•SW^^'5' 



12 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



NOVEMBEB 28, 1907. 



benched plants, alternating tbis with a 

 surfacing of a good, safe chemical fer- 

 tilizer. Dot in a few myosotis plants or 

 sow a bordering of sweet alyssum along 

 the benches, if you have a call for either 

 of these flowers. 



Freesias. 



You should soon be able to see the 

 first flower stems on the earliest batch 

 of freesias, if your plants are being 

 grown in a light and sunny house. Give 

 the plants plenty of water. Freesias re- 



scattered among the pots once a fort- 

 night, aphis will be kept in control. Pot 

 along all plants needing a shift before 

 they become too matted. Loam, well- 

 rotted cow manure and leafmold, with 

 some broken charcoal and sharp sand, 

 makes a good compost. Use two-thirds 

 of loam and one-sixth each of the leaf- 

 mold and manure for a final potting. 

 Chemical manures are better left alone 

 now, but can be advantageously used 

 when the plants are well established in 

 the pots. 



C C PoUworth and His Family Take to the Woods. 



quire more moisture at the roots than 

 almost any other bulbous plants, and 

 many failures in culture are due to a 

 too scant supply. Liquid stimulants once 

 a week will be found helpful. There is 

 usually a small supply of freesias at 

 Christmas, at which season they always 

 bring very remunerative prices. If you 

 are trying to get in your flowers at that 

 time, 55 degrees at night, a good supply 

 of air during the day and a position well 

 up to the glass are necessary. Keep 

 later batches cooler. They will do well 

 in coldframes yet a while, if you have 

 plenty of covering at hand for severe 

 weather. 



Smilax. 



The demand for smilax is now only a 

 fraction of what it was before Asparagus 

 Sprengeri and A. plumosus nanus were 

 known, but the country florist usually 

 finds call for a few dozens or hundreds 

 of strings per annum. Th^ first lot of 

 strings will now be cut, or ready for cut- 

 ting. Do not make the mistake of pick- 

 ing out an occasional nice looking string 

 here and there. Start at one end of the 

 bed and clear it before you. Then stir 

 the soil, mulch with cow manure and keep 

 moderately dry until the new strings ap- 

 pear. Lose no time in putting up tlie 

 new strings. This work is easily done be- 

 fore growth starts, but a few (Jays ' delay 

 may mean endless bother, owing to the 

 entanglement of the young shoots. A 

 night temperature of 55 to 60 degrees 

 suits smilax, although it may be grown 

 10 degrees cooler. It pays best, how- 

 ever, in the warmer house. 



Gdceolarias. 



Calceolarias, which barely move at all 

 in the warm months, are now making 

 excellent growth. They love a cool 

 house and do not like much sun. A 

 temperature of 45 degrees at night is 

 ample, and if fresh tobacco stems are 



BERGER'S NEW STORE. 



The accompanying illustration is from 

 a photograph taken in the store of Ber- 

 ger Bros., wholesale florists of Phila- 

 delphia, at a busy time. John Berger, 

 senior member of the firm, may be seen 

 in the background. He is very modest. 

 Henry Berger, the junior member, is on 

 the left. Near him is an employee who 

 unfortunately got the Berger move on 

 just before the photograph was com- 

 pleted. Near the center are William 

 Crawford, of Secane; Edgar Upton, and 

 Paul Klingporn, all well known to Phila- 

 delphians. Phil. 



PACKING AND SHIPPING. 



Successful Beginners. 



There is one thing that always seems 

 especially discouraging to the old 

 grower of violets, namely, the easy suc- 

 cess that the beginner so often has, in 

 having first-class flowers for the first 

 year or so, frequently with a haphazard 

 care and a lack of close attention to 

 details that would be ordinarily fatal. 

 This is* something that I have never 

 yet met a grower who could explain. 

 One common reason that everyone falls 

 back on is "new houses, etc." That 

 is all well enough as far as it goes; 

 yet there have been new houses, put up 

 by old growers, that have not been such 

 brilliant successes as others. So that 

 is not always a conclusive argument, and 

 I leave the fact as it is for some per- 

 son wiser than myself to explain. How- 

 ever, if I were a novice in violet cul- 

 ture I would not rest easy with this 

 idea, that the flowers could not help 

 but do well for me, but would give 

 them the very best care that I was 

 capable of, looking very carefully after 

 all the details of culture and properly 

 marketing. 



Special Violet Boxes. 



This makes me think of an item that 

 I saw only a short time ago regarding 

 sending the blooms out in any old box 

 that was handy. This is a subject that 

 has been frequently referred to, and 

 yet it will bear annual reiteration. Never 

 under any circumstances send out vio- 

 lets in anything but a special violet 

 box, new and fresh and properly lined 



Store of Berger Bros., Philadelphia. 



