8 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



January 23, 1908. 



feet from the present house, where the 

 boiler is located. The boiler is capable 

 of heating another house 20x100. 



Will mums produce bread and butter 

 blooms under these conditions? When 

 should they be planted? Are there any 

 other cultural notes you could add? 



J. M. J. 



While blooms grown as J. M. J. pro- 

 poses will not be of exhibition grade, 

 still fair flowers can be produced in 

 the manner described. If the piece of 

 ground referred to is well drained, I 

 would plant right in the soil and not 

 bother to make beds, but if the soil is 

 naturally low and wet, raised beds would 

 be necessary. Set a 10-inch board on 

 edge, supporting it by short posts and 

 filling with six inches of soil to make 

 the bed. The paths between the beds 

 will serve as drains in wet weather, but, 

 as stated before, if the soil is a sandy 

 loam no bed is necessary. 



The house should be not less than five 

 feet and a half high, and more if 

 J. M. J. is a tall man, since when one 



is building it is just as easy to build 

 a frar^awork under which one can work 

 in comfort as it is to build a squatty 

 affair which causes a man to use profane 

 language every time he goes into it. 

 The varieties mentioned, Dean, Baer and 

 Jones, do not go over four to five feet 

 at the outside. There are some other 

 kinds, such as Chadwick, Yellow Chad- 

 wick, Mrs. Geo. Beech and Mrs. Swin- 

 burne, which would need more head room, 

 possibly, but which would turn in J. M. 

 J. considerably more money from the 

 same amount of space, as would also 

 Jennie Rosette and M. Hankey.„ 



Planting should be done in^une, if 

 possible, so that the young stock will 

 have a good chance to get growing early 

 enough in the season. 



As to the amount of heat needed, I am 

 no expert on heating, but a 2-inch pipe 

 all around the house should 'be ample 

 to keep out the frost and that is all 

 that J. M. J. would require for plants 

 grown under such conditions. 



Chas. H. Totty. 



Mm.y^^^m^^^^'m^^m^ym^'^^^m ^^m^'^^^m^'^^'^^'^^'^^'^^ 



SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



U^'iic^f^iri.^^yA-^'^'m^^-%d^yd t^\k^'U:^'y^^'idc^''u^'^ 





Herbaceous Gdceolarias. 



The blooming time for herbaceous 

 calceolarias is April and May. They 

 make quite rapid growth now and it is 

 time to transfer them to their flowering 

 pots. For compost use fibrous loam, 

 dried and screened cow manure and 

 sand. If the loam is a little heavy, none 

 the worse. Some finely broken charcoal 

 and a little soot are also desirable soil 

 constituents. Better not use chemicals 

 in the soil; they can be utilized later in 

 the form of surface dressings. Grow 

 the calceolarias cool; 42 to 45 degrees 

 at night is quite warm enough. They 

 will revel in a low night temperature 

 and be less a prey to green aphis than in 

 a house kept 5 degrees warmer. Press 

 the soil moderately firmly in the pots at 

 the final shift. We find the plants ap- 

 preciate an occasional light spraying 

 overhead, and like plenty of fresh air. 



SfflUax. 



Probably your first crop of smilax 

 strings will now be all cut. See that 

 strings are run up in ample time for the 

 second lot, before they can become en- 

 tangled. Also give the beds or benches 

 a mulching of good cow manure. Keep 

 the plants on the dry side for a week or 

 two after the first crop is cut. When 

 you start them up, soak thoroughly. 

 Never use white twine for smilax or 

 Asparagus plumosus. The green article 

 comes somewhat higher, but should al- 

 ways be used. 



Primulas. 



J[f good flowering plants are wanted 

 for Christmas trade, it is always well to 

 grow a batch of primroses. They can be 

 easily grown and at a moderate cost, 

 usually selling well if in good shape. 

 The Chinese primroses make the best 

 holiday plants, especially the lighter 

 shades. Extra good sorts are Crimson 



King and Chiswick Red, but there is 

 sure to bo a call for the white and pink 

 colors also, the blue varieties not taking 

 so well. 



Seed can now be sown of any of the 

 primulas wanted for winter bloom. The 

 soil should be largely leaf-mold, with a 

 little loam, some fine sand and charcoal 

 added. To kill weed •'eeds and insect 

 life, it is better to sterilize the compost 

 for all choice seeds. This is easily done 

 where steam is used. Use well drained 

 pans or flats for sowing the seeds in. 

