12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



July 28, 1910. 



quickly with new soil, and plant with 

 young plants from the field. If you 

 have none of your own, then buy from 

 some reliable source. Get them planted 

 not later than September 1, and as 

 much earlier as you can. 



If you have no new soil put up, then 

 get some good soil which has been un- 



der cultivation, but not impoverished 

 too much for lack of manure Mix with 

 this one-fifth its bulk of well rotted 

 cattle or stably manure. Get this soil 

 mixed first, so that it can lie a short 

 time before you plant in it. 



A. F. J, B. 



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I 



SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Mignonette. 



The first week in August is suffi- 

 ciently early to make a sowing of mig- 

 nonette under glass. Mignonette wants 

 a low temperature, if strong spikes are 

 wanted. Solid beds are better than 

 raised benches, as in them the roots 

 are cooler and more uniformly moist. 

 If raised benches are used, there should 

 be no heating pipes below them. Some 

 of the finest batches of mignonette 

 ever seen were bench-grown in seven 

 inches of soil. Mignonette wants more 

 soil than carnations. It should not be 

 less than six inches and eight inches 

 would be better. The compost should be 

 quite rich; such as has been prepared 

 for the mum benches will answer well. 

 Make the surface fairly smooth. Sow 

 the seed in little patches, eighteen 

 inches between the rows and twelve 

 inches apart in the rows, thinning the 

 seedlings out to three of the strongest. 

 One is in reality sufficient, if strong 

 spikes are desired. 



The seedlings will soon appear and in 

 this hot weather it is not long before 

 they run up to flower. The first flower 

 would be of little value, so it is best 

 to pinch the plants back and get a 

 strong break from the bottom. By the 

 time these flower, we will be getting 

 colder weather and they will come of 

 steadily improving quality. First-class 

 ipignonette is only to be had, however, 

 in the cold months, February and March 

 being perhaps the best period. Mi- 

 gnonette wants a light, cool and airy 

 house. A night temperature as near 40 

 4egrees as possible in winter is what it 

 needs. Keep the soil around the little 

 piants constantly stirred and do not 

 allow weeds to get any foothold. 



Berried Solanums. 



The little plants of berried solanums 

 in the field are now growing along 

 nicely. Pinch the tops out of any 

 which seem to be running up too much. 

 The plants will require no special at- 

 tention dOring the next six weeks, but 

 keep the soil well stirred. Even in the 

 (Jriest weather" they will need no water 

 if a loose surface is maintained. So-,,, 

 lanums grown outdoors and lifted make 

 much bigger, heavier and better fruited 

 plants than can be had in pots. In ad- 

 dition, the latter method of culture en- 

 tails a lot of labor in watering in the 

 hot months, with plants not worth half 

 the money the lifted ones are. Try both 

 plans and you can easily satisfy your- 

 self as to which mode of culture is the 

 best. Solanums need not be lifted and 



potted before the early part of Sep- 

 tember. Kept shaded for a few days 

 and freely syringed, they speedily be- 

 come established. 



Ardisia Crenulata. 



It is a pity that that beautiful and 

 popular berried plant, Ardisia crenulata, 

 cannot be grown as quickly as the so- 

 lanums. Probably if it were its value 

 would quickly decline. The plants 

 make satisfactory headway in cold- 

 frames during the summer months, 



partly plunging the pots in fine i oal 

 ashes and spraying them freely. ^ 

 spray nozzle used once a week will 1 elp 

 to keep scale in check. Keep> seedli.gs 

 which have the pots well filled t ith 

 roots, shifted as they require it. Tiiey 

 like a compost containing two part^ of 

 loam to one part fibrous peat, adcing 

 a little cow manure, leaf -mold and S!;inl. 

 No matter whether in coldframes or 

 greenhouses, the ardieias should not 

 have a heavy shade. They should : Iso 

 be grown fairly warm, especially plnnts 

 of fruiting size wanted for Christinas. 

 It is necessary to have the berries veil 

 ripened for the holidays. No matter 

 how excellent plants you may have, 

 they will sell poorly if the berries are 

 not well colored. Seed can be sown 

 at any time and if it is desired to rnise 

 a fresh batch, gather some berries and 

 sow them at once. 



Asters. 



The latest batch of asters should now 

 be planted in the field, selecting if pos- 

 sible a cool, moist day for the work. 

 In spite of the continued hot and dry 

 weather, the early batches are looking 

 remarkably well, and now that carna- 

 tions are practically valueless, nice 

 aster flowers come in useful. It is not 

 possible to cultivate the plants too 

 freely. Once the soil is allowed to 

 bake, the plants in hot weather will 

 [Continued on pasre 3().] 



/ ' ^F. 





PIEBSON ON WHITE KIIiLAENEY. 



"We know of no better white rose," 

 is the way A. N. Pierson expresses his 

 opinion of "White Killarney. 



This reply was called out by the 

 statement published in The Eeview of 

 Juiy 14, to the effect that the A. N. 

 Pierson corporation "is not entirely 

 satisfied with White Killarney, and will 

 grow it less extensively the coming sea- 

 son. ' ' The fact is, Mr. Pierson is cut- 

 ting down the number of the white 

 sport and giving additional space for 

 the original variety, simply to make a 

 better balance of cut flower production 

 and noi because of any dissatisfaction 

 with White .Killarney. What W. R. 

 Pierson -says on the subject is of inter- 

 est: 



"We, .have sold during the past year 

 185,000 plants of White Killarney, and 

 we expect to sell White Killarney heav- 

 ily another year. We know of no bet- 

 ter white rose than White Killarney, 

 and we are growing no other white 

 with the exception of one bench of 

 Bride and a few Kaiserin. It is true 



that we are cutting down slightly on 

 White Killarney, but it is not because 

 we are dissatisfied with the rose. 



"Expecting a heavy stock businr^s 

 in White Killarney this last year, \' o 

 planted more White Killarney than \ve 

 would have planted under other con. i- 

 tions, in order to give us plenty of wo tl 

 to propagate. Our planting last y^ tr 

 consisted of 32,000 White Killarney a <^ 

 less than 30,000 Pink Killarney, ir 

 planting this year varies from this n 

 that we are planting 5,000 less Wh e 

 Killarney and about 8,000 more Pi '^ 

 Killarney, the change being made " 

 give us a better balance of color " 

 filling our orders for cut roses." 



Mr. Pierson 's special reason for wi 

 ing to have the matter correctly und ''■ 

 stood is this: 



"Two years ago, when White K '• 

 larney came out, we withdrew our o n 

 White Killarney, giving preference ^^ 

 the Waban strain, and we are growi' ? 

 the Waban strain exclusively, whi'li 

 originated at Natick. A great ma'Y 

 people might get an idea from the itf^'" 

 referred to, if not explained, that the 

 reason we were not entirely Batisfi^<i 

 with White Killarney was due to tlie 

 fact that we had perhaps some of o'lr 

 own White Killarney that we consi<l- 

 ered inferior to the Waban stock." 



