fT^:- 



■ ■ / 



-^,Tr ■"..■'7V. .'-' ' '. tiv.. -•■■ ^ 



"r^-rryt -.■'>;>;; j-,^-;i 



'.■^■'V.'.-f 



.!^;i7?r?»iT^ 



1344 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mabcu 21. 1907. 



Birchbark Canoe, with Primulas^ Cocos and Ferns. 



to look faded and old ; but this is enough 

 to jog your memory about this. 



Again, in your hurry remember that 

 they are very susceptible to odors of all 

 kinds, and your helpers must not let them 

 lie around, even for a short time, in 

 contact with anything but the regular 

 vases or dishes that you employ espe- 

 cially for them. The same care must be 

 used in regard to the receptacle that they 

 are packed in for delivery. Don 't forget 

 the waxed paper and suitable box and 

 cord, or ribbon, with which it is tied. 

 All of these little things are large fac- 

 tors in making pleased and perfectly 

 satisfied customers, and these are what 

 we all desire and must have to make our 

 business a success, even at some trouble 

 and expense on our part. 



R. E. Shuphelt. 



FERNS FROM SPORES. 



Perhaps a few notes on the art of 

 fern growing as practiced by growers 

 for Covent Garden, London, may be of 

 some interest to the readers of the Re- 

 view. No doubt many American florists 

 have, when visiting England, paid a 

 visit to the garden, and personally wit- 

 nessed the vast quantities of ferns dis- 

 posed of during the course of a morning. 

 To those who are interested from the 

 pecuniary point of view, it may be stated 

 that small ferns, chiefly of the pteris 

 family, are put up in trays containing 

 fifteen 2% -inch pots and sold at 24 

 cents to 36 cents per tray; some growers 

 selling at the latter price from 200 to 

 300 boxes during the hours from 4 a. ifi. 

 to 9 a. m., at which latter hour the mar- 

 ket closes. 



The first care to the successful rais- 

 ing of ferns from spores is to get a sup- 

 ply of spores from fronds fully matured 

 and of perfect form, and collect from 

 plants that have shown vigorous growth 

 from the commencement. You may pos- 

 sibly find the spores overripe, in which 

 case they are hardly worth taking. To 

 determine when they are just fit, one 

 must be guided by the color. Of course 

 different species have different colors, 

 such as yellow in Polypodium aureum, 

 dark brown in pteris, and so on; but in 

 the majority of instances it is easily 

 discovered by passing the finger over 

 the spore-cases and if the spores adhere 

 they are usually in a fit state to collect. 



The fronds, when collected, should be 



wrapped in a piece of paper, named and 

 dated and laid upon a hot pipe for a 

 week or so, by which time they ought to 

 be quite dry and in a fit state to shake 

 out and sow. Prepare quite new 5-inch 

 pots, sterilize the soil and burn or bake 

 some virgin soil black. Don't burn it 

 brown, for two reasons: It holds too 

 close together, and black soil, by showing 

 the spores as you are sowing, enables 

 you to determine how thick they are. 

 The query may arise, why use burnt 

 soil when the soil is sterilized? First, 

 to assist in sowing the spores, and, sec- 

 ond, because it does not take the dreaded 

 moss and fungus so readily. 



Crock your pots well, place the steril- 

 ized soil therein, carefully make firm 

 and even, put your burnt soil on top, 

 place the pot in a clean saucer and fill 

 the saucer with water drawn from the 

 main and not from a tank, thus avoid- 

 ing the risk of getting the spores of 

 aliens. Make quite sure your pot drinks 

 well before sowing; that is to say, see 

 that the pot gets thoroughly saturated 

 and the mold gets wet upward from the 

 bottom and your burnt soil on top is 

 quite moist all over. 



Now everything is ready for sowing. 

 Be careful there are no draughts, else 

 you will lose thousands of spores, besides 

 getting them hopelessly mixed. One 

 slight tap under the paper is usually 

 sufficient to distribute enough spores to 

 cover your pot; don't overdo it; it is 

 easier to sow too many than too thinly. 



Place a glass over the top of the pot, 

 and if you place the pots just under a 

 hot pipe in a greenhouse, you will find 

 that there will be very little condensa- 

 tion on the glass in the morning. Should 

 there be any water, however, under the 

 glass, turn it over. 



The next stage, when the prothallus 

 appears, calls for your greatest judg- 

 ment; for it is now when the success, 

 or otherwise, of your efforts will be de- 

 termined. Your pots will be covered 

 with prothallus, which, when examined 

 under a microscope, looks truly pretty. 



It is advisable at this stage not to 

 keep the saucers constantly filled with 

 water, as you are liable to have damping 

 off take place, and it is exceedingly dif- 

 ficult to prevent it when once started. 

 Rely upon the appearance of the pots 

 themselves and watch your prothallus and 

 water accordingly. SRould you by an 

 oversight allow a pot to become too dry. 



The Azalea at it ii Usually Sent out by Retailers. 



. -viitii. 



'^A'^ i^m.-mt.-^ 



^■^t l.-,-\.-. ----^ . >«.. ■ 



