*■ .? 7'^w^ - • .n-Tr A' ^. ::.'=r-~r?~^,?fr^- 



8 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



OcTOBUU lU, 1907. 



couple of minutes first. Pot the plauts 

 in as small pots as they can be con- 

 veniently squeezed into. It may be nec- 

 essary to pare off a little of the ball 

 to accomplish this. For compost use a 

 mixture of loam, leaf-mold and sharp 

 sand, but not any manure. Drain the 

 pots well and pack the soil firmly 

 around the pots, using a flat-pointed, 

 wooden rammer for the purpose. Allow 

 a good margin for watering on. The 

 |)lants should be stood after potting in a 

 cold house, shed or cellar, one from 

 which, however, frost can be excluded. 

 If you are busy with other pressing 

 work, the azaleas will not suffer any 

 harm for a few days if stood on the 

 floor where it is cool and moist. 



Freesias. 



A late batch of freesias should now be 

 potted or placed in flats. They will not 

 be long in appearing above ground. 

 Room in the greenhouses will be at a 

 premium until the pressure of chrysan- 

 themums wanes, but the freesias will be 

 all right in a cold frame for some weeks. 

 Mats may be needed for protection by 

 the middle of the month. 



The earliest batch, wanted for Christ- 

 mas or New Year 's trade, which ought 

 to be on a bencli in a light, snnny 

 house kept at 50 degrees to 55 degrees 

 at night, will need some staking if you 

 want straight flower-stalks. The plants 

 will now have their receptacles well mat- 

 ted with roots and a weak dose of liquid 

 manure once a week will be found help- 

 ful. 



Use care in fumigating where freesias 

 are grown. They will not stand strong 

 doses. The leaves will burn at the 

 tips and this much decreases the value 

 of the flowers. Be especially careful 



prising to note how the uses of cattleyas 

 are being extended. Many retail store 

 florists who turned up their noses at 

 orchids a decade ago, find them a neces- 

 sity now. Cattleya labiata is not a diffi- 

 cult species to grow and flower. Just 

 now, as the buds are pushing through 

 the sheaths and the blooms are in some 

 cases expanding, use care in watering. 

 The plants are better kept moderately 

 dry at the root while the flowers are 

 open. A dry atmosphere will also assist 

 in keeping the blooms fresh. For store 

 trade nothing will so quickly attract the 

 eyes of passers-by as a basket or two 

 of orchids. Even if you do not sell the 

 plants, they will prove a good advertise- 

 ment. 



Cyclamens. 



How are your little seedling cycla- 

 mens, sown in late summer, coming 

 along? They should all have appeared 

 before this and some will be making their 

 second leaf. If you sowed them rather 

 thinly in flats, as recommended some time 

 ago, they will not need disturbing yet 

 awhile. Do' not allow the surface soil 

 to become green and slimy. Stir it up 

 with a jointed stick. Give the little 

 plants a li^ht bench or a house kept at 

 50 to 55 degrees at night. 



Plants for winter and early spring 

 blooming will all have received their final 

 potting before now. If you have housed 

 them, keep them cool and airy, not over 

 50 degrees at night, and 5 degrees lower 

 will be better. If your frames are well 

 built and you can protect with mats, you 

 can keep your cyclamens in them for a 

 month yet. Do not neglect an occasional 

 fumigation. Thrips will quickly dis- 

 figure them. As the sunlight decreases 

 a reduced water supply will be needed. 



New Material Mill of S. Jacobs & Sons, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



if you are using h)l)acco stems. An ex- 

 perience has been that the use of these 

 damaged the foliage far more than a 

 fumigation with liydrocyanic aciil gas. 



Cattleya Labiata. 



Labiata, the most useful of all fall- 

 blooming cattleyas, is now coming in 

 season. It is always welcome, arriving, 

 as it does, at :i lime when flowers are 

 none tot» abundant. It is reaflv sur- 



I'se the watering pot instead of the hose 

 now and the plants will benefit from 

 the change. 



Brief Reminders. 



It will hardly pay you to run any 

 houses now without a little crack of 

 fire heat at iimes. This is especially 

 true in dull and damp weather. 



Son;e shading will be needed over the 

 chrysjuitheminns as tlie flowers open, or 



you will lose many of them. Early 

 varieties again are proving the most 

 profitable sorts to grow. Take note of 

 valuable early kinds you have not yet got. 



Give Euphorbia jacquiniseflora (ful- 

 gens) a warm house. This makes a capi- 

 tal Christmas seller in pots and the 

 sprays always take well. 



Mignonette must be grown cool. Use 

 as little fire heat as possible and you 

 will have stronger stalks. Attend to dis- 

 budding and give supports before the 

 stems become twisted. 



Ardisia crenulata should have a light, 

 cool house. Its berries and foliage are 

 both attractive and well grown plants 

 are always easy to sell. 



Do not be in a hurry about lifting 

 roots of cannas, dahlias and gladioli. Cut 

 the two former down to within a few 

 inches of the ground after frost comes. 



Do not trouble to save old plants of 

 Salvia splendens for stock. You can get 

 better plants from spring-sown seed. 



Continue to divide and replant hardy 

 herbaceous perennials on all favorable 

 occasions. 



Make a sowing of a good strain of 

 stock for bench culture. Sow in 

 flats and pot off singly. 



Do not allow the hydrangeas to feel 

 too severe a frost; 2 or 3 degrees below 

 freezing will not injure them, but 10 

 degrees may destroy all hopes of flower 

 for another season. 



Be sure to fumigate all the houses 

 regularly now. Never mind if you can 

 not see the pests. Prevention is better 

 than cure. 



Last week the types made the asser- 

 tion that seventy-five to 100 tulips could 

 be started in a flat 12x14 inches, when 

 it should have been 12x24 inches. Don 't 

 plant too thickly. 



THE JACOBS ESTABLISHMENT. 



Since S. Jacobs & Sons moved into 

 their new factory at 1365 to 1379 Flush- 

 ing avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., their busi- 

 ness has shown the increase which sel- 

 dom fails to follow improvement in fa- 

 cilities. There is a stimulus in greater 

 room and wider possibilities that is al- 

 most always felt in the selling depart- 

 ment, even before the work turned out 

 from a modernized plant has a chance 

 to speak for itself. In the case of 

 Jacobs & Sons the increase in business 

 has been so great that already an addi- 

 tion to the plant is being, planned. They 

 have fifty men employed. This enter- 

 prise began in 1871, thirty-six years ago. 

 The new factory has 50,000 square feet 

 of floor space. There are two 150 horse- 

 power boilers and an engine capable of 

 400 horse-power. The first floor is the 

 mill department, where all the lumber 

 is planed and prepared for its various 

 uses. Modern machinery has been in- 

 stalled. The second floor is the sash 

 department, and it is crowded to the 

 doors. Everything is ordered, and tbe 

 firm is already oversold. In the glass 

 storage room are 5,000 boxes of large 

 greenhouse glass and 5,000 boxes of 

 hotbed glass. The lumber yard, filled 

 with air-dried cypress, covers nearly an 

 acre. The putty department is an in- 

 teresting one, for 150 tons of putty are 

 manufactured and shipped yearly. The 

 machinery is never idle. No mineral 

 oils are used, or anything causing arti- 

 ficial weight. Four brothers constitute 

 the firm, every one an expert in his spe- 

 cial department. 



J. Austin Shaw. 



