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12 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JANDABY 25, 1912. 



HEINIi'S FOmSETTIAS. 



I see in The Review for January 4 

 a house of poinsettias. I had a house 

 30x100. with four benches, with 3,300 

 poinsettias, but when the picture was 

 taken the two outside benches were 

 mostly cut. "We had quite a lot of 



traveling men who saw them and said 

 they were as even and good size as 

 they ever had seen. I wholesaled them 

 all in Toledo, except a few going to 

 Chicago. I also had an extra nice lot 

 in pans, which sold well. 



Harry Heinl. 



SEASONABLE NOTES. 



Temperatures. 



We are now at the coldest period of 

 the year and the minimum tempera- 

 tures should be at their lowest level 

 for the year. Many plants now are or 

 should be resting, and it is a great mis- 

 take to maintain high night tempera- 

 tures, which excite the plants and are 

 liable to start premature and weak 

 growths. With hot water heat, the 

 danger is less than with steam. The 

 steam is productive of a more arid 

 atmosphere, and it is doubtful whether 

 it grows orchids as satisfactorily as 

 hot water. For cattleyas the minimum 

 should not go over 55 degrees for the 

 next six weeks, and a drop to even 50 

 degrees on severe mornings will do no 

 harm and is vastly better than finding 

 the temperature at 58 or 60 degrees 

 and a pronounced smell of fire heat in 

 the house. Cypripediums should have 

 a night temperature of 58 to 6ff de- 

 grees. The insigne, Leeanum and other 

 such sections should have the cool end 

 of the house, and a drop to 50 de- 

 grees will be all right for them. With 

 cypripediums, care should be taken to 

 counteract the drying influence of fire 

 heat by damping the floors, below the 

 benches and between the pots thor- 

 oughly at least twice a day. 



Phalsenopsis enjoy heat probably as 

 much as any orchids. Yet, even for 

 them, 60 degrees is sufficient on cold 

 nights. This applies to other orchids 

 of East Indian origin. Vanda cserulea 

 is better at 50 degrees, while such on- 

 cidiums as varicosum Rogersii, ornithor- 

 hynchum, crispum, tigrinum, flexuosum, 

 splendidum and Forbesii are sufficiently 

 warm in a similar temperature. Den- 

 drobiums of the white section and hy- 

 brids at rest do not require over 45 de- 

 grees if kept dry, but those started 

 and nearing the flowering stage require 

 10 degrees more heat. With all or- 

 chids, as, indeed, with all greenhouse 

 plants, avoid high night temperatures 

 as ruinous, and it is far better to have 

 the houses a few degrees below the 

 regular readings than above them. 



Cleaning the Plants. 



There is more time now than at any 

 other period of the year to sponge the 

 plants, and every spare moment is well 

 spent at this work. With cypripediums,- 



phalaenopsis, coelogynes, miltonias, odon- 

 toglossums, dendrobiums and other 

 genera the sponge usually is the best 

 cleansing medium, using some fir tree 

 oil or other insecticide in the water. 

 With cattleyas, Iselio-cattleyas, laelias, 

 sophro-laelias and other varieties which 

 are more or less subject to the attacks 

 of scale, small brushes, such as tooth 

 brushes, and even pointed sticks are 

 necessary to cleanse the bulbs and 

 leaves thoroughly, especia^y the tons 

 of the bulbs where the sheaths have 

 been cut. In all these crevices scale 

 will find a congenial harbor and it is 

 a pest which spreads rapidly and soon 

 injures plants. After sponging, if the 

 cattleya growths are at all sprawly, 

 draw them up together with raffia. 

 This greatly improves their appearance 

 and allows the growing of far more 

 plants in a given space. 



Sbading. 



Except phalsenopsis, the leaves of 

 which are liable to receive injury from 

 even the winter sun and need a little 

 shade in the form of cheesecloth or a 

 light coat of whitening on the glass, 

 practically all orchids, until the mid- 

 dle of February, will stand the winter 

 sun and be benefited by it. Even cyp- 

 ripediums are more often than not 



grown too heavily shaded. The sun may 

 give their foliage a somewhat paler 

 hue, but the dark green color soon re- 

 turns when shade is given again. 

 Where batches of plants are in flower 

 the cooler end of the house should be 

 allotted to them, and here, of course, 

 some protection from the sun's rays 

 will be found necessary. 



Potting. 



The time is approaching when a 

 great deal of potting must be done 

 and an ample supply of osmunda fiber, 

 fibrous loam, fresh sphagnum and clean 

 crocks for drainage should be stored 

 ready for use, as well as all necessary 

 pots, pans and baskets. If time per- 

 mits, the baskets can just as well be 

 made on the place, using, of course, 

 some durable wood. There are, and of 

 course always will be, differences of 

 opinion as to whether baskets or pots 

 are best for many orchids. With cyp- 

 ripediums, pots or pans should always 

 be used, as also in the case of odon- 

 toglossums, oncidiums, miltonias, cal- 

 anthes, thunias, phaius, zygopetalums 

 cymbidiums and epidendrums. For van- 

 das, aerides, saccolabiums and angrae- 

 cums pans or pots are generally the 

 best to use, although Vanda ca;rulea, 

 V. Amesiana and V. Sanderiana suc- 

 ceed well in baskets hung near the 

 roof. Phalsenopsis like deep baskets; 

 dendrobiums, either pans of moderate 

 size or baskets. Cattleyas, Iselias and 

 these bigeneric hybrids do best in pots 

 or pans; not that splendid specimens 

 may not be grown and exhibited in 

 baskets, but the roots are under bet- 

 ter control in pots and pans and trade 

 growers will generally find them the 

 most satisfactory. 



Ventilation. 



Plants are like human beings in that 

 they require a constant supply of fresh 

 air to maintain them in good health. It 

 can be proved to an exactitude how 

 long a man can live in a room without 

 a supply of fresh air, by merely know- 

 ing the cubic contents of the room. 

 Plants may be less sensitive and harder 

 to kill, but to keep them in good con- 

 dition ventilation must never be 

 neglected. Cattleyas must have air. In 

 a warm, stuffy house they will send 

 their roots outside instead of inside 

 the pots. This means half shriveled 

 bulbs and poor sheaths. There is not 



Harry Hdnl't House of Poinsettias at Test Toledo, O. 



