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October 15, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



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plantB should now be in a light house, 

 slightly shaded. Space them so that 

 the leaves do not crowd each other, and 

 water with great care. The bulbs are 

 now bristling with buds and all efforts 

 should be used to get a fair proportion 

 of these open for Christmas. A resort 

 to forcing will only result in drawn and 

 attenuated looking plants. A carnation 

 temperature is as high as cyclamens 

 should have at any time. As the plants 

 will not yet have their blooming pots 

 filled with roots, postpone feeding for 

 two or three weeks longer. 



Cyclamens needed for spring sales will 

 still be better in frames, where they 

 can be carried for a month, if need be, 

 with the aid of mats. 



How are the little seedlings coming 

 on? All should now be germinated and 

 the strongest will be making their 'sec- 

 ond leaves. They should be transplant- 

 ed into other flats before they become 

 crowded. Use a soil containing half 

 leaf-mold and plenty of coarse sand, 

 but no manure at all. It is not yet too 

 late to make another sowing, if suffi- 

 cient seedlings have not appeared from 

 the early sowing. These can be grown 

 into nice 6-inch pot plants for Christmas 

 of 1909. 



Planting: Hardy Perennials. 



The best season of the year for di- 

 viding and replanting hardy herbaceous 

 perennials is the last half of October 

 and first week in November. It is a 

 great mistake to leave these hardy plants 

 year after year without changing them. 

 They will not give nearly so good re- 

 sults as when they are transplanted 

 everjr other year. There are few varie- 

 ties which do not move successfully in 

 the fall, and if this work is done now 

 the plants will become nicely estab- 

 lished before the ground freezes up. 

 Phloxes, helianthus, delphiniums, lychnis, 

 boltonias, asters, aquilegias, spiraeas, ve- 

 ronicas, gypsophilas, campanulas and 

 aconitums all do much better if fall 

 planted. Pyrethrura roseum and Anem- 

 one Japonicum are among the few 

 which are better left until early spring. 



All perennials delight in ground which 

 contains a good proportion of humus 

 and has been deeply^ plowed or spaded. 

 Care should be taken to let the roots 

 dry as little as possible and, of course, 

 the need of firm planting cannot be too 

 strongly emphasized. No winter cover- 

 ing should be given until the ground is 

 fairly frozen. Then a coating of coarse, 

 strawy manure, or better still, forest 

 leaves, held in position by corn stalks or 

 brush, can be spread over them. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



It is a thousand pities that more plant- 

 ing of shrubs and trees is not done in 

 the fall. It would seem as though the 

 idea that spring was the only real plant- 

 ing season for this class of nursery stock 

 is so strongly imbued in many minds 

 that fall planting is looked upon as a 

 pure heresy. There may be some of the 

 colder states where spring work is the 

 better of the two, as the ground freezes 

 tight in these sections soon after plant- 

 ing has been done, perhaps with an in- 

 sufficiency of moistire at the roots. To 

 this latter cause more failures are due 

 than to the severity of the cold, but 

 over a wide section of the country there 

 are so many positive advantages in fall 

 planting that anyone who once tries it 

 will never want to depend entirely on 

 the strenuous springtime for this work. 



Nurserymen should lay more stress in 



Lilac Marie Legraye. 



their advertisements on the advantages 

 of fall setting out of trees, shrubs and 

 perennials, and specify the few kinds 

 whifeh are better left over until spring. 

 It is not now a good season to move 

 any evergreens. After August and early 

 September, the next best season will be 

 the last part of April and first half of 

 May, but with a few exceptions decidu- 

 ous trees and shrubs can with great ad- 

 vantage be moved now rather than wait 

 until frost leaves the ground. 



DISTANCE APART. 



Will you please inform me how far 

 apart large field-grown plants of Prin- 

 cess of Wales violets should be planted 

 in hothouses in October, to obtain the 

 best results? J. E. 



Ten inches each way should be ample 

 for Princess of Wales, even in soil where 

 the foliage will grow large. L. C. 



Lake Geneva, Wis. — The Gardeners' 

 and Foremen's Association will hold its 

 fourth annual chrysanthemum exhibition 

 November 11 and 12. 



HIBISCUS COCaNEUS. 



Kindly tell us whether Hibiscus cocci- 

 neus is a tender plant or a hardy herba- 

 ceous nerennial. J. W. H. 



Hibiscus coccineus is a tender peren- 

 nial, except in the warmer southern 

 states. It will not winter outdoors in 

 your state, Indiana. The roots should 

 be lifted and stored in a frame, which 

 can receive some protection, or a cellar. 



C. 



LORRAINE BEGONIAS. 



My Lorraine begonias are not doing 

 well. I have them in a rose house on a 

 west bench next the wall, and do not 

 know if they have sun enough. The 

 leaves turn brown in spots. Should 

 they be sprayed! S. M. 



A temperature of 60 degrees at night 

 until the flowers are fairly well expand- 

 ed, and a position well up to the glass 

 are requirements for the successful cul- 

 ture of these useful winter flowering 

 plants. They should not be sprayed at 

 all unless the presence of a big ^rop 

 of mealy bug necessitates it. Even 

 then, great care will be required, or the 

 plants will be seriously damaged. Lor- 

 raine begonias should have little shade 

 at this season. In the north many grow- 

 ers keep their plants in the full sun, 

 but in your warmer latitude (Kansas) 

 a light shading would seem necessary. 

 Elevate your plants well. Keep water 

 off the foliage aa much as possible, and 

 do not use any liquid manure unless you 

 are sure the pots and pans are well filled 

 with roots. Better avoid chemical fer- 

 tilizers altogether. C. W. 





