12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Decbmbkr 5, 1907. 



THE RURAL FLORIST. 



The acoonipanying illustration shows 

 the estaltlishiiKiit of one of the most 

 fortunate of ineu. It is typical of the 

 many places of moderate size in the hun- 

 dreds of small cities through the land. 

 Belviderp, in northern Illinois, is large 

 enough to provide a good business for 

 a progressive florist and it is small 

 enough so that endeavor may be l3ss 

 strenuous than where crowds gather and 

 costs are higher; where there is more 



time for the amenities of life and the 

 pleasures of doing business among those 

 who are one's personal friends. This is 

 the establishment of Bert R. Lucas and 

 the picture shows his home, his barn, 

 his poultry sheds, for he handles poultry 

 extensively as a sidj line, his boiler-shed 

 and packing-room and the end of his 

 greenhouses. In the foreground there is 

 his plantation of summer cut flowers. It 

 is a site any man might feel satisfied to 

 call his own. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Geraniums. 



It seems a long time ahead before 

 there will be any sales of bedding gera- 

 niums, but if you want plants which 

 will do yo)i credit and please your cus- 

 tomers, you cannot afford to neglect 

 them even now. Far ^oo often they 

 are crowded together in some out-of-the- 

 way plape to jaiake room for what are, 

 at the time, considered more important 

 plants. Even if this has been done, it 

 is not yet too late to remedy it. Your 

 chrysanthemums will be on their last legs, 

 so to speak, and you can afford to space 

 out your little geraniums somewhat. Let 

 them have all possible sun, but do not 

 overwater them. They are much better 

 kept on the dry side for the next two 

 months. Pick off any decaying leaves 

 and keep water off the foliage now as 

 much as possible. Water only on bright 

 days, so that any moisture nmy dry up 

 iKifore nightfall. 



Quite a number of florists are begin- 

 ning to appreciate the value of a few 

 nice pots of geraniums for winter bloom- 

 ing. They are particularly serviceable 

 at Christmas, especially the scarlet and 

 crimson varieties. The semi-doubles and 

 doubles are usually grown, and while they 

 stand shipping better than the singles, 

 they are much less beautiful. S. A. 

 Nutt, Alphonse Ricard, John Doyle, Gen- 

 eral Grant and Ville de Poitiers are 

 fine doubles for the holiday season, while 

 among singles, Jacquerie, Paul Crampbel, 

 Richmond Beauty, Cannelrs Crimson 

 Bedder, Telegraph and Mrs. E. Rawson 

 are among the best. A rather dry at- 

 mosphere and a night temperature of 50 

 to 55 degrees suits these geraniums to 

 a nicety. Feed the plants with light sur- 

 facings of some good chemical fertilizer, 

 in preference to liquid manures, which 

 tend to promote too rank growth at the 

 expense of the flower. 



Show Pelargoniums. 



These showy spring flowering plants 

 require a cooler house in winter than the 

 geraniums; 40 to 45 degrees at night is 

 better than 50 degrees. It is unwise to 

 promote too rapid a growth now. It 

 should be the grower's aim to keep 

 them stocky. This cannot be done in 

 a warm house. Do not allow any of them 

 to become potbound before overhauling 

 them. Pinch the tops out of any shoots 

 which seem likely to take the lead. Keep 

 a sharp lookout for green aphis, which 

 has a marked partiality for these plants. 



If you make a plan of fumigating once 

 a week and adhere to it strictly, you 

 will have no trouble. 



Calceolarias. 



A temperature such as has been recom- 

 mended for the show pelargoniums will 

 be all right for calceolarias. They can- 

 not tolerate anything in the nature of 

 coddling. -We never saw finer plants 

 than were grown in a cold, clammy feel- 

 ing house, which gave one the shivers on 

 entering it. The temperature varied 

 from 36 to 45 degrees in winter, but 

 the calceolarias simply reveled in it, as 

 the big plants in 10-inch and 12-inch 

 pots, clothed \\ith dark green, luxuriant 

 foliage, testified. We cannot all imitate 

 these conditions, but we (!an at least re- 

 member that a cool, moist house is to 

 tlie liking of these plants and in such a 

 structure aphis will trouble compara- 

 tively little. If some tobacco stems 

 are scattered around once in two weeks, 

 they will scarcely obtain a foothold at all. 



In potting along calceolarias, use some 

 well dried and decayed cow manure, as 

 well as a dash of soot and l)one dust. 



are the best of the compost, also giving 

 it the needed porosity. 



Genistas. 



As a rule, these attractive yellow 

 j)lants sell best in the ekrly spring, being 

 specially in demand for Easter. They 

 do not require at any time anything 

 like forcing, being injured by it. A 

 temi^erature just clear of freezing will 

 suit them just now. If an early batch 

 is needed, introduce a few plants into 

 a house kept at 45 to 48 degrees at night. 

 Spray well once a week to prevent red 

 spider getting any foothold. If you 

 want to increase your stock, and have 

 not yet put in any cuttings, do so now. 

 A bench which roots carnations satisfac- 

 torily will be just the place for the 

 genistas. These cuttings should be pot- 

 ted off as soon as rooted, and will make 

 very • nice, bushy stock for sales a year 

 hence. 



Camellias. 



A somewhat better demand now exists 

 for these plants. They will never again 

 attain the proud precedence they held 

 before the rose displaced them as a cut 

 flower, but a few bushy plants make 

 an attractive window decoration and 

 usually sell well. Let your plants have 

 a temperature of 50 degrees at night 

 and spray on bright days, until the 

 flowers start to open. The only time 

 camellias will tolerate a little forcing 

 is after the blooming period, when mak- 

 ing their growths. 



Ericas. 



The heaths are very acceptable Christ- 

 mas plants. The most popular and easily 

 grown kind is Erica melanthera, which, 

 when neatly trimmed with ribbons, makes 

 an ideal holiday plant for retailers. E. 

 gracilis and E. hyemalis are both good, 

 but do not seem to succeed so well in 

 America as the other variety. Do not 

 try to force your plants into bloom. 

 They will not stand it. If you cannot 

 get them in for Christmas, they may 

 be kept until Easter if required. They 

 may be had in bloom over a long period 

 and the flowers last surprisingly well. 



Establishment of Bert Lyons, Belvidere, lU. 



A rather lumpy compost suits them 

 better than a mixture which has been 

 passed through a screen. Some growers 

 make too frequent use of the screen. 

 It may be all right for soil for seed 

 sowing, or for young plants just potted 

 off, but it should be tabooed for later 

 pottings. The turfy lumps are just what 

 the plants need and, furthermore, they 



Be particularly careful not to allow 

 ericas to become dried out at the root. 

 One thorough drying will often kill a 

 plant. While a dryness at the root may 

 not seriously hurt a geranium or mar- 

 guerite, it may mean death to a hard- 

 wooded plant, especially if it has the 

 pot filled with the fine, hair-like roots 

 peculiar to the bulk of these plants. 



