16 



The Florists' Review 



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Allamandas. 



Allamandas which have been kept tol- 

 erably dry for the last eight or ten 

 weeks will now have dropped about all 

 their foliage and will have their wood 

 well ripened. A. Williamsi, which is 

 the most useful variety for pot culture, 

 succeeds well in a temperature of 60 

 degrees at night and is particularly 

 useful during the summer months, when 

 choice flowering plants in pots are not 

 numerous. All that some plants may 

 need will be an overhauling of the 

 drainage, a removal of the surface soil 

 and a good top-dressing. In other cases 

 it may be necessary to pick the balls over 

 with a pointed stick and remove most of 

 the soil. This will permit their being 

 started in smaller pots, giving them a 

 shift when these are well filled with 

 roots. Prune the plants back moder- 

 ately a few days before repotting them. 



Large plants in pots or tubs, or such 

 as are planted out for covering roofs of 

 greenhouses, should also now be pruned 

 and given a liberal top-dressing of 

 fibrous loam, bone and dried cqw 

 manure. While allamandas are looked 

 upon as true tropical plants, they can 

 be well grown in an ordinary green- 

 house, and flowers produced in these are 

 even finer than those seen in the hot, 

 humid stove houses. 



Schizanthus. 



That beautiful annual, schizanthus, 

 makes its finest display in March and 

 April of each year. It must have at all 

 times a cool and airy house, and, be- 

 fore being moved into the flowering 

 sized pots, should not get at all pot- 

 bound. If grown cool and in a light 

 house, comparatively little staking will 

 be needed, but such as is required must 

 be done before the shoots become bent 

 or broken. In addition to their value 

 as pot plants, schizanthus are splendid 

 for cutting, the beautiful, orchid-like 

 flowers having splendid keeping quali- 

 ties, and for table centerpieces it would 

 be difficult to find anything more beau- 

 tiful. Our first lot of schizanthus are 

 now in full flower, and they are useful. 

 A late sowing has just been made; these 

 will not flower until May, but even if 

 they do not come along until Memorial 

 day they will prove useful. When well 

 established in flowering pots schizan- 

 thus must have copious water supplies 

 and liquid manure at least once a week 

 in addition. 



Mignonette. 



At this season mignonette produces 

 its finest spikes. Considerable care 

 should be taken to disbud the shoots so 

 as to ensure strictly first-class flowers. 

 With the increasing sunlight we are 

 now enjoying, beds and benches dry out 

 a little better and there is a perceptible 

 quickening in growth. It is well to en- 

 courage the plants now, either with a 

 top-dressing of sheep or cow manure, or 

 with an application of liquid manure 

 once in ten days. The plants must have 

 a good water supply, as mignonette will 

 not tolerate anything approaching dry- 



3 



ness at the root. It is w«ll to save seed 

 from one or two extra fine stalks. Keep 

 the night temperature low; 40 to 42 

 degrees at night is ample. 



Shamrocks. 

 The seedling shamrocks should now 

 be of sufficient size to pot off singly. 

 They sell specially well in small pots; 

 what are generally termed thimble pots 

 and small thumb pots are popular sizes. 

 They are also good sellers in little pans, 

 in which several plants can be placed. 

 Shamrocks want a tolerably cool house; 

 45 degrees is sufficient. Use care in 

 damping them overhead; also avoid cold 

 draughts, for they are susceptible to at- 

 tacks of mildew, and affected plants 

 are, of course, practically useless. 



Sweet-Scented Verbenas. 

 When busy with propagation do not 

 overlook the ever popular sweet-scented 

 verbenas. Old plants which have been 

 resting in a cool house can be placed in 

 heat, freely syringed, but not given 

 much water at the root, and they will 

 soon give a nice crop of cuttings, which 

 should be rubbed off with heels and 

 placed in a propagating bench where 

 there is a steady bottom heat of 75 to 



80 degrees. Under such conditions a 

 large part of the cuttings should root, 

 and if potted off, kept pinched and later 

 repotted, they will make excellent stock 

 for May sales. 



Heliotropes. 



Be sure to get a good stock of that 

 beautiful bedding plant, the heliotrope. 

 It roots quickly in a warm cutting 

 bench, and from stock propagated now, 

 fine, bushy plants in 4-inch pots can be 

 ready for May sales. Standard helio- 

 tropes are always attractive while in 

 flower. Those wanted for Easter should 

 be pinched until February 15; then let 

 the flowers appear. If not needed until 

 Memorial day, continue pinching up to 

 within five weeks of that date. Seedling 

 heliotropes possess greater vigor than 

 those raised from cuttings, and make 

 the finest standards. Last year small 

 standard heliotropes in 6-inch pots met 

 with a remarkably good sale at Easter. 



Scented Geraniums. 



In common with scented verbenas, the 

 sweet-scented geraniums are popular. If 

 an ample stock was propagated in fall, 

 well and good. If this was not done, 

 however, it is not too late to place a 

 good batch of cuttings in the sand. 

 These root easily and will make nice, 

 salable plants before the middle of 

 May. Scented geranium shoots are in 

 demand in winter, and anyone possess- 

 ing plants with good shoots can sell 

 them easily. Some varieties of scented- 

 leaved geraniums root less readily from 

 shoots than others, and it will be found 

 that propagation by means of pieces of 

 root is quite effective. 



CABING FOR YOUNG PLANTS. 



If you have followed our early sug- 

 gestions you have potted all your cut- 

 tings, up to this time, into 2-inch pots, 

 with a view to shifting them into 2%- 

 inch pots in March. After February 20 

 I would suggest that you pot right into 

 the 2 1^ -inch size from the. cutting bed, 

 providing the cuttings are strong and 

 well rooted. 



You will soon be getting busy "tpith 

 your spring bedding plants, if you do 

 anything in that line, but do not allow 

 it to cause you to neglect your young 

 carnation plants. Give them a light 

 bench, where there is n6 drip. Always 

 keep in mind that these young plants 

 will be your blooming stock next sea- 

 son; therefore the best of care should 

 be given them all the time. With the 

 early planting practiced these days, 

 only first-class young plants stand a 

 chance of growing into first-grade 

 plants by benching time. 



After they have been potted a few 

 weeks, stand them over, pulling any 

 weeds that may have started and 

 picking off any bad leaves that may 

 be on them. Top any that have begun 

 to run up, before they show the buds. 

 If you have a separate house for your 

 young stock, give them a temperature 



of about 48 to 50 degrees. They will 

 do quite well, however, in the same 

 houses with the blooming stock; only 

 do not make the mistake of jerking the 

 plants out of the poorest growing bench 

 on the place, to make room for the 

 young plants. The best bench on the 

 place is where they belong. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



PLANTING A NEW HOUSE. 



I have a new greenhouse, 30x100, 

 which I wish to plant with carnations 

 next July. How many plants will be 

 needed to fill the house and how far 

 apart should they be planted? Please 

 tell me, also, how many blooms I should 

 be able to cut from them. The varieties 

 are White Wonder, Victory, Mrs. C. W. 

 Ward and Enchantress. J. G. 



You do not give the width of your 

 benches, so I cannot estimate how many 

 plants your house will hold. We plant 

 seven plants across a 5-foot bed and 

 set the rows ten inches apart, unless the 

 plants are extremely large, in which 

 case we set the rows twelve inches 

 apart. Planted in this way; — that is, 

 with the rows ten inches apart — a 5-foot 

 bench, 100 feet long, will hold 840 

 plants. Victory can oe planted more 

 closely, unless the plants are unusually 

 large for that variety. Figuring eight 



