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The Florists' Review 



Januabt 9, 1913. 



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129 



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^ SEASONABLE 



i ^ SUGGESTIONS j 



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OladioU. 



Such gladioli as America, Mrs. ,F. 

 King, Augusta, Shakespeare, May and 

 others make a profitable spring crop in 

 benches. Do not make the mistake of 

 dibbling them in indiscriminately 

 among carnations and other plants. 

 Give them a bench to themselves, with 

 a good rose or mum soil to grow in. 

 Plant four inches apart in the rows 

 and let the rows be twelve to fifteen 

 inches apart. This will give them am- 

 ple space in which to grow. Do not 

 set out all your gladiolus bulbs at one 

 time, but plant in batches under glass 

 until the middle of March. This will 

 ensure a constant succession of flowers 

 from early April onward. In spite of 

 the introduction of quite a number of 

 new gladioli, none of them are as yet 

 of quite so pleasing a color as Amer- 

 ica, nor do they sell so well. If re- 

 stricted to but two sorts, the small 

 ^ower should take America and Au- 

 gusta. 



Acacias. 



Plants of Acacia armata, A. Drum- 

 anondii, A. Baileyana, A. pubescens 

 and others intended for Easter will 

 only require a cool house to bring them 

 into flower on time. Acacias are cool- 

 loving subjects and it is not advisable 

 to give them a winter temperature of 

 over 45 degrees at night. Before the 

 armatas start to make young growths, 

 take off a batch of cuttings and place 

 them in sand in a cool propagating 

 house. The majority will root and if 

 kept grown on, as is easily done, plants 

 equal in quality to any you can buy 

 will be produced. 



Canterbury Bells. 



Canterbury bells make beautiful pot 

 plants, and commercial growers as yet 

 do not half appreciate them.' What 

 grand subjects they are at Memorial 

 day! How fine they are for bunching 

 and what a lot of flowers they produce! 

 Easter comes too early this year to get 

 them in good bloom, but through the 

 spring, and in fact until they flower 

 naturally outdoors, they are of great 

 value. This reminds us that it is now 

 time to place a batch of plants in a 

 cool house to be coming along. Water 

 carefully during midwinter. Any ex- 

 cess of 'moisture on the center of the 

 crown or on the foliage is liable to 

 cause damping. 



Cinerarias. 



A few cinerarias appeared at Christ- 

 mas this year, puny little things, which 

 no one wanted. They are not a Christ- 

 mas plant. Their natural flowering 

 time is late winter, and the cooler and 

 airier they are grown, the better in 

 quality they will be. Any which still 

 need repotting should be overhauled 

 right away. Press the compost firmly 

 in the pots and leave a liberal space 

 for water. The soil for the final pot- 

 ting should be a liberal one, consisting 

 of about two-thirds fibrous loam and 

 one-third dried cow manure. A 4-inch 



pot of fine bone can be added to each 

 wheelbarrow load of compost. If 

 wanted for Easter, you cannot grow 

 your cinerarias too cool, and as the 

 sun will soon be a little strong for 

 them, give them a light shade to pre- 

 vent wilting. 



Rambler Boses. 



Our first lot of ramblers, housed at 

 Christmas, are just starting to break. 

 These are intended for Easter, the time 

 when pot roses are in heavy demand. 

 At present a temperature of 48 to iiO 

 degrees at night is better for them than 

 a higher one, but with the growths well 

 started it can be raised 5 to 10 degrees* 

 with advantage. Syringe only on the 

 mornings of clear days, so that the 

 foliage will dry out before nightfall, 

 and be careful to avoid cold draughts, 

 which would soon cause mildew to put 

 in an appearance. Dust the plants 

 with flowers of sulphur on its first ap- 

 pearance and paint a little on the steam 

 pipes in addition. 



Spiraeas. 



Such popular varieties of spiraea as 

 astilboides floribunda, Gladstone and 



THE EVERY-DAY WORK. 



Propagating. 



After the turn of the year the plants 

 begin to grow more freely and will 

 stand additional feeding and watering. 

 Although for a time not much differ- 

 ence can be noted in the length of the 

 days, yet the tendency is in the right 

 direction and the worst of the rose 

 growers' trials may be said to be over 

 for another season. It will no longer 

 be necessary to watch every bit of wood 

 taken off the plants and they can be 

 given a good clean-out and started up 

 afresh. As a rule, however, at this 

 time of year every bit of wood that can 

 be spared is needed for propagating, for 

 there is nothing like early plants for 

 success. 



The first thing necessary in success- 



grandiflora, if not yet potted and placed 

 in heat, should be attended to now. 

 You can flower these in eight to ten 

 weeks. The shorter period, however, 

 means continuous hard forcing. It is 

 better to allow ten weeks, which will 

 permit the opening of the spikes in a 

 somewhat lower temperature. The 

 plants then will not suffer when re- 

 moved to a cool flower store or even if 

 stood outdoors, as is frequently done. 

 The plants stand quite hard forcing. 

 Care should at all times be taken 

 to keep them constantly moist at the 

 root, also to go lightly on fumigating 

 where they are growing. 



Lorraine and Cincinnati Begonias. 



It is time now to start propagating 

 begonias from leaf cuttings. A cutting 

 bench with a good bottom heat and 

 with perfect drainage should be used. 

 Select well ripened leaves; others are 

 of no value. I like to cut off a piece of 

 the leaf stalk. Do not soak every day 

 with water, or you may lose many by 

 damping. As between Lorraine and 

 Cincinnati, there is now a pretty gen- 

 eral consensus of opinion that the lat- 

 ter will assuredly displace the former. 

 It is a better grower, makes a more 

 graceful plant and is much superior to 

 the older variety as a house plant. 

 It also sells at a higher price in the 

 markets; reports from several cities 

 state that it was hard to sell Lorraine 

 in competition with Cincinnati. The 

 latter, therefore, is the variety for flo- 

 rists to grow most heavily for Thanks- 

 giving and Christmas, 1913. 



ful propagating is a clean bench. The 

 old sand must be removed, if this is not 

 already done, and the whole of the 

 woodwork must be thoroughly white- 

 limed, using fresh, hot lime. This will 

 kill all insect life and remove all traces 

 of the damping-off fungus that is so 

 dangerous in the propagating house. 

 Then have the joints of the bottom 

 boards covered with lath, to prevent 

 the sand from falling through, and fill 

 in with three inches of clean sand. The 

 sand should be firmly rammed and lev- 

 eled and it is then ready for the cut- 

 tings. Have a bed or a portion of a 

 bed always ready in this way, and then 

 any wood that can be spared from the 

 plants can be cut up into cuttings and 

 rooted. 



Temperature for Propagating. 



The proper temperature for rose cut- 

 tings to root in is a few degrees higher 

 than that in which they have been 

 growing. Thus, if the night tempera- 

 ture of the house has been 60 degrees, 

 give them a bottom heat of 65 to 70 

 degrees and keep the tops cool and 

 shaded. This gives them an impulse to 



