The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Januabt 9, 1908. 



house. Make a few cuts in the leaves 

 and you will get plenty of young plants. 

 These begonias are very useful for plant- 

 ing outdoors in summer under trees, 

 where flowering plants fail, and are also 

 quite effective in piazza or window boxes 

 where there is but little sunphine. 



Lorraine Begonias. 



It is time to make a start with the 

 propagation of that most popular of all 

 winter-flowering begonias, Lorraine. 



* Probably you have sold the major por- 

 tion of your best plants, and sales from 

 now onward will be more limited. Leaf 

 cuttings must be depended upon now, 

 as it will be some time before the plants 

 have suitable cuttings. Our experience 

 has been that stock propagated from 

 leaves gives more vigorous plants, carry- 

 ing heavier foliage and larger flowers, 

 but the latter are produced less densely 

 on the plants, which is a decided advan- 

 tage, the great objection made by many 

 to Lorraine begonias being that they 

 carry too many flowers in proportion to 

 the foliage. A propagating bench where 

 a bottom heat of 75 to 80 degrees can 

 be maintained, with a slightly lower at- 

 mospheric reading, will be very suitable. 

 The sand should not be too fine, or it 

 may prove hardly porous enough, with a 

 consequent loss from damping of the 

 leaves. Add some fine charcoal to sand 

 inclined to be too close. It will sweeten 

 it and give it porosity. Select strong 

 leaves and leave an inch or more of the 

 atem attached. Let the leaves merely 

 touch the sand. Avoid an oversupply of 

 water, to prevent decaying of the leaves, 

 and in from four to six weeks little 

 plants should make their appearance, 



" several on the best leaves. These can be 

 potted off singly and kept growing in 

 a close, warm atmosphere. 



Fuchsias. 



It is pleasing to note the coming again 

 of those old-time favorites, the fuchsias. 

 Barely now do we see the specimens 

 which some of the old practitioners used 

 to pride themselves in growing. In Eu- 

 rope they are not infrequently striking 

 features at the summer shows. In the 

 west of England plants eight to ten feet 

 high are sometimes exhibited. Our hot 

 summers make it difficult to produce such 

 plants here and, as the flowering period 

 is shorter, the general plan is to root 

 cuttings each year, carry a few over for 

 stock and discard the balance. Plants 

 which have been kept somewhat dry in 

 a cool house, if brought into moderate 

 warmth — 55 degrees at night is sufficient- 

 ly high — will soon produce a crop of 

 strong cuttings, which, if rooted in sand, 

 potted and grown along, will make nice 

 plants for Memorial day trade. Euchsiaa 

 work in very nicely for filling vases, 

 standing in moderate shade. They also 

 make excellent plants for window boxes. 

 They may be had in bloom over a long 

 period by pinching the shoots and re- 

 moving all flower buds until a week or 

 two before they are wanted in bloom. 



Heliotropes. 



That popular, sweet-scented plant, the 

 heliotrope, is always in good demand. 

 As a bedding plant it is hard to beat, 

 being always in bloom, and neither dry 

 weather nor excess of moisture seems to 

 affect it in the least. A good batch of 

 cuttings should be gotten in now. None 

 will fail to root in a warm house, if 

 well watered. These, when potted off, 

 will soon yield a further lot of shoots 

 for propagating purposes and it will be 



found easy to get an ample stock in 

 readiness for spring sales. 



Verbenas. 



If you have carried over a number of 

 verbenas for propagating purposes, they 

 will now give you a good crop of suit- 

 able cuttings. Get these into a propa- 

 gating bed without delay. It may seem 

 early to root verbenas, but these little 

 plants can themselves furnish consider- 

 able additional cuttings before long. Do 

 not grow them in a warm house; 50 de- 

 grees at night is quite high enough. 

 Many growers do not trouble themselves 

 with cuttings at all, preferring seed- 

 lings. As separate shades of color can 

 be had from all reliable seed firms, this 

 is really the better method of propaga- 



there will be no probability of aphis 

 or any other pests troubling them. Plants 

 coming along for late winter or early 

 spring flowering must be grown cool; 

 45 degrees at night is ample. The sun 

 is not yet powerful enough to be harm- 

 ful and therefore no shade is necessary. 

 Manure water once a week will now be 

 found very beneficial. An occasional 

 dose of soot water will keep the foliage 

 up to the mark and help to add intensity 

 to the flowers. 



Foliage Plants. 



Take advantage of wintry weather, 

 when other work is not so pressing, to 

 overhaul these and clean the foliage 

 thoroughly. This is especially beneficial 

 to palms, which should never be allowed 



Edwin A. Sddewitz. 



tion. Buy the best quality seed and sow 

 a good batch of it sometime during the 

 month of January. 



Geraniums. 



The little geraniums are now growing 

 fast and will require more space almost 

 every week. Any still remaining in sand 

 should be potted at once. Do not water 

 too freely the plants which have been 

 newly potted, and be sure to have the 

 foliage dry at night, to prevent damping 

 off. Continue to take cuttings from any 

 old stock plants yon have. They will 

 root very easily just now, while firing 

 is heavy and before there are any wide 

 fluctuations in temperature. 



Cyclamens. 



Seedlings of cyclamens potted off when 

 advised a few weeks ago will now be 

 rooting nicely in their receptacles. Keep 

 the surface soil stirred and let the 

 little plants have the fullest light. If 

 you fumigate the houses once a week. 



to have dirty leaves. Ficus, pandanus, 

 crotons, dracsenas and other fine foli- 

 aged subjects will all be greatly improved 

 by a sponging over. Little or no shade 

 will be necessary for any of these plants 

 during the present month. Use the 

 sprayer on all bright days, to keep in- 

 sect pests in check. 



Washington Coxjbt House, O. — Poole 

 & Purllant_, who sold out their estab- 

 lishment at Bellefontaine, O., to R. S. 

 McMurray, have decided to start in busi- 

 ness at this place. 



Kearney, Neb. — The Green Seed & 

 Plant Co. has just completed two carna- 

 tion houses, each 12x80, and a new office, 

 12x24. In the spring the firm will re- 

 build, with cement, three houses, each 

 12x80. The benches, also, will be of ce- 

 ment construction. Christmas trade was 

 good and everything was cleaned up. 

 Prospects are good for spring trade. 



