10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Decbmbgb 23, 1909. 



growing season. Seedlings should not be 

 rested until after they have flowered. 

 Keep them growing in an average tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees. If a portion of 

 bench can be planted with them, they will 

 make bigger bulbs and flower earlier 

 than when kept in pots. 



Hydrangeas. 



Where hydrangea plants were well 

 ripened, with the wood of a nice nutty 

 brown color, and all leaves have fallen, 

 it is now safe to start a batch if they 

 are wanted for Easter. Do not make 

 the blunder, which we still hear of from 

 time to time, of pruning the plants when 

 starting them. No deciduous shrubs for 

 forcing should be pruned if you want any 

 flowers, but there are still quite a num- 

 ber who seem to have a peculiar fondness 

 for shearing shrubs into shape, both out- 

 doors and indoors. To any such we 

 would say, if you must prune, let it be 

 after and not before flowering. 



Do not start the hydrangeas too warm ; 

 50 to 55 degrees is ample. They will 

 stand 10 degrees more heat when the 

 flower heads show. As they are thirsty 

 subjects, see that they are never allowed 

 to become dry. 



Ten Veeks' Stocks. 



Make a sowing of ten weeks' stocks 

 now if you will have any bare benches 

 to devote to them for a spring crop. 

 They are better sellers at Memorial day 

 than Easter, but the average country 

 florist can always find use for them. Sow 

 in shallow flats of light soil. Cover the 

 surface with fine sand. Do not start in 

 a high temperature; 55 degrees is suf- 

 ficient. When the seedlings have made 

 their second pair of leaves, pot them off 

 singly. Some growers leave them in the 

 pots until they can see which will come 

 double. It is a much better plan to 

 plant them out before they become too 

 much potbound. If good seed is bought, 

 a large percentage is bound to come 

 double, and the singles can be pulled out 

 as they appear. Stocks grow best in a 

 cool house; 45 degrees at night suits 

 them. If kept 10 degrees higher, they 

 become spindling and are less satisfac- 

 tory. 



Gladioli. 



The large bulbed gladioli are now well 

 ripened, and early varieties, such as 

 Augusta, Snow White, Shakespeare, May, 

 etc., can be planted in benches either as 

 a separate crop or, as is often done, scat- 

 tered among other crops, or used to fill 

 up gaps. We advise against the too 

 early planting of these gladioli. Some 

 varieties, if not given a sufficient rest, 

 will start to grow vigorously and throw 

 up what promise to be strong flower 

 stalks, but which produce naught but 

 foliage. This is particularly true of the 

 mixed Gandavensis hybrids or any sorts 

 which do not mature their bulbs early, 

 such as the sorts named. 



Do not omit a good batch of that best 

 selling of all large flowered gladioli, 

 America. The bulbs are now within the 

 reach of all, and no one can go far wrong 

 in planting a liberal lot of it. 



Mignonette. 



With the shortening days and the ar- 

 rival of steadily cold weather, the 

 mignonette spikes show a steady improve- 

 ment. The benches are now well filled 

 with roots and should never be allowed to 

 approach dryness. A mulching of finely 

 broken up cow manure, spread thinly over 

 the beds or benches, will keep the sur- 



face soil moist and attract feeding roots. 

 Liquid manure is liable to do more harm 

 than good this early in the winter. Bet- 

 ter wait until the days lengthen percepti- 

 bly before applying it, and even then let 

 the doses be moderate ones. An average 

 minimum temperature of 40 degrees will 

 suit mignonette to a nicety. 



Adiantums. 



Adiantums in pots will require abun- 

 dant water supplies now, when so much 

 fire heat is being used. A single drying 

 out would probably mean the loss of 

 many fronds. Where the plants are grow- 

 ing over heating pipes, the benches 

 should be frequently damped. Plants 

 from which the fronds have been cut 

 pretty clean are benefited by a rest be- 

 fore potting and starting them up again. 

