing 

 establishment, which, we are safe to say, 

 will be with us for some years to come 

 at least, and what careful cultural meth- 

 ods fail to accomplish while the blooms 

 are developing on the plants must be 

 provided for after they are cut. 



A little device upon which a patent 

 has been applied for by the inventor, 

 A. J. Baur, of Erie, Pa., does the work, 

 is practically invisible and leaves the 



