'.«'-'' * '■: V. "^ r' ' 



10 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Skptbmbrr 12. 1907. 



COLEUS FOR STOCK. 



Tlu* practice of j)utting aside a few 

 old coleim plants for the provision of 

 cuttings in spring is a general one, but, 

 like a good many common praetices, 

 not incapable of improvement. These 

 old plants are often none too clean, 

 mealy bug and scale being in many cases 

 firmly established on them. This is bad 

 for the plants themselves, and their ulti- 

 mate progeny, and bad, too, for other 

 plants occui)ying the same structure. 

 How much iKjtter is it to select a few 

 healthy cuttings now, and throw away 

 the old plants. These cuttings root with 

 the greatest facility, and, if pinched 

 when struck, will give far better and 

 cleaner material for wintering than the 

 old stagers. By removing the tops of 

 these youngsters in spring, not only are 

 nice young cuttings provided, but the 

 framework of a good specimen is laid at 

 'the same time, says a Euroi)ean garden- 

 ers' magazine. 



THE HUMFELD QUARTETTE. 



The accompanying illustration is from 

 a photograph of four of the Ilumfeld 

 brothers, all in the tlorists ' business. 

 Henry M. Humfeld, beginning at the 

 right of the picture, has a business lo- 

 cated in Frankfort, Ind. He has 11,000 

 feet of glass devoted to cut flowers and 

 plants. He located there eleven years 

 ago and is the leading florist in that 

 place. The next one to him is Simon 



Humfeld, of Muncie, Tnd. He has about 

 23,000 feet of glass and grows cut flow- 

 ers and plants for bedding. He located 

 at Muncie about eighteen years ago, 

 when natural gas was abundant. He 

 has been successful in his undertaking 

 and is now the leader in the business in 

 that city. The next brother is Ed A. 

 Humfeld, who has a business at 8ixtli 

 and Paseo streets, Kansas City. He lias 

 about 10,000 feet of glass, growing cut 

 flowers and plants. He grows a great 

 many {)lants for Electric park. He has 

 charge of all plants and lawns »t that 

 park. 



To the left of the picture is W. H. 

 Humfeld, of the W. H. Hjimfeld 

 Floral Co., whose place of business is at 

 Ninth and Highland avenue, Kansas 

 City. He has about 23,000 feet of glass 

 and grows cut flowers and plants. He 

 has been in this place fifteen years. He 

 has the reputation of filling more porch 

 ])oxes than any other florist in that city. 



There is one more brother in the busi- 

 ness, at Clay Center, Kan., who does 

 not appear in this group. This brother 

 is Charles Humfeld, the verbena king. 

 His face is well known by his advertis- 

 ing in the Review. He has about 30,000 

 feet of glass, devoted mostly t(» rooted 

 cuttings. He started in business there 

 about seventeen years ago and his busi- 

 ness has. grown to such an extent that 

 this spring he could not any way near 

 fill his orders, which came from all over 

 the United States. 



SEASONABLE 



''#^iP''Ti 



SUGGESTIONS 



^^^te»>'^jy^^tfe»»-^^^>^-a»'»n.'*<^>^ur»>%<^>%fe»>^t*.»»^Wfe^>t*^\fc»s'yf»>^Mf^'fcfc#Kt 





Marguerites. 



During the summer montiis margue- 

 rites persist in throwing flower buds on 

 every shoot and it is difficult to secure 

 suitable cuttings for propagating pur- 

 poses. Now, witli the cooler nights and 

 heavier night dews, the plants are grow- 

 ing rapidly and it is possible to secure 

 a good quantity of excellent cuttings. 

 Marguerites are among the most popular 

 of market pot plants and the cut flowers 

 meet with an increasing sale each year, 

 being disposed of without trouble when 

 roses and carnations are quite druggy. 

 From cuttings taken now, fine j^lants for 

 spring sales can be grown. Both the 

 white and j'ellow forms sell well as cut 

 flowers, perhaps the latter having the 

 best call. 



There arc several varieties of margue- 

 rites in commerce, the most recent ac- 

 quisition being the beautiful Queen Alex- 

 .andra. Young jilants of this rlo not 

 bloom so early as the other varieties and , 

 where they are wanted in bloom for the 

 Christmas holidays it is better to propa- 

 gate late in the spring and pot on as 

 needed, pinching out all flower buds as 

 they appear, f'ine stock may be had of 

 any of the marguerites by adopting this 

 plan. It is in the spring, however, that 

 the demand for marguerites is best. Both 

 at Easter and Memorial day they are 

 good sellers, either in pots or cut. Give 

 ,ajiy old plants you may have a light, 

 sunny house and give them a shift into 

 their blooming pots now. If the cut- 



tings put in are well watered and siiaded, 

 they will be fit to pot oft" in three weeks 

 an(l should be potted off as soon as tlie 

 roots are an inch long. Grow them cool, 

 airy and sunny and they will grow sur- 

 prisingly fast. 



Azalcjtt. 



It will be a few weeks yet before the 

 new Belgian imjwrtations of azaleas 

 come to hand, but you may have some 

 left-over plants from last season, which 

 have been planted outside and which can 

 now be lifted and potted at any time. 

 Azaleas like a compost of leaf-mold, 

 sand and peat, but will do well in loam 

 instead of peat. It is better not to use 

 any manure when j)otting. Tlie roots of 

 these liard-wooded plants are numerous, 

 but fine and hair-like. Prick away as 

 nuich loose soil as you can with a pointed 

 stick, in order to get them in pots, of 

 moderate size. Be sure to pot 'firmly. 

 Use a pointed stick rammer and, after 

 placing the ball in the center of the pot, 

 shake some of the compost around the 

 sides, give the pot a thump on the pot- 

 ting beiujh to settle it down; then use 

 the rammer. Continue this proceeding 

 until the soil is packed firmly all around 

 the sides of the pots. All hard-wooded 

 plants need this care in potting; it is 

 not sufficient to scatter a little compost 

 around the ball, press in with the fingers 

 and thumb, give the pot a shake and call 

 to the boy for the next. 



Azaleas, after being potted, may be 

 stood in the open air for a time, or 

 placed in a cold house. If kept syringed 

 for a few days they will quickly recover 

 from their temporary check and start 

 rooting. Kept-over plants usually force 

 more readily than the freshly imported 

 ones. 



Adiantums. 



An indispensable adjunct to every es 

 tablishnient doing any retail trade is a 

 good batch of maidenhair ferns. The 

 fronds are always in request; even the 

 customer who comes to you for a quar- 

 ter's worth of flowers will expect it to 

 be liberally sprinkled with adiantum 

 fronds. We hope you have looked after 

 your plants well during the summer, in 

 which case they will be well furnished 

 with quantities of rich, dark fronds. Con- 

 tinue to keep them well shaded. Adian- 

 tums grown in light houses have tougher 

 foliage, maybe, but it is pale in coloi 

 as compared with those produced under 

 more shade. The dark green brand al- 

 ways sells the best. 



Adiantums, if well potbound, appre 



A Quartette of Humfeld Brothers. 



