16 



The Florists' Review 



October 31, 1912. 



WISLEY'S WIGWAM. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 the establishment of Claude Wisley, at 

 Murphysboro, 111. The two houses each 

 are 28x150. They are of modern con- 

 struction, the upper house being used 

 for roses and the lower house for car- 



nations. In the field below the houses 

 the Skinner watering system has been 

 installed, with a gasoline engine and 

 puiRp in the boiler house as the means 

 of operating the irrigation. In the 

 foreground of the picture Mr. Wisely 

 stands at the right. At the left is 

 Peter^Eriksen, his grower. 



1 



^ SEASONABLE 



i ^ SUGGESTIONS \ 



r 



Lorraine Begonias. 



The winter-flowering begonias have, 

 now arrived at their season of hiost 

 rapid growth, and plants which seem 

 to stand still during the hot summer 

 months are now growing apace. Unless 

 these are wanted for hanging plants, 

 staking must Itc attended to, or the 

 plants will soon become bent and 

 twisted. Use thin stakes and they 

 should always bo painted green, not 

 onlj' for begonias, but all other flower- 

 ing plants. Nothing so much disfigures 

 an otherwise attractive plant as stakes 

 which in size and color are out of all 

 proportion to the needs of the plant 

 and depreciate rather than appreciate 

 its value. 



Lorraines and Cincinnati begonias are 

 now to be seen in the markets as early 

 as the middle of September, but it is at 

 Thanksgiving and Christmas that they 

 are in the greatest demand. No shade 

 should now be given them, and the 

 night temperature should not exceed (50 

 degrees. When in flower, 10 degrees 

 lower is better in every way. When 

 the pots are well filled with roots, feed 

 regularly, but only give mild doses. 

 Liquid cow or sheep manure in which 

 some soot has been diluted makes an 

 excellent food, and one which will keep 

 the foliage a beautiful dark green color. 



Azale?! Indica. 



The imported azaleas have now been 

 coming to hand for some weeks and are 

 this season of a good color and well 

 budded. As they alwaj's come with 

 good balls 'of earth, they can be kept 

 for some weeks, if necessary, in a cold 

 greenhouse or frostproof shed before 

 potting, but the sooner the}' can be 

 potted the better they will do. Always 

 soak the balls thoroughly after unpack- 

 ing and when potting remember that 

 it is hardly possible to firm the soil too 

 hard about these or any other hard- 

 wooded plants. ,. While they are grown 

 in sandy peat in Belgium, they grow 

 well here in a mixture of loam, leaf- 

 mold and sand. Such varieties as 

 Deutsche Perle, Hexe or Firefly and 

 Mme. Petrick, which are wanted in 

 bloom from Thanksgiving to Christmas, 

 should go into a warm, moist house at 

 once and be kept freely syringed. All 

 others should be kept as cool as possi- 

 ble. Anything short of actual freezing 

 will suit them. 



Stevias. 



While stevias are tender and easily 

 injured by frost, they, on the other 

 hand, cannot tolerate a warm green- 

 house, and flowers grown in a high 

 temperature are vastly inferior to such 



as are opened in a cold house. This 

 flower, while common and cheap, is al- 

 most indispensable to the country flo- 

 rist in bouquets, wreaths and in fact all 

 work, and it is best to move a batch of 

 plants into a temperature of 50 degrees 

 every week, moving to cooler quarters 

 when , opening, in order to keep ui> a 

 regular supply until February. 



Erica Melanthera. 



There are few more valuable haiil- 

 wooded plants than Erica melanthera. 

 While it may be had in flower at 

 Thanksgiving, or even eaijier, it may 

 easily be held until Easter unless the 

 latter festival comes unusually late. 

 Plants kept in pots all summer will 

 flower a little earlier than such as were 

 planted out and potteil up before the 

 advent of frost, although a few degrees 

 of frost do not harm these ericas at all. 

 Ericas, lik§ acacias, dislike a warm 

 house and are best grown cool, but in 

 order to forward plants a little some of 

 the more advanced can be given :i 

 sunny, airy house with a minimum tem- 

 perature of 50 degrees. Do not spray 

 them overhead, as suggested for azaleas, 

 and be sure that they are ne\er alloweil 

 to lieeome- dry at the root. 



Berried Plants. 



it is always easy to color up tlie 

 berries on tlie Jerusalem cherries, 

 Solanum Capsicastrum, by the middle of 

 November, and by keeping the plants 

 cool they will be in fine shape for 

 Christmas. Christmas peppers, if not 

 yet well colored, should be given ;•• 

 warm, sunny house, and the same ap- 

 plies to the slow growing but beauti- 

 ful and popular ardisias. These latter 

 plants, unless they have the berries 

 well ripened, will never sell at the holi 

 days, and of course at any other season 

 thev are little in demand. Therefore, 



if they seem backward, give them more 

 heat now rather than try to force them 

 just prior to the time they are needed. 



, Small Ferns. 



It hardly pays the average small 

 grower to raise his ferns from spores 

 as they can be bought so cheaply from 

 a number of large specialists, and if a 

 good stock for the winter has not yet 

 been purchased, order the same now 

 before cold weather arrives, so that you 

 will have an ample supply when youi 

 customers want their fern dishes replen 

 ished. A few good ferns for dishes are: 

 Aspidium Tsussimense, Cyrtomium fal 

 catum, Pteris Mayii, P. magnifica, P. 

 Wimsetti, P. serrulata cristata, P. Wil 

 soni, Adiantum cuneatum, A. Crowea 

 num and some of the small davallias. 



Calceolarias. 



More rapid growth will now be no 

 ticed on those popular spring flowerinj; 

 plants, the calceolarias. You can 

 scarcely grow them too cool; 40 to 4r) 

 degrees at night is quite warm enough, 

 and nothing beats a coldframe for some 

 time yet, if the necessary mats, etc., are 

 convenient for using on frosty nights. 

 Never attempt to grow these in a warm 

 house, or they will speedily become weak 

 and sickly and the prey of their arch 

 enemy, green aphis. Use a light com 

 post when potting. One containing 

 half loam and flaky leaf-mold, with a 

 little old cow manure and sand added, 

 will suit young plants. The leaf-mold 

 can be reduced and more cow manure 

 used at the final potting. Spray the 

 plants over on the mornings of cleai 

 days and let them have the full sun 

 from this time on. For green aphis 

 spray or fumigate once a week. I like 

 spraying the best. 



Coreopsis. 



For spring flowering, particularly for 

 use at Memorial day, Coreopsis grand 

 iflora is useful. Plants which can be 

 dug up and potted now, or placed sev 

 eral together in deep boxes, grown cool 

 until after Christmas and then placed 

 in a temperature of 50 degrees and 

 treated about the same as Canterbury 

 bells, will give a surprising quantity of 

 good, long-stemmed flowers, which will 

 be found useful in bouquet work. Use 

 fairly large pots, nothing less than S 

 inch,' and 9-inch or 10-inch are better 

 if the plants are large. They are strong 

 growers and feeders, and small pots, 

 while they may support them, dry otit 

 too quickly and give shorter stems. 



Schizanthus Wisetonensis. 



Jn tlie rush of other duties, do nut 



Qaude Visley't Place at Murphysboro, III. 



