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JANUABT 7, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review; 



13 



f SEASONABLE 

 ^--^"^^ - SUGGESTIONS 



Rambler Roses. 



It is time to start the ramblers in- 

 tended for Easter. Only a trifle over 

 three months remains between now and 

 the great floral festival. Of course, it 

 is possible to get the plants into bloom 

 within ten weeks, but this necessitates 

 hard forcing, with a consequent deteri- 

 oration in the quality of the plants. 

 Stock summer grown in pots is, of course, 

 preferable for early forcing, next to that 

 plants potted in the fall. We prefer to 

 start them rather cool, 40 to 42 degrees 

 at night, until they break; then 5 to 10 

 degrees warmer, but would much rather 

 not subject the plants to over 55 de- 

 grees at night at any stage of their 

 growth. Of course it is necessary to 

 bend or twist around the canes to secure 

 an even break. All weak wood should be 

 cut away. 



While Crimson Rambler is more seen » 

 than any other variety at Easter, it is 

 becoming too common and people, tiring 

 of it, naturally turn to Dorothy Perkins 

 and oth^r pink varieties for a pleasing 

 change. 



It is too early yet to start any hybrid 

 perpetuals for Easter. 



Shamrocks. 



Each year seems to show an increased 

 sale of shamrocks on March 17. It is 

 now getting rather late to sow seeds, 

 but if got in at once, little plants may 

 still be obtained. Pick oflE the seedlings 

 from the earlier sowings into shallow 

 flats of light soil and, before they become 

 crowded, transfer them singly to small 

 pots, or a number together in pans, 

 whichever your trade calls for the most. 

 Shamrocks want a cool house, not over 

 48 to 50 degrees at night. In a higher 

 temperature they become drawn and 

 weak and fall an easy prey to the at- 

 tacks of thrips. 



Ten Weeks Stocks. 



Seed sown at once of the early forc- 

 ing sorts, like White Column, Beauty 

 of Nice and early Ten Weeks, will flower 

 during April. " Quite a few would be in 

 flower for Easter, but at that time they 

 are not good sellers and it is better pol- 

 icy to time them for Memorial day. To 

 have them in flower May 30, seed should 

 not be sown before February 1. Cover 

 the flats containing the seeds very lightly 

 after sowing. A scattering of fine sand 

 is better than loam and when this is used 

 the surface never becomes baked and 

 slimy, as when soil only is used. Stocks, 

 if sown in a brisk heat, must be moved 

 to much cooler quarters before the seed- 

 lings have had time to become drawn. 

 They are better all potted off singly. 



Freesias. 



Quite a number of the early spikes of 

 freesias will now be cut. If you are in 

 the habit of cutting your steins right 

 4own to the ground, it will not pay you 

 to carry the bulbs over. No matter how 

 well you may care for them, they will not 



give returns like fresh bulbs from which 

 the flower stems have not been cut. If, 

 however, you cut merely the tops of the 

 flowering shoots and do not remove the 

 foliage, the bulbs, if gradually dried off, 

 will be equal to the best you can buy. 



Ereesias resent forcing and will keep 

 but a short time if given much heat. Let 

 them open in a cool house and their 

 shipping and keeping qualities will be 

 greatly improved. 



Any bulbs you intend carrying over 

 ought not to be stood under the benches, 

 but given a sunny shelf ^ and carefully 

 watered for some time yet. Purity is so 

 much superior to other varieties of free- 

 sias that up-to-date growers are discard- 

 ing everything but Fischer's seedling. 



Lorraine Begonias. 



Probably the bulk of your plants of 

 Lorraine bo^onia are sold. If you have 

 any small stock in 2-inch to 3%-inch 

 pots, keep the flowers pinched off. These 

 can be successfully carried over and 

 grown into fine specimens for another 

 season. 



If, as previously advised, you saved 

 a few strong, healthy plants, from which 

 the flowers were removed, which have 

 been growing in a sunny house, you will 

 now be able to get a nice crop of leaves 

 for propagating purposes. It is not too 

 early to make a start if you are desirous 

 of working up a good stock for next 

 Thanksgiving and Christmas sales. With 

 cool weather, the steam or hot water 

 pipes will now have a steady heat. If 

 the propagating bench is given a bottom 

 heat of 75 to 80 degrees, with a top heat 

 of 60 degrees, the leaves should root nice- 

 ly and produce little plants inside of six 

 weeks. Cut off a portion of the stem 

 with each leaf and allow the leaf itself 

 to just touch the sand. The sand should 

 be sharp, so that water will pass through 

 it quickly. Shade from the sun's rays. 

