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80 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



May 18, 1911. 



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SUGGESTIONS 



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Memorial Day Crops. 



MemoTial day is near. It is the 

 time when flowers of every description 

 sell well. As a cut flower holiday it is 

 away ahead of Easter, as gluts are 

 practically unknown. Everyone wants 

 flowers on this occasion and every 

 eflEort should be made to time all possi- 

 ble crops about as exactly as weather 

 conditions will permit. It is easy to 

 force along late lilies and the early 

 ones can be cut and stood in water in 

 a cold cellar. Such crops as ten weeks' 

 stocks, antirrhinumsj candytuft and 

 feverfew, if well advanced, must have 

 the glass shaded and be kept as cool 

 as possible. Hold as many of these 

 flowers as possible for Memorial day, 

 as the demand for them is not now 

 good. Gladioli of both the large and 

 small-flowered types are invaluable at 

 this season. They should be cut as 

 soon as the first flowers open and kept 

 in a good bulk of cold water. Spanish 

 iris, if in flats, can be moved and re- 

 tarded, but if in benches it will be 

 difficult to hold it back. Spiraea Jap- 

 onica is a useful cheap flower for 

 bunching. Pots can be easily retarded, 

 but when planted out it may be neces- 

 sary to cut part of the crop and hold 

 in water. Much can be done in the 

 case of all these Memorial day crops 

 by shading the glass rather heavily 

 and giving an abundance of ventila- 

 tion. 



Asters. 



The ground for the main batch of 

 asters should have been plowed in the 

 autumn and, if kept well stirred by the 

 horse or hand cultivator, should now 

 be in nice condition for planting. If 

 cutworms are troublesome, spread some 

 lime or soot over the ground and 

 scratch it in. If grass land borders 

 your aster patch, scatter a little gas 

 lime along the 'fedges of the grass; 

 cutworms have no use for this. If 

 the seeds were sown outdoors, the 

 plants probably will not be ready to 

 plant out before the middle of June, 

 but if started under glass they will 

 require planting earlier. Take advan- 

 tage of cool, moist and cloudy weather 

 to do the planting, and be sure to allow 

 the strong, vigorous varieties, such as 

 Vick's Branching and Semple's, more 

 room than you would smaller sorts, 

 such as Victoria, Peony, Perfection and 

 Queen of the Market. To have good 

 asters, the land must have been well 

 manured, and in dry seasons, such as 

 we have had of late years, bottom 

 lands have given plants with really 

 remarkable stems. Asters will stand 

 a surprisingly long drought if they 

 have a deep soil and the same is kept 

 persistently cultivated. 



The earliest batch of plants set out 

 in greenhouse benches of the varieties 

 Queen of the Market and Dawn are 

 now running up to flower and will fur- 

 nish some cutting during June and 

 July, at a season when carnations are 



of poor quality. They are now filling 

 the benches with roots and require a 

 good water supply. The surface soil 

 has just had a light mulch of old ma- 

 nure, which prevents excessive drying 

 out. Plenty of ventilation night and 

 day is given, as asters resent anything 

 like coddling. 



Marguerites. 



The yellow marguerites are more 

 popular than the white ones in the 

 markets as cut flowers, but they do not 

 as a rule make as shapely plants. They 

 do not carry over the summer as well 

 as the white varieties. Usually if set 

 outdoors they make some blind wood 

 or die altogether. It has been found 

 that it pays to carry a quantity of the 

 old plants over in frames, where they 

 can be plunged, with a cheesecloth or 

 lath shading run at a good height 

 above them to . break the direct rays 

 of the sun. The lath shade is prefer- 

 able, as wind storms will sometimes 

 wreck the cheesecloth covering. Keep 

 the plants where they can get some 

 shade and necessary water and you 

 will get a good crop of cuttings in the 

 fall. The white sorts can be planted 

 in the field and if well headed back 



will break and give an abundant crop 

 of cuttings in September and October; 

 and, by the way, if you want a few 

 marguerites for early flowering, of 

 specimen size, dig up and pot some 

 of these old plants. The fine speci- 

 mens seen at the flower show in Boston 

 were old plants carried over and any 

 commercial grower having such plants 

 could readily get a fancy price for 

 them. : 



Primulas. 



The earliest sowing of primulas 

 should now be in 2%,-inch or 3-inch 

 pots. The compost should be light; 

 equal parts of leaf-mold, not too much 

 decayed, and loam with a little sand 

 is suitable for the initial potting. 

 After this date the plants should be 

 grown in a coldframe and if they are 

 partially plunged in fine coal ashes 

 all the, better. This keeps the roots 

 cool and moist. A spraying overhead 

 each afternoon will be beneficial. 

 After the end of May it is better to 

 raise the sashes eight or ten inches 

 top and bottom, to allow of a free cir- 

 culation of air all the time, and instead 

 of whitewashing the glass, use lath 

 shades, which give necessary light but 

 keep the plants much cooler. These 

 of course are only to be used during 

 strong sunshine. A little sun morning 

 and late afternoon will help to stiffen 

 up the little plants. 



Late sowings of any of the primulas 

 will all be better in frames, as green- 

 houses after this time become too hot 

 for their proper welfare. Primulas, 

 be it remembered, come from a cool 

 latitude and our hot summers are not 

 to their liking; however, they can be 

 well grown in frames facing the north. 





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IMPRESSIONS 



OF AMERICA 



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By W. A. Cull, Edmonton, England. 



Our American friends' wholesale es- 

 tablishments are beautifully fitted up, 

 and each contains a cool chamber for 

 the storage of unsold flowers. We vis- 

 ited two or three dozen of these estab- 

 lishments. Little plant trade done by 

 this class of florists. In Philadelphia 

 we visited the seed warehouses of W. 

 Atlee Burpee & Co., beautifully fitted 

 up. The quantities of sweet peas on 

 hand from the firm's seed farms in 

 California seemed large enough to sup- 

 ply the world. I was greatly impressed 

 by_the way in which Mr. Burpee looks 

 after the comforts of his work people. 

 Between 200 and 300 are employed, 

 many of the girls earning from 25 to 

 30 shillings a week packeting seeds 

 and making up orders. A large restau- 

 rant forms part of the establishment, 

 and meals can be obtained at cost price 

 — lower than the prices prevailing in 

 the public restaurants. This provision 

 is much esteemed by the employees. 



We called at White Marsh, Md., 

 where B. Vincent, Jr., and his sons run 

 a splendid up-to-date nursery, growing 

 large quantities of geraniums, fuchsias. 



1 



i 

 I 



coleus, cannas, etc. Messrs. Vincent 

 own much of the woodland around the 

 nurseries, and run their own saw mill 

 for making packing cases for plants 

 and flowers. 



I think Washington the most beauti- 

 ful of all the American cities we saw, 

 though Chicago is a wonderful city. The 

 glasshouses of the Poehlmann brothers 

 cover forty-five acres, by far the larg- 

 est cut fiower nurseries we visited. 



Arriving in Boston, we spent four 

 days there, the principal attraction be- 

 ing the National Show, which did not 

 come up to our Temple shows. We vis- 

 ited the nurseries of Mr. Sim where 

 sweet peas and violets were well done — 

 one house of sweet peas, 400 feet long, 

 forty-three feet wide and twenty-three 

 feet high! 



By C. Engelmann, Saffron Walden. 



The great American trip, so eagerly 

 looked forward to for many weeks, is 

 a thing of the past. We have survived 

 the voyage, with its pleasures and other- 

 wise, and even the banquets have left 

 nothing worse than a disordered liver; 

 as for the rest, nothing but the mem- 

 ory remains, 



