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Dbcembeb 7, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



27 



\ SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Qeuistas. 



While genistas sell particularly well 

 at Easter, it is a good idea to start a 

 few plants from time to time. They 

 will make a welcome addition to the 

 list of flowering plants in midwinter. 

 Do not attempt to force them. A 

 night temperature of 48 to 50 degrees 

 will bring them along nicely. In order 

 to get a good stock of young plants 

 for another season, place a good batch 

 of cuttings, rubbed off with a heel, in 

 a propagating bench. If carnations 

 will root in it the genistas will do 

 equally well. In addition to genistas, 

 also put in some cuttings of such ericas 

 as melanthera, caffra densa, gracilis 

 and hyemalis. Eub these off with a 

 heel. It takes them much longer to 

 root than genistas, but if not allowed 

 to get dry at the root or exposed to 

 sunshine, a small percentage only should 

 fail to root. They propagate more 

 easily during the coldest months of the 

 year. 



Christmas Azaleas. 



Coming, as they do, so close to- 

 gether this season, any unsold azaleas 

 from Thanksgiving can easily bo held 

 until Christmas in a cool house. The 

 call for the bright-colored dwarf varie- 

 ^es, Hexe and Mme. Petrick, is strong 

 For the holidays, and even if these only 

 have a few flowers open they will sell. 

 Give these and any other Christmas 

 azaleas a brisk heat and frequent 

 syringings. "While Deutsche Perle is 

 always in some demand and can be 

 flowered with little forcing, it is the 

 colored varieties that take the lead at 

 Christmas. 



Lilies. 



Harrisii lilies intended for Christmas 

 should have a night temperature of 

 65 degrees and the plants are benefited 

 by being sprayed over frequently in 

 clear weather. The use of tepid water 

 is generally advised for all plants be- 

 ing forced hard, but the writer's per- 

 sonal experience has been that it makes 

 little difference whether the water has 

 a temperature of 40 degrees or 80 de- 

 grees. The same holds good with 

 regard to cutting benches. Some as- 

 sert that for tropical plants warm water 

 is necessary, but I have always had 

 just as good results from the use of 

 water direct from the faucet a? when 

 it has been stored in a barrel and 

 warmed. Cold storage longiflorums are 

 in fair demand at Christmas. This 

 holiday runs largely on colored flowers, 

 but there is always some call for lilies. 

 Plenty of water, heat and atmospheric 

 moisture are requisite for these winter 

 flowering lilies. 



Lilies for Easter all should have been 

 potted before this time. If any longi- 

 florums are still out of the soil, loss no 

 time in getting them under way. This 

 lily likes heat all the time. As it is 

 now late for potting, any of these lag- 

 gards should go into a shed or house 



with a temperature of 55 degrees or 

 60 degrees from the start. Eemember 

 that Easter comes early in 1912, and 

 to have plants on time it should be 

 possible to see and count the buds on 

 or about February 25, which would 

 be six weeks before Easter. This is 

 none too much time to allow in an aver- 

 age night temperature of 60 degrees. 

 Stand any of the longiflorums on the 

 bench when they are first through the 

 soil and grow them warm. It is much 

 better to have the plants a little on 

 the early side than to subject them to 

 hard forcing near Easter. 



Lilium speciosum and auratum are 

 now to hand and should be potted at 

 once. These do best in fair sized pots, 

 the speciosums three to four bulbs in an 

 8-inch pot and the auratums in 10-inch 

 pots. Cover the bulbs well and store in 

 a cool cellar rather than under a green- 

 house bench until they are well rooted, 

 with the shoots pushing through. Any 

 wanted for outside planting, which frost 

 in the ground may prevent the setting 

 out of now, can go singly in 5-inch or 

 6-inch pots, according to the size of the 

 bulb, and be, set out quite deeply when 

 the ground has thawed out in spring. 

 L. speciosum from cold storage bulbs 

 are acceptable Christmas flowers, espe- 

 cially the varieties rubrum and Mel- 

 pomene. These, if potted in July, will 

 now be flowering. They are better 



grown fairly cool, at 50 degrees night 

 temperature. The flowers are much 

 firmer than when hard forced and come 

 also of a better color. 



Dutch Bulbous Stock. 



The earliest lot of Golden Spurs and 

 Trumpet Majors should now be in heat. 

 Some of these may flower for Christmas, 

 but it does not pay to force these hard 

 in an effort to flower theifr. -A tempera- 

 ture of 55 degrees at night is better 

 than one 5 degrees to 10 degrees higher, 

 as in it the flowers will be longer and 

 of greater substance. The French bulbs 

 of Golden Spur, Emperor and Trumpet 

 Major are earlier than the Dutch and, 

 while somewhat shorter stemmed, can 

 be bloomed without trouble for Christ- 

 mas. A batch of that excellent forcing 

 tulip. La Eeine, and a few of Yellow 

 Prince, should be taken in at once. 

 Keep them in a warm but dark place 

 until the shoots are well drawn up. 

 Treated similarly to lily of the vailey 

 they do well, only they are better with- 

 out bottom heat. 



Amaryllis. 



As the amaryllises will now have lost 

 jiiost of their foliage, they can be laid 

 on their sides in a temperature of 45 

 degrees to 50 degrees. A few will 

 probably be already showing spikes. 

 These should be repotted when neces- 

 sary, using a compost of fibrous loam 

 and dried cow manure, with a little sand 

 and fine bone added. Many plants will 

 not need an annual repotting, but if the 

 drainage is seen to be all right and a 

 good top-dressing is given they can, with 

 the aid of liquid manures, be kept in 

 good growing condition. In starting 

 plants a little bottom heat is an advan- 

 tage and water should be applied a lit- 

 tle sparingly until spikes and leaves 

 show. A temperature of 55 degrees to 

 60 degrees at night is suitable. 



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I 



FORCING THE 

 i«^^^== BEST LILACS 



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DIRECTIONS OF A SPECIALIST. 



Preparing the Plants. 



Before a lilac can be forced into 

 bloom it wants a period of rest. The 

 plants, when grown in pots, go into a 

 dormant state about the latter part of 

 October. A well grown lilac differs 

 from a poorly grown one not always by 

 its larger number or the thickness of its 

 branches. Both plants may look almost 

 alike. Sometimes the shape and ap- 

 pearance are in favor of the badly 

 grown one. The chief value lies in the 

 way they are treated daring the sum- 

 mer. They should be grown in such a 

 way that they go into the dormant 

 state early and yet have stored sufli- 

 cient nourishment to feed a full sized 

 flower. It is easy to grow a nice look- 

 ing lilac, but hard to grow an easy 

 flowering one. If the roots are allowed 

 to grow over the pots they make a 

 strong growth and a field of lilacs 

 grown in this way looks healthy and 



fine as a rule, but their value for forc- 

 ing is doubtful. 



When the lilac plant goes into a dor- 

 mant state in October nature has not 

 yet fulfilled its task. Although the su- 

 perficial observer sees nothing uncom- 

 mon on the buds, inside of them there 

 goes on a number of chemical processes 

 that make them ready for the coming 

 spring. Not before the buds are fully 

 prepared can a full sized flower be pro- 

 duced. Before the plants should be 

 forced into flower it is necessary that 

 the period of rest is sufficiently ad- 

 vanced. That is why a plant forced in 

 January or February forces easier and 

 gives better results than when forced 

 in December. 



Shortening the Best Period. 



To shorten this period of rest, freez- 

 ing, hot water treatment or etherizing 

 are applied with good results. Plants 

 that have been exposed to frost have 

 their period of rest shortened. For this 

 reason it is advisable to heel the plants 