 With the avoidance of draughts, and 

 with careful watering, a large propor- 

 tion of the leaves should be fit to pot 

 off by the end of February. Careless 

 watering will, of course, cause wholesale 

 rotting. 



Gladioli. 



As a catch crop the large-flowered 

 gladioli come in useful. Where any other 

 crops have died out, the gladiolus can 

 be planted, but it prefers a cool house; 

 52 degrees at night is as high as we care 

 to give it. 



For Easter flowering the bulbs should 

 have been planted in the benches in De- 

 cember. These should now be coming 

 up. Keep the soil scratched and do not 

 water too copiously or stem-rot will re- 

 sult. 



For Memorial day plant the bulbs 

 about the end of January. They cannot 

 all be had in flower at once, but they 

 bring fairly satisfactory prices at all 

 times in the markets. 



That beautiful variety, America, is now 

 procurable for $40 to $45 per thousand. 



This should bring it more within the 

 range of commercial growers. No o^her 

 gladiolus is of so pleasing a shade and 

 it will always sell when other colors go 

 a-begging. Try a batch of it and you 

 will not go far wrong. Shakespeare, 

 Snow White, May, Augusta and Klondyke 

 are good named .sorts. 



In planting unnamed batches, it is al- 

 ways better to use them by one shade 

 of color. These sell better than miscel- 

 laneous mixtures. Gladioli like a soil 

 containing a good proportion of well 

 rotted manure. 



Lobelia. 



The only way to get nice, dwarf little 

 plants of the blue bedding lobelia is to 

 propagate from cuttings. Old plants car- 

 ried over will now have a good crop of 

 these, and by getting them into the prop- 

 agating bench at once, you will get nice, 

 bushy little stock for spring sales. These 

 will also give you plenty of tops for late 

 propagation. These lobelias, except near 

 the ocean, are not successes as bedders, 

 but come in useful for window-boxes or 

 vases. The hanging variety, gracilis, if 

 sown towards the end of the month, will 

 also come in useful for this same purpose. 

 The new double lobelia, Kathleen Mal- 

 lard, is well worth a trial. 



Seed Sowing. 



While it is a trifle early to start many 

 seeds, there are a few which can with 

 advantage be sown now. Among these 

 are Dracaena australis, Grevillea robusta, 

 Aralia Sieboldii, Asparagus plumosus, 

 Asparagus Sprengeri, gloxinias and 

 fibrous-rooted begonias. The soU in all 

 cases should consist of a large propor- 

 tion of leaf-mold, and fine sand should 

 be incorporated through it and scattered 

 over the surface after seeds are sown. 

 A brisk, moist heat will insure early 

 germination. Keep the pans or flats 

 covered with papers until the seedlings 

 appear. Use a fine sprinkler when water- 

 ing and never allow the soil to become 

 in the least dry. 



TO CLEAN POTS. 



I would like to offer the following 

 suggestion to readers of the Review who 

 spend much time over the drudgery of 

 washing flower pots: On top of my 

 boiler I have a bed of sand, in which I 

 bury my pots, covering them completely. 

 I leave them there for from one to two 

 weeks and when they are removed they 

 will be perfectly clean and almost like 

 new. Try it, and see how it works. 

 Rudolph Kaisee. 



EXPERIENCE WITH CYANIDE, 



During the last few weeks we used 

 four applications of hydrocyanic acid 

 gas for white flies. It killed them, and 

 most of the mealy bugs, but did not seem 

 to get red spider, nor did it hurt bees 

 in a hive on a bench, subjected to one 

 application. 



The plants treated were geraniums, 

 coleus, chrysanthemums, cyclamens, prim- 

 roses, asparagus, ferns, both maidenhair 

 and Boston types; palms, begonias, pelar- 

 goniums, violets, bulbous stock, azaleas, 

 stevia and others. Much injury resulted 

 to the artillery plants and rose gera- 

 niums and the young growths of Aspara- 

 gus plumosus. Only a few young leaves 

 of geraniums and chrysanthemums were 

 hurt. Nothing else suffered noticeably. 



W. A. Dole. 



