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Mauc;h 18, 1900. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



13 



Bench of Cyclamens Grown by Christ. Winteri. b, Defiance, O. 



astonishing^ how quickly these seedlings 

 will spoil, especially where they have 

 jrerminated thickly. Do not forget to 

 shade newly transplanted stock on bright 

 days with cheesecloth or newspapers. 



Hotbeds. 



With the pressure on bench space by 

 Easter plants, some of the bedding plants 

 are liable to be neglected. Too often we 

 see them stood pot to pot where they 

 should be more widely spaced, and rows 

 are even stood in the paths to make room. 

 It is impossible to do plants justice un- 

 der such conditions. One way to relieve 

 the inside congestion is to transfer some 

 of the bedding plants of the hardier va- 

 rieties to frames. If these are closely 

 built and can be dug out to the depJi 

 of two feet, and eighteen inches of warm 

 manure mixed with leaves well firmed in 

 the bottom, over which a layer of three 

 or four inches of coal ashes is spread, 

 they will accommodate a good many 

 plants now being rather neglected in the 

 greenhouses. The moist, genial heat in 

 these frames is just to the liking of the 

 majority of bedding plants and if your 

 sashes are tight and you mat them over 

 on cold nights, you will find they make 

 splendid growth. Small pots, if plunged 

 in the ashes a little, will grow all the 

 better. 



Of course it is yet too early to transfer 

 such plants as coleus, cannas or alter- 

 nantheras to frames, but many of the 

 hardier sorts will now do better there 

 than in the greenhouses. After April 1 

 the earliest lot of bedding geraniums will 

 do finely in frames. All they require is 

 a gen.le bottom heat to take away the 

 chilly feeling which otherwise exists if 

 no fire heat is used. 



Dafilias. 



It is rather early to start dahlias yet, 

 unless you are planning to work up a 

 stock for some special purpose. As a gen- 

 eral rule, dry roots planted directly into 

 the field give as good or better results 

 than those s.arted under glass. The end 

 of May and through June is as early 

 as there is any need to plant out dahhas 

 started inside, any time during May or 

 •Tune being all right for dry roots. There 

 may be some sorts of which it is desired 

 to increase the stock as much as possible. 

 In such cases propagation of the shoots 

 ean be starred at any time. Lay the 

 roots out on a bed of moss, as suggested 

 for cannas, spraying them over occa- 



sionally. Too much moisture will cause 

 decay of the roots. 



If you want to try a few dahlias for 

 flowering under glass and have a piece 

 of spare bench or bed with the necessary 

 head room, plant out stock containing a 

 single shoot each, twenty-four inches 

 apart in the rows and eighteen inches be- 

 tween the plants. It is better to re- 

 strict each plant to one shoot rather 

 than allow a bunch of straggling growths 

 to start out. Put a stout stake to each 

 shoot and be sure to keep them securely 

 lied up. A temperature of 48 to 50 de- 

 grees at night has given good results in 

 dahlia culture indoors. 



We have an idea that in the near fu- 

 tur«» much more greenhouse space will 

 be devoted to dahlia cuLure than in the 

 past, especially where houses are cus- 

 tomarily lying idle for several months 

 in summer. Of course, the up-to-date 

 florist plans never to have any benches 

 empty longer than is necessary to empty, 

 repair and refill them. Perhaps ^ome of 

 the vacant benches now seen in many 

 places could be profitably utilized for 

 the culture of dahlias, asLers, gladioli and 

 other marketable flower crops for at least 

 a part of the summer. 



SMITH'S PLANT STAND. 



The W. C. Smith Wholesale Floral 

 Co., of St. Louis, has a new plant 

 stand, as shown in the accompanying il- 

 lustration, which it contemplates putting 

 on the market, believing that it will be 



useful to retail florists in arranging dec- 

 orations and salable in flower stores to 

 those who wish to elevate window plants, 

 etc. The character of the stand is shown 

 in the accompanying illustration, but the 

 picture fails to bring out clearly that the 

 stand folds on the bolts which attach the 

 two sections at the center, top and bot- 

 tom, so that it may be packed away in 

 small space. 



WINTERICH'S PLACE. 



The accompanying illustrations afford 

 two views of the establishment of Christ. 

 Winterich, at Defiance, O., whose spe- 

 cialty is the cyclamen. The view of the 

 exterior shows how well ordered his place 

 is kept. He does a general local trade, 

 producing the large variety of stock 

 which is required for such a business, 

 but as a wholesale specialty he groWs 

 cyclamens. One of the accompanying 

 pictures shows a part of a bench of 

 plants in flower. Through years of care- 

 ful growing, he has built up a shipping 

 trade of large proportions, extending all 

 over the country. This year he is grow- 

 ing 55,000 plants of his own strain, 

 worked up through long continued selec- 

 tion, and also a few thousands of the 

 best novelties, in order that he may keep 

 abreast of progress in this plant. He 

 has his young stock now in hotbeds, 

 which he has fitted with a ventilating ma- 

 chine, so that he can raise fifty sashes, 

 each 3x6, with the operation of a single 

 crank. He also has his frames fitted 

 with the Skinner sprinkling system, and 

 says he finds mechanical watering a great 

 labor saver. 



SPIDER ON PALMS AND PRIVETS. 



Will you be kind enough to examir.e 

 the inclosed sago and privet leaves and 

 let us know what the growth on them is, 

 with the remedv? A. B. 



The leaves in question both appear to 

 have been infested with red spiders, 

 though the insects were dead at the time 

 of examination. There were, however, 

 a great number of the eggs of the insects 

 on the privet leaf, and it would appear 

 that both plants were supporting vigor- 

 ous color.ies of these pests. 



Spraying with a good force of water 

 is one of the best remedies for this trou- 

 ble, and when persisted in at regular 

 intervals is usually effective. Solutions 

 of fish oil soap or Ivory soap are also 

 used in fighting this pest. W. H. T. 



Establishment of Christ. Winterich, Defiancet O. 



