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July 11, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



HAIL IN MISSOURL 



By request of John G. Esler, secre- 

 tary of the Florists' Hail Association, 

 I send you a snapshot of my houses 

 after the hail of June 14. I couldn't 

 get a picture of all the houses from 

 the position taken, but enough to show 

 some poor florist how his houses may 

 look at any time. The damage was 

 great, owing to three houses being full 

 of cucumbers, all trained to the roof 

 and in full bearing. The falling glass 

 and hail nearly put them out of busi- 

 ness. Two acres of asters and 20,000 

 carnation plants in the field were al- 

 most annihilated. The streak of hail 

 was only about a quarter of a mile wide 

 and about two and one-half miles long, 

 near Joplin, Mo., but I seemed to be 

 in the strongest spot of its work. I am 

 thankful I was insured in the Florist 

 Hail Association, for I had 6,746 feet of 

 broken glass. H. A. Hall. 



CALCEOLARIAS. 



Well-grown plants of hybrid calceo- 

 larias are not especially common, but if 

 strict attention is paid to them from 

 the time the seed is sown, there is no 

 reason why any one cannot grow them. 

 It is absolutely essential, though, that 

 they receive constant care right through; 

 otherwise all the labor expended on them 

 is simply wasted. 



Very soon now the seeds should be 

 procured and sown in shallow pans, well 

 drained and filled with a mixture of 

 leaf -mold and sand, with perhaps a little 

 sifted fibrous loam thrown in. The 

 seeds are small and for that reason 

 should not be covered with soil, but sim- 

 ply pressed down on the moist soil in 

 the pans. It will also be necessary to 

 avoid watering the seeds in course of 

 germination in the ordinary way until 

 the seedlings appear over the surface 

 of the soil; instead, the pans should be 

 dipped up to the level of the surface of 

 the soil in water. Shade will be neces- 

 sary if the pans are placed where the 

 sunlight strikes directly. A pane of 

 glass should be placed over each pan, 

 gradually admitting air until, by the 

 time the seedlings appear, the glass may 

 be removed entirely. 



Just as soon as the little plants can be 

 handled they should be pricked oflf into 

 pans Eimilar to those from which they 

 are taken and into the same kind of 

 soil. A couple of inches apart will do 

 them for this shift. The pans contain- 

 ing the transplanted seedlings should be 

 placed as near the glass as possible, in 

 a cool greenhouse or frame, preferably 

 one with a northerly exposure. 



When the young plants have made 

 leaves an inch or more in length they 

 should be potted into 3-inch pots, using 

 this time a compost containing more 

 fibrous loam and less leaf-mold. The 

 plants, when potted, should be put again 

 in a cool place and kept carefully wa- 

 tered, never allowing them to become 

 dry at the root. 



Like other quick-growing plants, they 

 should not be potted at any shift very 

 firmly. However, the soil should not be 

 left too loose around the roots, because 

 in that case the water would drain away 

 too rapidly. In the subsequent shift- 

 ing of calceolarias, pots two sizes larger 

 than those then containing the plants may 

 with advantage be used. As the plants 

 develop and get near the flowering stage, 

 use, when repotting, a compost contain- 

 ing three parts good turfy loam and two 



Calceolaria Ru^oia Golden Gem. 



parts leaf-mold and well rotted manure 

 in equal proportions. 



In winter a temperature not much over 

 45 degrees will suit them better than any 

 higher temperature. When the plants have 

 grown luxuriantly it will be well to tie 

 out the shoots so as to give them room 

 to develop thoroughly. Manure water at 

 frequent intervals will be very benefi- 

 cial to the plants when they have fairly 

 well established their roots in their 

 flowering pots; it is hardly possible to 

 overfeed them from this stage forward. 

 The foliage of calceolarias is very apt to 

 be ruined by carelessly watering too free- 

 ly overhead, and, in order to prevent 

 that happening, the water should be ap- 

 plied from underneath the leaves. To 

 prevent the ravages of greenfly or of 

 any other pest, tobacco stems should be 

 strewn among the pots on the shelves 

 where they stand. D. M. 



CALCEOLARIA GOLDEN GEM. 



While the herbaceous calceolarias are 

 commonly met with in both commercial 

 and private greenhouses, the shrubby or 

 rugosa section, so popular in Europe for 

 bedding purposes, is less seen than its 

 merits deserve. It is unfortunate that 

 our hot summer sun makes the outdoor 

 culture of this class impossible, but for 

 pot culture for late spring and early 

 summer blooming they are in many re- 

 spects far preferable to the larger, 

 showier and more delicate herbaceous 

 class. 



For pot culture, cuttings should be 

 rooted early in September in a cool 

 house and kept potted along as needed, 

 being flowered in 6-inch or 7-inch pots. 



For the early shift a compost of leaf- 

 mold, loam and sand will suflice, but 

 for the final potting some old cow manure 

 and a dash of Clay's fertilizer should be 

 added. The plants should at all times be 

 grown in a cool and airy house. The 

 sunshine, which would soon ruin the her- 

 baceous varieties, will not hurt the shrub- 

 by section in the least, but when in 

 flower some shade will prolong the flow- 

 ering period. The shoots should be 

 pinched until the middle of March, after 

 which the flower shoots should be allowed 

 to come up. A few stakes should be 

 given the plants before the flowers ap- 

 pear, as they are rather easily broken. 



This calceolaria is in season from the 

 middle of May to the end of June, oeing 

 usually at its best about Memorial day. 

 It is strange that it has been so neg- 

 lected by commercial growers, for, wheth- 

 er as a pot plant or for cutting, it is 

 excellent. The flowers last remarkably 

 well in water. For bouquet work for Me- 

 morial day trade it should prove in- 

 valuable, while bushy plants in 6-inch 

 pots ought to sell on sight. 



If extra large plants are desired, the 

 first season's stock can be pruned back, 

 potted along and flowered a second time, 

 when specimens a yard in diameter may 

 be had. A few plants will yield an abun- 

 dance of cuttings if given a slightly 

 shaded location outdoors, where they can 

 be occasionally watered in dry weather. 

 Plants may also be raised from seed, 

 which germinates readily. Brown, red 

 and yellow shades are usually sold in 

 the same packet. While all are good, the 

 yellow form is the best. 



W. N. Cbaiq. 



