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The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



August 15, 1907. 



will always be found the cheapest and 

 most profitable' in the end. 



Flats three inches in depth, or pans, 

 may be used to sow the seeds in. If 

 any considerable quantity is to be sown, 

 flats are the best. Put in good drainage 

 and over this place a little rough turf 

 or moss. Half each screened turfy loam 

 and leaf -mold, with some powdered char- 

 coal and sand added, mtdces a suitable 

 compost. Smooth the surface over with 

 a light piece of board before sowing the 

 seeds. 



The general plan is to sow the' seeds 

 quite thickly, transplant to other flats 

 when large enough to handle, and later 

 pot on. A better method is to sow the 

 seeds one and a half to two inches apart 

 each way, singly, and allow them to 

 grow into nice little plants in the flats 

 before shifting them. Try this plan and 

 see if it does not prove more satisfactory 

 than the one generally adopted. The 

 seeds need little covering. A fine dust- 

 ing of sand over them will be found 

 sufficient. Water through a fine sprin- 

 kler after sowing, and place the flats in 

 the propagating house or any structure 

 where they can be well up to the light 

 but shaded from the sun. Cover the 

 flats with newspapers, or hang some 

 scrimp cloth over them until the little 

 seedlings germinate. Then, if possible, 

 place on a shelf well up to the light, but 

 shaded. A moderately warm and moist 



of the plants becoming potbound before 

 you can bench them. There is no need 

 to keep the plants in the greenhouse. 

 They will do better in a frame and when 

 well rooted may be stood outdoors for 

 some six weeks, taking care to water 

 them properly. If you have a bench un- 

 occupied you can plant out at any time 

 and thus get in a nice crop for Christ- 

 mas and January trade. 



Do not make the mistake of planting 

 on a low side bench. Snapdragons need 

 ■ not less than four to five feet of head- 

 room if first-class spikes are wanted. 



Cuttings may still be put in where 

 plants are desired for spring blooming. 

 Take cuttings from the plants carrying 

 the finest spikes. The advantage of cut- 

 tings over seedlings is that the former 

 are absolutely true to color and strain, 

 while the latter usually come consider- 

 ably mixed. A good plan is to sow seeds 

 in February or March. Set the seedlings 

 outdoors in May, mark the most desir- 

 able plants and cut these back a short 

 time before you need a crop of nice cut- 

 tings. In the case of antirrhinums, pure 

 white, pink, bright red and yellow prove 

 the most popular market colors. Mixed 

 bunches will be found hard to sell unless 

 the grower has a retail trade, where he 

 can utilize them. Antirrhinums make a 

 good succession crop to chrysanthemums. 

 If the soil in which the latter have been 

 grown is mixed with a coating of well- 



The Pot-makinj; Machine of Fifty Years Ago. 



atmosphere will assist germination. Later 

 cooler and airier conditions are essential. 



Antirrfiinums. 



Cuttings of antirrhinum put in late in 

 June or early in July should now be 

 growing nicely in 2i^-inch or 3-inch pots. 

 Keep them pinched and give a further 

 shift with 4-inch pots if there is danger 



rotted manure or fertilizer it will grow 

 splendid snapdragons. 



Early Bulbous Plants. 



You have probably started a batch of 

 freesias. Do not put all the bulbs in the 

 soil at once, but make successive plant- 

 ings a month apart until October. 



Boman hyacinths and Paper Whites 



are now arriving and no time should be 

 lost in getting in a good batch, as rec- 

 ommended in these notes in a late issue. 

 Lilium candidum will arrive in a few 

 days. More of it should be grown, but 

 it wants radically different treatment 

 from Harrisii or longiflorum. Do not 

 plant it in a greenhouse bench or failure 

 will result. A successful method is to 

 put three bulbs in a 7-inch or 8-inch pot, 

 according to the size of the bulbs. Let 

 the soil come an inch or more over the 

 tops of the bulbs. After potting, stand 

 outdoors in full sun, soak with water 

 and keep fairly moist all the time. The 

 bulbs will commence to root and make 

 leaves at once. Keep outdoors until 

 quite sharp frost threatens to break the 

 pots, then stand in a coldframe and 

 house about January 1, if you want your 

 flowers for Easter. A temperature of 50 

 degrees at night is ample. Bulbs may 

 be grown in boxes or singly in 6-inch 

 pots, but larger pots will give better 

 results. 



Planting Evergreens. 



From the middle of August to he end 

 of the month is a suitable time to move 

 evergreens. There is an increasing ten- 

 dency to somewhat relieve the spring 

 pressure by doing as much of the work 

 as possible in August. The work should 

 not be attempted in dry weather unless 

 there are facilities for soaking the balls 

 before lifting and after planting. As 

 frequently happens, however, we get 

 damp, cloudy spells in August, which are 

 ideal for the replanting of evergreens. 

 In digging evergreens every effort should 

 be made to get as nice a ball of earth 

 as possible. Cover the ball with burlap 

 to prevent drying out at the root. Of 

 course, it pays to prepare a hole of 

 generous size for all trees and shrubs, 

 substituting loam for gravel, sand or 

 stones. It is better not to use manure, 

 but if any is mixed in the compost it 

 should be old and well decayed. 



After the shrubs or trees are placed 

 in their new locations and a little soil 

 has been carefully tramped about the 

 roots, soak well with the hose or by 

 pouring several pails of water in. Let 

 this settle before filling in the balance 

 of the soil. Be sure to tramp firmly. 

 Loosely planted stock will never thrive. 

 Mulch with old manure, straw or leaves. 

 After planting leave a saucer-like cavity 

 so that you can give them additional 

 soakings if droughty conditions prevail, 

 and a hosing overhead each evening will 

 be beneficial. 



Evergreens can be made to grow with- 

 out so much fussing, but attention to 

 these little details will make success 

 much more certain. In addition to pines, 

 spruces, arbor vitses, retinosporas and 

 other coniferous evergreens, kalmias, 

 rhododendrons. Azalea amoena and an- 

 dromedas do aS well transplanted at this 

 season as in spring if they are not kept 

 long out of the ground. 



Brief Reminders. 



Poinsettia cuttings should not be put 

 in after this date. Keep rooted stock 

 potted on, finish any bench planting and 

 get a good supply of serviceable sized 

 pans filled. Grow the plants cool for 

 some time yet. 



Show pelargoniums should all be on 

 their aides resting and can be pruned 

 back towards the end of the month and 

 restarted. 



Keep plying the hoe constantly among 

 growing croj)8. Notice how fast they 

 grow after stirring among and how they 



