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Januabt 2, 190B. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



lists need a big stock of variegated vinca 

 for vases and piazza boxes. Now is a 

 good time to insert a good batch of cut- 

 tings. The young shoots springing from 

 the base of your old stock plants will 

 root much more quickly than the more 

 matured wood. Hydrangea cuttings 

 taken now can be grown into nice sal- 

 able plants for Memorial day trade. 

 Hydrangeas which were recently started 

 will be throwing a good crop of side 

 shoots. Inserting a batch of these will 

 insure fine plants for next year's sales. 

 If you are short of lemon scented ver- 

 benas and heliotropes, put your old plants 

 in heat and they will soon give plenty of 

 nice soft cuttings. If you kept over 

 some old coleus plants, these will very 

 likely be crowded with mealy bugs; bet- 

 ter get in a good batch of cuttings and 

 consign the old stock to the rubbish heap. 

 Your old plants of bedding geraniums 

 should also now furnish a crop of stocky 

 cuttings. Insert these in 2-inch or 2^^- 

 inch pots of light, sandy soil. Place in 

 a bench over hot water pipes or steam 

 pipes. Water well and then allow to dry 

 out before applying more. This is bet- 

 ter than putting the cuttings in a sand 

 bed, where a large proportion would un- 

 doubtedly damp off. 



Lilies. 



It is still a long cry to Easter, as that 

 festival is quite late in 1908, but the 

 florist must needs be on the alert now 

 if he wants his lilies in prime condition 

 by April 18. If the plants are four to 

 six inches high and are kept at 50 to 55 

 degrees at night, they are all right. Those 

 just coming through the soil will need a 

 warmer house for at least a time. Do 

 not allow the plants to crowd one an- 

 other. Throw away any sickly or dis- 

 eased ones. Drop some tobacco dust on 

 the tops of the shoots as a preventive 

 of green aphis and, to make doubly sure, 

 fumigate once a week, L. candidum, if 

 wanted in flower before Easter, may now 

 be given a night temperature of 45 to 50 

 degrees. It will not tolerate any hard 

 forcing. L. Harrisii comes in very use- 

 ful all through the winter. It should 

 have 60 degrees at night, and the flowers 

 are better cut before becoming too fully 

 expanded. 



Miscellaneous Bulbous Stock. 



Most of the Dutch bulbous stock will 

 now be well sprouted and such standard 

 varieties as La Reine tulip and Golden 

 Spur and Von Sion narcissi can be 

 brought in every few days. The tulips 

 will be very short-stemmed unless drawn 

 up well in a warm, dark place before be- 

 ing placed in the light. The narcissi do 

 not require as warm treatment as the 

 tulips; 70 to 75 degrees at night will 

 give the latter the necessary fillip, where- 

 as 10 to 15 degrees lower will suit nar- 

 cissi better. Hyacinths are also now well 

 started and if kept in a warm, dark 

 place until four inches high will give 

 satisfactory results. Be sure to give suf- 

 ficient water to all bulbs being forced 

 tor remember the pots are full of roots 

 and dryness will quickly spoil your 

 chances of a good crop of flowers. 



Freesias. 



You will now have cut some of your 

 oar best batch, if the bulbs were planted 

 early and the plants were treated as ad- 

 vised m previous issues. Freesia flowers 

 are very welcome at midwinter. They 

 rnake a pleasing change from the always 

 present roses and carnations. In a cJt 

 state they last well and all the flower 



John Young. 



buds open. Certainly no bulbous plant 

 has a more delicious fragrance. As you 

 finish cutting your crop do not neglect 

 the plants, as you will want to use your 

 bulbs again. Give them a shelf, if pos- 

 sible, for a few weeks and keep well 

 watered until the bulbs are matured; 

 then gradually reduce the supply. We 

 have frequently seen the boxes and pans 

 stood under the benches out of the way 

 as soon as the flowers were cut. Here 

 they became soddened and what might 

 have been fine bulbs for another season 

 were simply ruined. Keep successional 

 batches well supplied with water, not 

 forgetting a little liquid manure. The 

 nearer they are to the light, the better 

 they will do, and the more substance the 

 flowers will have. 



Brief Reminders. 



Keep the antirrhinums in benches se- 

 curely staked and do not forget to dis- 

 bud the flowering shoots. 



If you have forgotten to make a sow- 

 ing of ten weeks' stock, do so now. Re- 

 member the best quality seed is always 

 the cheapest in the long run. 



A batch of spiraeas can be placed in 

 heat at any time now. The newer and 

 dense flowering forms require a couple 

 of weeks longer to come into bloom than 

 the old S. Japonica. 



Shamrocks for March 17 sales should 

 now be placed in little pots or pans. 

 Grow in a cool house. 



Have you an ample supply of loam 

 under cover or within reach when zero 

 temperatures arrive? Do not be de- 

 ceived by prevailing Indian summer con- 

 ditions. 



It is much too early to propagate 

 chrysanthemums for benching, but if 

 there are any kinds in which you want 



to increase your stock it is time to make 

 a start. 



Put a few azaleas in heat from time 

 to time where you have a demand for 

 flowering plants. Keep stock for Easter 

 just clear of freezing. 



Keep stevia in flower in a cold houie. 

 If not allowed to go below 32 degrees, 

 it will be all right. 



Sow schizanthus for late spring flower- 

 ing. There is no better sort than S. 

 Wisetoncnsis. 



HAIL STORM AT NEW ORLEANS. 



Sunday morning, December 22, at 

 about 3:30, there was a record breaking 

 rain and hail storm in New Orleans. 

 Really the hailstones were chunks of ice 

 as large as hens' eggs and rough, some 

 weighing half a pound, and breaking 

 glass a quarter of am inch thick. They 

 went through hotbed sash piled up six 

 deep. The downpour of rain was general 

 in and around New Orleans, but the hail 

 fell over a narrow strip along the upper 

 section and Metairie Ridge. 



The Metairie Ridge Nursery Co. seems 

 to have been in the thickest of it and 

 suffered most. The probable damage to 

 glass and plants at this nursery is esti- 

 mated at from $4,000 to $5,000, with no 

 insurance. Harry Papworth, having car- 

 ried insurance since he established the 

 place nine years ago and never suffered 

 any loss, decided in the early part of the 

 year to discontinue the insurance. 



Louisiana. 



Canal Dover, O.— C. Betscher says 

 business was never better; demand excel- 

 lent, but collections were very slow up 

 to November 1, since which date they 

 have been more prompt. 



