'f»WW»»^pe?siJPI1!!5R«V!J'iiiJ H\, ^ 



Febbuabt 1, 1912. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



15 



used for some weeks prior to that time. 

 Do not give them a warm house; the 

 cooler they are grown, the better. The 

 absolute maximum night temperature 

 should be 50 degrees. If cuttings have 

 not yet been put in, place a batch in 

 the sand now. The small side shoots, 

 rubbed off with a heel, are the best and 

 root more quickly than those cut 

 through with a knife. They root read- 

 ily in a carnation cutting bench. 



Spiraeas. 



The Easter spiraeas, or astilbes, 

 should now be placed in a warm house. 

 If they have been potted up for some 

 time they will have made quite a few 

 roots, even in a cold pit, and will now 

 start into growth quickly when given 

 heat and moisture. The old S. Japonica, 

 as a pot plant, is now almost entirely 

 superseded by the improved forms, such 

 as Gladstone, astilboides floribunda and 

 grandiflora. These take a few days 

 longer to force into flower than S. Japo- 

 nica. Queen Alexandra, while it can be 

 forced into flower for Easter, is never 

 seen in its best condition so early. It 

 will pay much better to hold it for Me- 

 morial day trade, when its flowers real- 

 ize double the price of the white varie- 

 ties. All these spiraeas enjoy heat, mois- 

 ture at the root, feeding when once pot- 

 bound, and as the foliage is easily 

 scorched be sure to go lightly on fumi- 

 gating where they are growing. 



Bhododendrons. 



Any rhododendrons intended for 

 Easter should now be placed in a cool 

 house and allowed to develop slowly. 

 This is a much better policy than giv- 

 ing them a sweltering heat and copious 

 syringings. Of course, they can be 

 forced open under a few weeks of this 

 treatment, but the flowers have no stay- 

 ing qualities. The new varieties. Pink 

 Pearl and White Pearl, while rather 

 high priced yet, are the best sellers in 

 the market at Easter to critical cus- 

 tomers. 



Azaleas. 



The Easter azaleas need not be sub- 

 jected to any real forcing yet. They are 

 better, however, in a night temperature 

 of 45 to 50 degrees, in which the bulk 

 of them will flower on time. Any which 

 seem a little backward a month hence 

 can be given a warm house, where they 

 can be freely syringed and pushed 

 along. 



Azalea Mollis. 



The beautiful Azalea mollis is a good 

 seller, not alone at Easter, but for many 

 weeks before that date. There are few 

 plants which make a store window look 

 more attractive than Azalea mollis in 

 its exquisite shades of color. At this 

 season it does not take over five weeks 

 to force it into flower, and anyone who 

 has a demand for nice flowering plants 

 should place a few in heat weekly. For 

 Easter it is early yet to start the plants, 

 unless they are placed in a moderately 

 cool house. It is much better to de- 

 velop the flowers in a rather cool house, 

 as they will then have a great deal 

 more substance. 



Lorraine Begonias. 



Lorraine begonias which were headed 

 back after the Christmas holidays and 

 have been kept in a warm house are 

 now giving a good crop of cuttings. 

 These should be placed in the propagat- 

 ing bench once a week. Of course, there 

 are still several months left in which to 



A St. Valentine's Day Basket ot White Lilac. 



root these popular winter flowering be- 

 gonias. Cuttings rooted even as late 

 as early July will make nice little 

 plants. Such as are rooted this early 

 can be grown along to specimen sizes, 

 if so desired. Do not overlook the 

 newer Glory of Cincinnati, which is go- 

 ing to give Lorraine a much closer rub 

 for popularity as it becomes better 

 known. 



Lilacs. 



For Easter it is possible to start 

 lilacs March 1 and flower them in four" or 

 five weeks. A far better plan, however, 

 is to place the plants in a cool house 

 now and allow them to develop more 

 gradually. Treated thus they will have 

 excellent foliage and the flower trusses 

 will be firm and of a texture impossible 

 in hard forced plants. The cool plants 

 look better and are not wilted down, as 

 are those which it has been necessary 

 to rush into flower within a month. At 

 this season, when cut lilacs are in de- 

 mand rather more than the plants, a 

 warm, dark cellar can be used until the 

 flower trusses are half grown. Then 

 gradually move them to light, or they 

 will be soft. Charles X, Marie Legraye 



and Mme. Lemoine are three excellent 

 forcing varieties. 



Acacias. 



Acacias are popular' Easter plants. 

 They should never be placed in a warm 

 house, being like ericas, purely cold 

 house subjects. It is generally unneces- 

 sary to attempt to forward the flowering 

 of any of these for Easter, unless it 

 comes unusually early, as will be the 

 case in 1913. The variety most in evi- 

 dence at the stores is A. armata, also 

 called paradoxa. This may even need a 

 little retarding to keep it in good shape, 

 for once the little circular flowers start 

 to turn brown, the plants are to a large 

 degree rendered unsalable. Cuttings 

 of A. armata can now be rooted in sand 

 in a cool house. There is no trouble in 

 rooting this variety, and in two or three 

 years they will make nice salable plants. 



Burlington, Vt. — John Wilson has 

 been elected chairman of the board of 

 commissioners having charge of the 

 three cemeteries and will no doubt do 

 much to beautify these peaceful rest- 

 ing places. 



