W.' 



Jura 15, 1011. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



15 



GOOD CULTX7BE WELL BEPAID. 



■' Late' sweet peas under glass are this 

 season proving unusually profitable in 

 many parts of the country. It will 

 pay to give the glass a light shade, in 

 order to somewhat lower the tempera- 

 ture of the house, and keep ventilators 

 and the end doors wide open night and 

 day. The weather has been hot and 

 trying for sweet peas, which are natu- 

 rally cool, moisture-loving subjects. 

 Bed spider must be kept off at all haz- 

 ards and the water from a hose well 

 directed is the one thing needful for 

 this purpose. The best time to pick 

 the flowers is early in the morning, be- 

 fore the sun's rays have become power- 

 ful. Flower gathering under glass is 

 not exactly pleasurable during the 

 most torrid part of the day and all 

 growers know, or should know, that in 

 summer it is the worst possible time 

 to pick flowers of any kind. An abun- 

 dant water supply, free syringing and 

 ample ventilation are necessities where 

 a late indoor crop is desired. Of 

 course stems are now rapidly lessening 

 in length and we cannot expect the 

 quality to equal what we had in March 

 and April. 



Over a large portion of the country 

 the spring and early summer rainfall 

 has been deficient and the outdoor 

 sweet peas, which revel in cool, moist 

 weather, are far below their usual 

 quality. The early crop is already 

 flowering, but the stems as yet are 

 short. Where watering facilities exist, 

 it will pay to soak the ground well 

 with the hose, or, better still, with 

 sprinklers. If the space between the 

 rows is well mulched, the moisture will 

 be held in the ground a long time and 

 the effects of the watering, while not 

 equaling what we would get from the 

 heavens themselves, is indeed surpris- 

 ing. Not only are root soakings good, 

 but a hosing overhead on warm even- 

 ings is beneficial. It refreshes the 

 plants wonderfully and keeps aphis 

 away. The average country florist will 

 now find that carnations are small and 

 spidery, and roses getting poorer and 

 poorer. Many customers are growing 

 tired of them and demand a change of 

 flowers. No other variety is so uni- 

 versally popular as the sweet pea. 

 Therefore look well after your plants, 

 especially in a year when precipita- 

 tion from natural sources is so uncer- 

 tain. 



FBUNINa FLOWEBING SHBUBS. 



The time to prune flowering shrubs, 

 with the exception of hydrangeas and 

 one or two other unimportant species, is 

 after the flowering period has passed. 

 Too often we see painful evidences of 

 this work in winter and early spring, 

 when the hired man or " landscaper, " 

 as he frequently dubs himself, gives the 



grounds their annual spring clean-up, 

 which is incomplete unless the various 

 shrubs are sheared into a more sym- 

 metrical shape. Practically all the nice 

 flowering shoots are cut away, leaving 

 the shrubs fit ornaments for an Ameri- 

 canized Italian garden. This is a good 

 time to do such necessary pruning, the 

 main trouble being that with extreme 

 pressure of other duties the work is gen- 

 erally laid over to a more convenient 

 season. 



We can easily see all dead and weak 

 wood now. This should be removed en- 

 tirely. Flowering wood, when the flow- 

 ers are fine, should be well headed back, 

 and where the shrubs have grown tall 

 and somewhat lanky this is the time to 

 cut them back quite hard. They will 

 make quite a lot of growth before the 

 season ends; specially is this true of 

 lilacs, philadelphus, loniceras, vibur- 

 nums and the stronger growing shrubs. 

 In addition to the shrubs named, such 

 varieties as exochordas, spiraeas, deutzias, 

 weigelias, ribes, prunus, stephanandras 

 and rhodotypos should be judiciously 



pruned at this season. The result will 

 be in every case much to the plants' 

 benefit. 



WHO OWNS THE AIE7 



Who owns the air has not been set- 

 tled by the injunction proceedings re- 

 ported in last week's issue of The Ee- 

 view, but it has been fully shown 

 that E. Allan Peirce controls that por- 

 tion of the atmosphere that lies imme- 

 diately above the greenhouses of Peirce 

 Bros., Waltham, Mass.; if you want 

 to use that particular patch of air 

 you will have to see Mr. Peirce first. 



There is to be an air ship tournament 

 at Waltham, and Peirce Bros, threat- 

 ened injunction proceedings when it 

 was announced that the direction of 

 the flight would take the aeroplanes 

 over the Peirce greenhouses. As any 

 other direction would take the air men 

 over one or another of neighboring 

 greenhouse properties, if an injunction 

 could be obtained by one of the owners 

 it would open the way for rendering 

 the flight impossible. Therefore the 

 management was prompt to adjust mat- 

 ters with Peirce Bros. A bond was 

 given, for $5,000, to cover any damage 

 to the greenhouse property which might 

 result from the air ships passing over, 

 or, rather, their failure to pass over. 



Tamaqua, Pa.— It is said that during 

 a recent electrical storm the green- 

 houses of Nels Nelsen were struck three 

 times within a few moments, but were 

 only slightly damaged. Superintendent 

 Derr's residence was also struck and 

 a small blaze started, which was easily 

 extinguished. 



Cjrmbidiums. 



Cymbidiums are not so much grown 

 as their merits would seem to warrant. 

 Where can we find any flowers which, 

 when cut, will last as long as those of 

 C. Lowianumf Particularly beautiful is 

 the pale apple-green form, C. Lowianum 

 concolor. C. eburneo-Lowianum, C. ebur- 

 neum, C. Tracyannm, C. insigne, also 

 called C. Sanderi, and C. Wjinnianum 

 are a few good varieties to grow and 

 all will succeed well in a cool house, 

 with a winter minimum of 50 degrees. 

 They grow better in fibrous loam than 

 in osmunda fiber. In common with 

 phaius, calanthes, thunias and sobra- 

 lias, they are benefited by occasional 

 weak doses of liquid manure in the 

 growing season. They also enjoy a syr- 

 inging overhead daily in the hot months. 



Vanda Cserulea. 



Vanda cserulea does not like so warm 

 and close an atmosphere as the majority 

 of the East Indian varieties. It will 

 grow amazingly in a stuffy house, but 

 when it comes to the flowering season 



the plants fail to win applause. They 

 should not be heavily shaded and the 

 cool end of a cattleya house suits them 

 well. Free ventilation is also what they 

 need. Unlike the odontoglossums, these 

 seem to do even better with some grow- 

 ing sphagnum in the pots. 



Oncidlum Varicosnm Bogersit 



Oncidium varicosum Rogersii is the 

 most popular of the various florists' on- 

 cidiums and its long-branched spikes of 

 golden yellow flowers are decorative and 

 a great feature in store windows in the 

 fall. This oncidium grows particularly 

 well in small pans hung close to the 

 glass in a cool, airy house. On warm 

 days it_ can be syringed overhead twice, 

 and it is a safe plan to dip the pans in 

 a tub or pail of water thrice a week, as 

 hose watering does not always properly 

 moisten the compost. New importations 

 of this oncidium will soon be offered. 

 They are always eagerly bought and 

 anyone handling a few orchids cannot 

 go far wrong in buying a few of thii 

 variety. 