 Comparative dryness at the root for five 

 to six weeks will cause them to start with 

 increased vigor. Look out for snails, 

 which will soon work havoc ajnong the 

 fronds. Lay traps of fresh cabbage and 



■I 11 



New Building of Joseph Harris & Bro. 



lettuce leaves or hoUowed-out halves of 

 potatoes, and examine them twice a day 

 for the pests. 



Asparagus Sprengeri. 



The present is a good time to make 

 a sowing of Asparagus Sprengeri. It 

 takes about a year to produce nice, sala- 

 ble 3-inch pots, and when these are pur- 

 chasable at such low prices as many 

 firms offer them, it hardly pays the small 

 grower to raise them. There is no skill 

 needed to start seedlings of either A. 

 Sprengeri or plumosus nanus. Flats of 

 sandy loam in a moist, warm house, 65 

 to 70 degrees at night, are suitable to 

 sow in. When young Sprengeri can be 

 bought at 75 cents per hundred from 



flats and at $4 to $5 per hundred in 

 3-inch pots, it will pay the small grower 

 better to devote his bench space to bed- 

 ding plants, such as geraniums, which in 

 half the time will net double the money, 

 and leave the raising of the asparagus to 

 the big specialists. 



MARGUERITES. 



At the establishment of the Pittsburg 

 Cut Flower. Co., Bakerstown, Pa., there 

 are two benches of yellow and white 

 Marguerites. They are perpetual bloom- 

 ing, great croppers and quite profitable 

 when they do well, but they are difficult 

 to grow. Mr. Burki has them in narrow, 

 trough-like boxes set crosswise on the 

 benches, and 18-inch spaces between the 

 boxes. Too much root room or overfeed- 

 ing means overgrowth and no blossoms. 



Wm. Falconer. 



THE HARRIS STORE. 



Joseph Harris & Bro., at Shamokin, 

 Pa., have recently erected a new building 

 for their own use. It is 22x70 feet, with 

 store on the street floor and living apart- 

 ments above. The location is one of the 

 best in town and the improvement has 

 resulted in a large increase in their busi- 

 ness. The building is of reinforced con- 

 crete, finished in white sand and white 

 cement. 



Harris & Bro. were one of the first 

 firms in the trade to put in concrete 

 benches in their greenhouses. They built 

 the first of these benches in 1901 and 

 now have nothing else in their establish- 

 ment. They say that after having had 

 experience of some years with 5,000 or 

 6,000 feet of concrete benches, they would 

 not think of using anything else and be- 

 lieve it would pay any florist to adopt 

 the permanent construction. They say 

 they have erected their indestructible 

 benches at about the cost of wood 

 benches, not figuring labor, simply the 

 cost of materials. 



TAXATION OF FLORISTS' STOCK. 



It is reported that the board of as- 

 sessors of Framingham, Mass., has 

 adopted measures for the taxation of the 

 stock of florists in that city. In Fram- 

 ingham, as in many of the smaller towns 

 of the commonwealth where the florists' 

 business is carried on, no tax has here- 

 tofore been levied upon the stock carried. 

 In some of the larger places, it is said, 

 taxes have been levied. It is said that 

 in Framingham the campaign inaugurated 

 by the assessors will extend, also, to the 

 stock of the nurseries. 



Supervisors from the office of the state 

 tax commissioner have visited Framing- 

 ham and have sanctioned, if not actually 

 directed, the taxation of the stock carried 

 by florists. The assessors of other towns 

 are also said to be moving in the same 

 direction. In some instances the florists' 

 stock is especially valuable, as in that of 

 John T. Butterworth, who is well known 

 as a grower and exhibitor of rare orchid 

 plants. 



Another phase of the situation is the 

 fact that the florists, believing their 

 growing stock is not legally taxable, do 

 not take kindly to this proposed move on 

 the part of the assessors, and some, it is 

 known, have already engaged counsel to 

 act in their behalf and defend their posi- 

 tion. 



Natick, Mass. — ^Walter M. Loker, the 

 florist at 193 Pond street, is building a 

 greenhouse at the rear of his property. 



