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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JUNB 8, 1911. 



Plants with a growth of nice sphagnum 

 in their pots look fresh and inviting. 

 The moss, however, makes an ideal home 

 for the small shell snails, which find the 

 young flower spikes on these and some 



oncidiums toothsome morsels. Ventilate 

 the odontoglossums freely at night, es- 

 pecially at the close of hot days, and 

 give them a little sun before pulling 

 down and after drawing up the shades. 



BENCHING YOUNG STOCK. 



With the passing of Memorial day 

 and the clearing out of many bench 

 crops, the work of emptying, repair- 

 ing and refilling the benches for mums 

 will now occupy considerable time. 

 The compost should have been pre- 

 pared some time ago. Far too often it 

 is not mixed until the planting time 

 arrives, and frequently manure not 

 properly decomposed is added. Far 

 better plant in comparatively poor soil 

 and feed well from the surface, rather 

 than place the roots in direct contact 

 witn fresh manure. 



The distance apart to plant depends 

 on the variety, also on whether the 

 plants are to carry one, two or three 

 flowers. Small-foliaged varieties, like 

 Ivory, do well as close as 6x6 inches; 

 other varieties 6x8 inches or 8x10 

 inches. If for exhibition purposes, 

 more space than this is needed, but 

 planting for show blooms should have 

 been completed before now. 



Where the plants have become some- 

 what potbound, loosen the balls of 

 earth with a pointed stick before plant- 

 ing. Keep the surface soil well stirred 

 and syringe freely. Any necessary dis- 

 budding should be done at planting 

 time and the staking should be at- 

 tended to just as soon as possible. 

 Every year this work is put off and 

 put off, and when staking is finally 

 done the plants are little short of an 

 interminable tangle. 



In the cities there is an increasing 

 call for sprays in preference to single 

 blooms, and where customers want 

 these it will pay the country florist to 

 cater to the demand. Also, do not for- 

 get the singles, which are steadily 

 growing in favor. These, if benched 

 now, or even a month hence, will give 

 beautiful sprays, and for decorative 

 effects these are in many ways much 

 to be preferred to the doubles. 



MUMS IN UITTUCE SOIL. 



Please give us some advice about the 

 treatment of our chrysanthemums. W« 

 wish to grow two flowers to a plant. 

 They were potted off in due time and 

 have been growing in a house without 

 heat for about a month and a half. We 

 have now benched them and they are 

 fine looking plants. They comprise two 

 varieties, Dr. Enguehard and Bonnaf- 

 fon. The plants are about four inches 

 high. Should these be topped once 

 more or left to grow right along 1 We 

 had no cow manure and so we used 

 well decayed horse manure, putting two 

 inches of it in the bottom of the bench. 

 We grew two or three crops of lettuce 

 in the soil. Are the plants likely to 

 produce good flowers? We ifish to 

 feed with liquid manure. D. & F. 



I do not see why the plants should 



need to be pinched back, provided they 

 have four or five feet of head room. 

 Bonnaffons that are four inches high 

 June 1 will not go much over three 

 feet, though the Enguehards will prob- 

 ably go to five feet, if left to grow 

 right along as suggested. I do not see 

 but what the well decayed horse 

 manure is almost as good as cow 

 manure, for mixing with the soil. 



As to growing two or three crops of 

 lettuce in the same soil before planting 

 the chrysanthemums, I have seen good 

 results when the plants have been so 

 treated, if the soil after the last crop 

 had been permitted to sweeten out 

 nicely. At the same time, first-class 

 growers seem to be unanimous in say- 

 ing that a different crop should have 

 new soil. The mum is not so particular 

 in this respect as the rose or carnation, 

 if ample liquid fertilizer is supplied 

 after the plants have become well 

 established. Chas. H. Tottv. 



THE IBIS. 



The iris family is an indispensable 

 one in every garden. The Germanica 

 section comes in specially useful for 



cutting at Memorial day. The earliest 

 to flower, and one of the best, is Flo- 

 rentina alba, pure white, free flowering. 

 The old Mme. Chereau is still not to be 

 despised. Mrs. H. Darwin is a splendid 

 pure white. Queen of May is one of 

 the best pinks, suffused with lavender. 

 The pallida section is the tallest and 

 most stately, Dalmatica attaining a 

 height of three feet or more. Its lovely 

 lavender blue flowers rivet attention at 

 once. Glory of Hillegom, clear porce- 

 lain blue, is a fine form. The number 

 of German irises is legion, but the' fore- 

 going short list will be found a good 

 boiled down selection for florists. 



Immediately following the German 

 iris in flowering comes the Hispanica 

 section. Many people still labor under 

 the delusion that these are tender, 

 whereas they need no winter protection 

 and are as hardy as oak trees. They 

 are the best of the whole iris family 

 for ^tting and if left undisturbed will 

 flower year after year, all the at- 

 tention needed being a light winter 

 mulch of rotted manure to enrich the 

 ground. Excellent varieties are: Chrys- 

 olora, British Queen, Midley, Louise, 

 Belle Chinoise and Cajanus. 



Following right after the Spanish 

 iris comes the Anglica section, not so 

 well known as they should be. They 

 are just as hardy as the Hispanicas, are 

 rather stockier growers and carry 

 somewhat larger flowers. The variety 

 Mont Blanc, pure white, is one of the 

 best. Another iris not of a bulbous 

 nature, which all florists should have a 

 good batch of, is Iris Siberica Snow 

 Queen, one of the finest perennials for 

 cutting. The spikes are long and the 

 flowers the reverse of stiff and heavy; 

 nothing better for design work is to be 

 found in the whole iris family. 



W. N. Craig. 



THOUGHTS FOE ROSE GROWERS. 



[A paper by W. J. Kelmel, of Wendland 

 & Keimcl, read before a joint meeting of 

 the Milwaukee Florists' Club and the Chi- 

 cago Florista" Club, at Milwaukee, "Wis., 

 June 1, 1911.] 



When our president asked me to give 

 a paper on roses, I believe that he ex- 

 pected me to give something besides 

 the general rules of growing roses, 

 and in giving this paper I am trying 

 to comply with his request. If this 

 paper proves a disappointment, I hope 

 it will at least suggest new thoughts 

 in regard to plant life, and if it does 

 that I shall feel that I have fulfilled 

 my mission. 



In treating plants in general, and 



especially roses, I have studied plant; 

 life on a similar rule to that of ani- 

 mal life and have come to a conclusion' 

 which may sound wrong at first- 

 thought, but on close examination I 

 think yoif will find it not far wrong. 



We have been told that plants re- 

 quire so much nitrogen, so much potas- 

 sium and so much phosphorus, and that 

 by giving them that much, with enough 

 water to dissolve it, we will get the 

 desired results. But do wel Now, 

 take animal life. Does an animal or 

 human being absorb all it takes inf 

 Evidently not, for if it did there 

 would be no manure, or if there were 

 any manure it would be of no use for 

 feeding plants. We are told to drink 

 three pints of water per day. Does 

 the body absorb it? No. The most of 

 it is taken to remove impurities frona 

 the system. I believe the same is true 



