1352 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mabch 21, 1907. 



sell, the hotbed will be found far su- 

 perior to the greenhouse. 



Shadioe. 



The sun is becoming increasingly 

 powerful and many plants will demand 

 shade, if you have not already given 

 it to them. It is unwise to put on a 

 heavy coat of shade yet. We may have 

 a long spell of dark weather in the 

 next two months, although clear skies 

 ought to be our lot after what we ex- 

 perienced in December and January. 

 Palms and ferns should have shade 

 without delay, if not already given. A 

 thin coating of kerosene and white 

 lead can be laid on with a brush, or 

 sprayed on with a force pump. In the 

 latter case be sure to close the ven- 

 tilators before applying it. 



Easter flowering stock, of course, 

 should be in a cool, shaded and airy 

 house when sufficiently advanced. Cin- 

 erarias, gloxinias, begonias and cycla- 

 mens, all need shade. To keep the 

 dark blue color in your late frame vio- 

 lets some shade should also be applied. 

 It is also necessary whei*e quantities 

 of young seedlings are being raised. A 

 thin coat only, however, should be given 

 just now. 



Seed Sowing. 



Successional sowings of asters, ten 

 weeks' stocks and Phlox Drummondi 

 can be made. The following can also 

 be sown: Zinnias, Cobsea scandens 

 (place the seed on edge), nasturtiums 

 for boxes and vases, balsams, Gypsophila 

 paniculata, Pyrethrum Golden Feather, 

 marigolds, maurandia, annual coreopsis, 

 salpiglossis, musa, Lavatera arborea 

 variegata and impatiens. Many small 

 seedlings will be making rapid growth 

 now and time should be found to prick 

 them off in flats before they crowd and 

 spoil one another. 



Easter Preparations. 



The busiest time of the year is ap- 

 proaching for both growers and re- 

 tailers. See to it that you have such 

 additional help hired as may be needed. 

 These novices will be unable to wrap 

 up plants and do similar work as your 



Stake the lilies if they need it. Don't 

 forget to give all a liberal supply of 

 water some time before they are sent 

 to the store, or to your retail customers. 



It is difficult to prognosticate weather 

 conditions. Possibly we may have cold, 

 frosty winds, in which case a good deal 

 of wrapping will be necessary. This 

 means considerable additional labor and 

 cost, but must be done if you want 

 plants to reach your customers un- 

 harmed. 



Tlie decoration of many plants is 

 heavily overdone. Well-grown and 

 flowered plants are little improved by 

 a lot of trimming, but often a rather 

 poorly formed plant can be materially 

 improved by a little judicious "fixing 

 up." Be sure not to use loud deco- 

 rative trimmings, or any which do not 

 harmonize with the plants you wish to 

 sell. 



Do tiot tell your customers you will 

 deliver the plants and flowers they buy 

 "right away quick" when you have 

 no idea of doing so. Plan, however, 

 to send as near the time you promise 

 . them as possible. Punctuality in this 

 respect may mean many dollars in your 

 pockets another season. A satisfied 

 customer is the best advertisement you 

 can have. 



Dahlias. 



While there still is ample time to 

 start your dahlias and have them bloom 

 well, if you desire to work up a stock 

 of any special varieties they should be 

 started right after Easter. Cuttings 

 taken off when a few inches long will 

 root freely in sand and make even bet- 

 ter flowering plants than the big roots 

 themselves. Late planted stock will 

 give fully as fine blooms as the early 

 batches. Keep them trained to a sin- 

 gle stem after planting outdoors, or 

 pinch the plants back as far as the 

 first leaves. It will then throw up sev- 

 eral shoots, will have a neat branching 

 habit and need no staking. 



SEEN AT CLIFTONDALE. 



One of the finest floricultural dis- 

 plays in America at present is undoubt- 



House 30x360 of Sweet Peas at Wm, Sim's, Cliftondalet Mass. 



regular employees do, but there will be 

 plenty for them to do. Be sure that 

 all pots are scrupulously clean. Pick off 

 any bad foliage and do not allow a 

 single bad bloom to disfigure plants. 



edly William Sim's houses of sweet 

 peas at Cliftondale, Mass. The prin- 

 cipal one is 30x360 and contains five 

 rows, the varieties grown being Christ- 

 mas and Mont Blanc. Violets were 



grown between the peas until quite re- 

 cently. It is a truly magnificent sight 

 to walk between these long avenues of 

 sweet peas smothered with bloom, 

 stems running up to two feet in length. 

 From 7,000 to 10,000 sprays have been 

 picked daily for some time, but Mr. 

 Sim expects to have 60,000 from this 

 house alone for the Easter trade. An- 

 other house of similar length but some- 

 what narrower contains other varieties 

 in almost every imaginable shade of 

 color. Many are A. C. Zvolanek's va- 

 rieties; others are Mr. Sim's own selec- 

 tions. Beautiful lavender, soft pink 

 and other colors many of these are, but 

 their sale is somewhat limited, as the 

 retail florists seem afraid to handle 

 more than one or two shades. They 

 get into a rut and imagine that their 

 customers don't want novelties, "whereas 

 these are just what critical customers 

 most desire. 



Single violets are a great specialty 

 here, the whole establishment being 

 planted with them and followed by 

 sweet peas and tomatoes, the sweet 

 peas themselves being followed by cu- 

 cumbers. We were particularly inter- 

 ested in the new single violet, Boston, 

 which occupies half a house 30x360. 

 The leaves are heavy. The flower 

 stalks are dotted with hairs. The flow- 

 ers are of excellent form, immense in 

 size, carried on stiff stems and a little 

 paler than Princess of Wales. A bunch 

 of fifty flowers more than equals one 

 of seventy-five Princess of Wales. The 

 habit is quite distinct from Princess. 

 The plant is vigorous and a persistent 

 bloomer. At the time of our visit it 

 was smothered with magnificent flow- 

 ers. It will be largely grown another 

 season and introduced, we believe, in 

 1908. 



The largest house containing Princess 

 of Wales is of the ridge and furrow 

 type, 63x200. As many as 117,000 flow- 

 ers were picked from this on March 13 

 last year and it is fully as good this 

 season. The Easter pick of single vio- 

 lets is expected to be 200,000. A num- 

 ber of frames are planted for a late 

 crop. These were still covered with 

 meadow hay, snow and ice. 



Some 30,000 tomatoes were in 3-inch 

 and 4-inch pots to follow the violets. 

 Comet is the only variety grown. A 

 batch of 2,200 plants of an improved 

 selection was noted. In addition 20,- 

 000 are grown outdoors, all again being 

 Comet. These were just pricked off in 

 flats and being strong plants when set 

 out yield an early and profitable crop. 

 As usual, everything at Cliftondale was 

 in apple-pie order and it is worthy of 

 a long journey to see how well every- 

 thing is done. W. N. C. 



AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY. 



Exhibition Notes. 



The exhibition hall, located, as it 

 was, several feet below the street, made 

 an admirable temperature for the flow- 

 ers, the weather being murky and warm. 

 The spacious floor was well filled with 

 the most magnificent cut blooms and 

 plants ever seen in Washington, but 

 there was room for more. The entries 

 of roses and of carnations for the local 

 club's prizes were especially fine. P. H. 

 Kramer, of Washington, was probably 

 the most successful exhibitor, receiving 

 about thirty first and second awards on 

 his entries. 



Among the most attractive displays 

 were twenty-five plants of rambler roses, 



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