The Weekly Florists' Review* 



May 14, 1908. 



PLANTING YOUNG STOCK. 



For Exhibition. 



Many of the best growers plant out 

 their stock this month and, while there 

 is ample time to root and grow along 

 many of the tall growing kinds, the 

 dwarf kinds, such as Beatrice May, May 

 Seddon, Merza, etc., should now be in 

 shape for planting if one is expecting 

 to produce exhibition flowers. The com- 

 mercial grower figures that June plant- 

 ing is early enough for him, and, as a 

 matter of fact, it is, for a good aver- 

 age run of flowers, but the difference 

 between the commercial grade and the 

 exhibition grade is becoming more mark- 

 ed as the years go by. With the big 

 show at Chicago as an incentive, there 

 should be some special flowers turned 

 out this year in many places that do not, 

 as a general thing, figure much on ex- 

 hibiting. One thing, however, should be 

 remembered, and that is that unless one 

 has the head room, early planting can- 

 not be practiced, because when stems 

 have to be bent and twisted all ways 

 to get the flowers down from the glass 

 the best results are clearly impossible. 

 Many kinds will go up six to seven 

 feet when planted in May, and this must 

 be taken into account. A knowledge of 

 the varieties one is growing is essential. 

 Then, with a little thought, the tall 

 kinds can be planted in the center of 

 the house, leaving the dwarf varieties 

 for the side benches. 



Pott, Beds or Benches. 



A correspondent writes to know which 

 I would recommend, for growing ex- 

 hibition flowers, of the following sys- 

 tems: Pot culture, benches, or solid beds. 

 This question is frequently discussed 

 among growers, but personally I think 

 the man behind the gun has more to do 

 with successful growing than any par- 

 ticular style of culture. I have seen 

 fine flowers produced by each system of 

 growing. I do not care, myself, for solid 

 beds, because it is hard to control root 

 action at times when one may need to 

 do so, and plants will, as a general 

 rule, grow higher when planted in solid 

 beds. Plants grown in pots eight to 

 ten inches in diameter make some won- 

 derful flowers, but it means a great deal 

 more work watering and looking after 

 them than it would were they planted 

 in a bench. 



SoiL 



We will assume that the soil has been 

 previously prepared by having been com- 

 posted in tl?e fall and that it will chop 

 down nice and mellow. If you mix bone 

 with the soil, let it be the fine bone, 

 so that the plants can get the good of 

 it during their growing season. A good 

 way to mix it is to put the soil on the 



bench first and sprinkle the bone on 

 top. Then the soil can be worked over 

 by hand to break up the rough lumps 

 and the -bone will be thoroughly and 

 evenly mixed through the bench. Fill 

 the bench level full; then, after the 

 plants are set out, a firming of the 

 soil will give a half inch for watering. 

 For running along the cracks of the 

 bench to prevent the soil from falling 

 through, there is nothing so good as 

 fresh sod. Anyone who has ever studied 

 the root action of the chrysanthemum 

 knows that it loves the fiber to root in 

 and this same fiber affords fine drainage, 

 that never clogs up, and keeps the soil 

 sweet. 



Distance to Plant. 



My benches are thirty inches wide and 

 I put in three rows, running the plants 

 sixteen inches in the rows, and I do not 

 consider this too much to allow for ex- 

 hibition flowers, growing one flower to 

 a plant. When one has a house with 

 wide benches it is not policy, perhaps, 

 to change it, but in building a bench 

 for growing mums I would never build 

 it to accommodate more than four rows 

 of plants. With a wide bench the center 

 rows do not do nearly so well, as the 

 sun and air cannot penetrate the mass 

 of foliage, and leaf spot and other dis- 

 eases will almost invariably start there. 

 That is one advantage that the grower 

 who keeps his stock in pots has; every 

 plant has its place, and if it is not dry 

 it need not be watered, and this is not 

 so easy to manage with plants in a 

 bench. Charles H. Totty. 



SCHIZANTHUS WISETONENSIS. 



The illustration on this page is from 

 a photograph of the new variety of 

 Schizanthus Wisetonensis which; origi- 

 nated with Edwin Lonsdale at Girard Col- 

 lege in 1907. Mr. Lonsdale has been 

 growing Schizanthus Wisetonensis for 

 some years at Girard College. It is a 

 beautiful plant, effective in the decora- 

 tions required at the college on Found- 

 ers' day. May 20. The seed is usually 

 sown in ithe fall, October or early in No- 

 vember, in order to have the plants in 

 full bloom this month. The flrst pack- 

 age of seed Mr. Lonsdale ever sowed 

 failed completely to germinate. The 

 seed sown two years ago came up admir- 

 ably, and from this seed the watchful Mr. 

 Lonsdale secured one plant of a compact 

 type entirely different from any of the 

 types with which growers of this plant 

 are familiar. The seed of this compact 

 plant was carefully saved and sown. Now 

 •Mr. Lonsdale has twenty-five plants, all 

 true to the new type, with flowers vary- 

 ing from white to delicate pink and 

 lavender. The appearance of the new 

 type was so striking that Mr. Lonsdale 

 invited the novelty committee of the Flo- 

 rists' Club to examine it and they vis- 

 ited the college and reported favorably 

 at the May meeting. Phie. 



Houston, Tex. — Robert C. Kerr is 

 moving his greenhouses out to his 

 nurseries, on the outskirts of the city. 

 He will continue, however, to run the 

 downtown store on Travis street, as for- 

 merly. 



Schizanthus Wisetonensis G>mpacta. 



