22 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



May 19, 1910. 



ding plants, are far better in the hotbeds 

 than in the greenhouses, giving plenty of 

 room for the spreading out of fine gera- 

 niums, cannas and caladiums. 



Bedding plants are all soft-Mooded and 

 •while they rest largely, or can be just 

 kept slowly growing during winter, they 

 feel the suns of spring and must have 

 attention when it is needed or it is too 

 late. How often you heai" the remark : 

 "No, I am short on this or that. Was 

 too busy and neglected them." This at- 



you should put down in your daybook 

 just how many plants of each variety it 

 took to fill the different beds. Then, if 

 the customer orders the bed filled with 

 geraniums again next year you will refer 

 to the charge of last year and find that it 

 took a certain number of plants to do 

 the job. "Whether you plant the same 

 or vary it, you will know exactly how 

 many are needed. Again, one is asked a 

 hundred times this question : "I have 

 a floAver bed eight feet across. How 



A View of the Flower Show at the Brussels Exposition. 



tention is only close application and good 

 management. Having sufficient help at 

 the right time, and setting the men at 

 the work most suite(i to them, is the 

 very best of good management. One 

 would have hard work to suggest a busi- 

 ness where neglect to do work at the 

 proper time will bring about worse re- 

 sults. 



Half the success with bedding plants 

 depends upon the planting out. Those 

 •who do much of this work charge noth- 

 ing for planting if the bed is dug and 

 prepared and the plants to fill it amount 

 to, say, $5 or more. If not prepared 

 they charge for labor, manure, etc. The 

 florist who is trying to give results always 

 prefers to plant Avhere there is no gar- 

 dener kept, for then it is properly done. 

 Sufficient plants are put in to make a 

 good appearance. If the bed looks skimpy, 

 you don 't want it to be known that 

 they were your plants, and you will per- 

 haps get tiie blame for poor general ef- 

 fect, for there are plenty of unreason- 

 able people about. 



Good planters arrange the plants .care- 

 fully, just placing them in the holes, but 

 not filling in the soil, and then when all 

 are in place give each plant a good soak- 

 ing and in a few minutes fill in witii 

 the dry soil. That watering is worth 

 ten applied on the surface. Tell your 

 customers that cannas and caladiums can 

 be soaked every dry evening, but that 

 geraniums and beds of coleus and almost 

 everything else should be left alone ex- 

 cept in dry times, when a thorough soak- 

 ing should be given once a week, fol- 

 lowed by a hoeing the next morning if 

 the plants are not touching each other. 



In charging for the bedding plants, 



many geraniums will it take to fill it?" 

 Planters generally reckon ten inches 

 apart for 4^inch geraniums, about nine 

 inches f(fr coleus, fifteen inches for can- 

 nas and caladiums. You can have a 

 card Avith the sizes of the beds and quan- 

 tities needed all made out, so that you 

 can give an ansAver in a few minutes, 

 Avliereas, if you do not haAe the thing fig- 



ured out you will have to do a sum ir 

 mathematics while somebody else is wait- 

 ing for an interview. 



BRUSSELS EXPOSITION. 



From Haarlem's paradise of flowers I 

 Avent on to Brussels, and here another 

 feast of flowers was in store. The horti- 

 cultural section is part of the great inter- 

 national industrial exhibition in Brussels, 

 Avhich runs from May to October, and, to 

 the credit of horticulture, the flower ex- 

 hibition was the only complete section in 

 the great area devoted to the products 

 of nations. The grounds around the half- 

 finished buildings were in a state of dis- 

 order, and, in spite of the activity on all 

 sides, it will be well into June before 

 everything is shipshape. Horticulturists, 

 however, were hard pressed to get their 

 exhibits staged on time, owing to the 

 general confusion, but the . jury com- 

 menced business only an hour or so late, 

 Avith M. Truffaut, from Paris, as presi- 

 dent, "and "W. Watson, of Kew, England, 

 and Arthur De Smet, Ghent, Belgium, as 

 vice-presidents. 



The display was characterized by a 

 most artistic arrangement of groups of 

 plants and floAvers, all of the highest 

 merit, especially the orchids, lilacs, carna- 

 tions and azaleas. In orchids, Ch. Vuyl- 

 stehe, Loochristy, was awarded three gold 

 medals; in hybrid odontoglossums he is 

 unassailable. Ch. Dietrich was awarded 

 a gold medal for a pretty collection of 

 cattleyas, miltonias and odontoglossums. 

 Ch. Maron, from Brunsy, France, re- 

 ceived a similar aAvard. In the same sec- 

 tion gold medals were aAvarded to Stuart 

 LoAA- & Co., Bush Hill Park, England, and 

 ro Charlesworth & Co., Haywards Heath, 

 England. 



The best carnations were from English 

 exhibitors, namely: C. Engelmann, Saf- 

 fron Walden, who received a large gold 

 medal for a magnificent group of splendid 

 blooms, and Stuart Low & Co., who were 

 aAvarded a gold medal for a smaller group. 



Naturally, azaleas Averte an important 

 feature. Ch. Vuylstehe again came to 

 the front with nicely flowered specimens, 

 and August Haerens, Somergem, had a 

 most extensive exhibit. "Lady Eoosevelt, 



Exhibit of Plants by Vilmorin-Andrieux & G)., Paris, at Brussels Exposition. 



