Deckmbek 31, 1!)08. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



n 



for the longer they are out of the soil 

 the poorer they will be. There are quite 

 a number of other flowers you can get 

 in bloom by May 30. Among these are 

 antirrhinums. Seed of these must be 

 sown without delay, potted off when 

 large enough to handle and thence trans- 

 ferred to the benches. Giant Ten Weeks ' 

 stocks make a useful Memorial day 

 flower. The seed of these need not, how- 

 ever, be sown before the middle of 

 February, if they are grown in a tem- 

 perature of 45 degrees at night when 

 benched, or if kept 5 degrees warmer the 

 sowing can be delayed until the last of 

 February. 



Giant white candytuft, sown thinly in 

 rows and grown quite cool, 42 to 45 de- 

 grees at night, is useful. Sow the seed 

 early in February. Double feverfews are 

 easily grown flowers. Of these you 

 should procure some young plants and 

 bench within the next month or so. 

 Gladioli of the largest flowering or Gan- 

 davensis section, if planted four months 

 before being Avanted, will be found use- 

 ful. Spiraea Japonica is an easily grown 

 and useful Memorial day flower. Start 

 the pots nine to ten weeks before being 

 wanted. Good varieties are compacta 

 grandiflora and astilboides. 



In the way of pot plants there are 

 many varieties, such as hydrangeas, mar- 

 guerites, rambler and hybrid roses, 

 geraniums and heliotropes, of which you 

 would require to procure plants or rooted 

 cuttings, which can easily be flowered by 

 May 30, but probably you would prefer 

 to grow flowers for cutting. C. W. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Alpines and Bog Plants, by Reginald Farrer; 

 Longmans, Green & Co., New York; |2.50, net. 



This is a British publication, in the 

 best typographical style of the Edin- 

 burgh University Press, brought out by 

 Edward Arnold, for whom Longmans, 

 Green & Co. are agents in the United 

 States. One of the admirable features 

 is a complete index, which makes for 

 easy reference to any paragraph after 

 first perusal of the volume. There are 

 thirteen general subdivisions in the way 

 of chapter headings, and sixteen full- 

 page half-tone illustrations printed on 

 enamel paper. The book is one that will 

 grace any horticultural library. 



Mr. Farrer was the author of * ' My 

 Rock Garden," which he confesses to 

 having penned with considerable uncer- 

 tainty as to how it would be received; 

 the welcome accorded it by plant lovers 

 the world over is, as he says in the pref- 

 ace to the present volume, the reason 

 why * ' I offer this timely reparation, no 

 less to my friends who read than to my 

 friends who are written of — to the count- 

 less omitted beauties of my garden, whom 

 I had seemed to pass over in ungrateful 

 silence. ' ' 



The chapter on "Shrubs and Their 

 Placing," while relating especially to 

 the rock garden, lays bare the secret of 

 all successful landscape work. The 

 author's advice to .those about to build a 

 water-garden is — Don't. "The fact is, 

 a pool — not an easy thing to build and 

 set going — is of all things in the garden 

 the hardest of all to keep in decent 

 order. ' ' Yet Mr. Farrer seems to have 

 been fairly well repaid for his labor. In 

 his list of commendable varieties he men- 

 tions several American hybrid nymphaeas. 



Of course Air. Farrer 's experience can- 

 not serve as a rule of thumb for Ameri- 

 can readers, for climatic conditions have 



Sheaf of Wheat and Sickle. 



an important bearing, but every gardener 

 will find many rich morsels of knowledge 

 in ' ' Alpines and Bog Plants. ' ' 



LONGIFLORUMS FOR EASTER. 



Will Lilium longiflorum be in for 



Easter when they are just coming 



through the soil uowf I cannot give 



them more than 60 degrees at any time. 



E. R. B. 



Your lilies are all right and will be 

 in nice season for Easter if grown along 

 in a temperature of 52 to 55 degrees at 

 night. If you can see and count the 

 buds six weeks before Easter, they will 

 be in flower if given a minimum tem- 

 perature of 55 degrees. We would pre- 

 fer to do any forcing after the buds 

 have shown, rather than now. Give them 

 a bench in a light, sunny house and be 

 careful not to overwater in the early 

 stages of growth. Run them a little on 

 the dry side until the pots are well filled 

 with roots. C. W. 



CANNAS FROM SEED. 



We have saved about two quarts of 

 canna seed from the following varieties 

 this year : King Humbert, Austria, Penn- 

 sylvania, etc., of the large-flowering vari- 

 eties. When should we plant these seeds 

 and how should they be cared for in 

 order to make nice bedding plants for 

 another year? Do the seeds require soak- 

 ing before |)l.n)ilingf Are new varieties 



ever produced from seeds saved from a 

 mixture of this kind? Any information 

 you can give us will be greatly appre- 

 ciated. A. J. B. 



Seeds of cannas, being extremely hard, 

 may not germinate at all unless filed 

 down or soaked for forty-eight hours in 

 warm water before sowing. Water stood 

 over your heating pipes will be suffi- 

 ciently warm. Seed should be placed in 

 pans or flats during February and, to 

 insure a ,good germination, should be 

 given a brisk bottom heat. When large 

 enough to handle, transplant into flats of 

 light compost, later potting them off 

 singly. They should have a warm, moist 

 heat until established in their pots, when 

 they ea^n gradually be inured to cooler 

 conditions. 



In such a mixture as you speak of, you 

 may get a few plants true to the varie- 

 ties they were taken from, but you are 

 liable to get a miscellaneous mixture and 

 it is not unlikely that one or two new or 

 unusual varieties will appear. The really 

 choice novelties are evolved by careful 

 cross fertilization and you can hardly 

 hope to equal these in quality. Still, 

 chance seedlings sometimes are winners. 

 ^ C. W. 



Dover, N. H. — C. L. Howe has gone to 

 Augusta, Me., on business. 



ScRANTON. Pa. — Fire in the boiler- 

 room at McClintock's greenhouses did 

 only slight damage December 1!). 