 Put some coarse compost over the drain- 

 age, filling the balance with that which 

 has been finely screened. Water the 

 surface, using a can with a fine rose, 

 after making the surface perfectly level. 

 Then scatter the seeds over it, dust a 

 little sandy compost over them, place in 

 a warm, moist house and keep covered 

 with paper until the seeds germinate. 



Primula obconica can be treated sim- 

 ilarly to P. Sinensis. There are now 

 some fine colors of this primrose. Its 

 persistent flowering qualities should com- 

 mend it to all florists who grow pot 

 plants. 



Seeds of these primroses may be sCwn 

 until the end of March and produce nice 

 plants, but if really strong stock is 

 wanted the seed must be gotten in as 

 soon as possible. Do not, on any con- 

 sideration, purchase cheap seed. The 

 l>est will be found the cheapest in the 

 end. Avoid cheap mixtures. Rather get 

 a packet each of the best selling colors, 

 which can be obtained separately from 

 all reliable seedsmen. 



Plants for Easter. 



It f-eems rather a long cry until Eas- 

 ter, it being still almost three months 

 away, but it is now necessary to pay a 

 good deal of attention to plants you may 

 want in bloom at that time. Rambler 

 roses must be started right away, or they 



will not be in season. Do not tie th(> 

 canes straight up, but wind them round 

 and round three or four stakes evenly 

 spaced round the edges of the pots. 

 Start rather cool; 45 to 48 degrees at 

 night will suffice. Spray freely in bright 

 weather and give them the fullest sun- 

 shine. Hydrangeas do not cut much 

 of a figure as Easter plants. Any wanted 

 by April 19 should now have shoots sev- 

 eral inches long. Keep them well wa- 

 tered and feed liberally where they are 

 potbouud. It is much too early to start 

 genistas. Acacia paradoxa and Azalea 

 Indica. 



Spiraea Japonica is one of the most 

 useful of Easter plants. By allowing 

 twelve weeks for the newer varieties, 

 such as astilboides, grandiflora and 

 Gladstone, and ten weeks for the ordi- 

 nary S. Japonica, they will come in sea- 

 son all right. Start in a brisk heat. 

 Grow them somewhat cooler after they 

 have made a few inches of growth. Rho- 

 dodendrons, lilacs, metrosideros, deutzias, 

 prunus and other shrubs for forcing 

 must not be started for some weeks yet. 

 Keep cool; a little frost will not harm 

 them. 



If your longiflorum lilies are six to 

 eight inches high and in a night tem- 

 perature of 50 degrees, they . will come 

 along in good season. Get rid of any 

 sickly and diseased plants and do not 

 let green aphis secure any foothold. 

 Weekly fumigations will keep it in check. 

 Sprayings with diluted tobacco extracts 

 are also quite effective, as they kill any 

 insects they hit. 



Blue Cornflowers. 



Centaurea Cyanus, commonly known as 

 the blue cornflower, is seen a good deal 

 in the markets from January until July. 

 Sometimes, owing to erratic treatment, 

 plants of this class are a failure inside, 

 but grown in benches at the cold end of 

 a carnation house, they are very fine and 

 furnish a tremendous quantity of flowers 

 for bunching from even a small space. 



Sweet Peas. 



Weather so far during 1907-8 has 

 hardly seemed like winter at all. We 

 have heard of courageous cultivators who 

 have planted their sweet pea seeds out- 

 doors this month, anticipating from this 

 sowing decidedly better results than 

 would be the case if sown two or three 

 months later. Sweet peas under glass, 

 when flowering, like a temperature of 

 50 to 55 degrees at night, with 5 degrees 

 rise in the sun. While such varieties as 

 Christmas Pink and Mount Blanc are 

 necessities for indoor culture in winter, 

 any sorts may be sown now, and as the 

 flowering season will have stronger sun- 

 shine than we now enjoy, all will do 

 well. 



Stocks and Asters. 



Stocks and asters are both grown to 

 some extent under glass, the former more 

 than the latter. Stocks are useful for 

 Memorial day trade and are also in re- 

 quest at other seasons. They improve in 

 quality in spring very much. They 

 make a useful winter crop to follow 

 chrvsantheraums or carnations, which 

 may have died of stem-rot. 



Asters are less met with as flowers 

 grown under glass, but will pay for any 

 indoor treatment accorded them. Make 

 a sowing of seed now, pot off the seed- 

 lings when they have made their second 

 leaves and grow them in a carnation 

 house temperature. Any florist who ha? 



