'■ ■ . * H- •'^■\ / '*•;»■ ' IT'. 



32 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Dbcdmbeb 15, 1910. 



on in fine shape. Some were used for 

 Thanksgiving and the rest will be in 

 excellent condition for Christmas. Some 

 plants eight to twelve inches high have 

 bracts eight to nine inches across; 



others, three to eight feet high, have 

 bracts fifteen to nineteen inches across. 

 Not seeing any others, as grown in 

 large places, I have felt that they were 

 good. " J. E. W. 



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I SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



Poinsettias. 



The bracts on the poinsettias in pans 

 should now be well developed and, this 

 being the case, it is better to reduce 

 the heat 5 degrees at night where they 

 are growing. They will then better 

 withstand vicissitudes such as will 

 probably be their lot a few days hence. 

 If the bracts are not matured, give 

 thebi a few degrees more heat, for if 

 they are not sold at Christmas they 

 will bring little later. The poinsettia 

 is a popular Christmas flOwer, but once 

 the holiday is gone it is as hard to sell 

 as mistletoe or holly. 



Where plants are being grown in pots 

 or benches for cutting, it is also an 

 advantage to gradually lower the tem- 

 perature for a few nights before cut- 

 ting them. There are some who claim 

 that this temperature drop is all that 

 is needed to hold the bracts fresh when 

 placed in water, but it has not always 

 been found so. Either water, boiling 

 or nearly so, in which the bottoms or 

 the stems can be stood for a few sec- 

 ond's, or a hot iron on which the cuts 

 can be seared, will stop the bleeding, 

 after which lay them in a bench. Tie 

 some soft tissue paper around each 

 bract, then plunge them in vases con- 

 taining a good depth of water and place 

 in a cool room, kept at 40 to 45 degrees. 



There is often so active a call for 

 poinsettias that growers unthinkingly 

 sell out too closely. Be sure to keep 

 a good number of stock plants. The 

 older ones, which have been planted in 

 the benches, will provide the largest 

 number of strong cuttings, and if these 

 are not reserved, it will be found diffi- 

 cult to secure what is wanted at the 

 time the plants are to be started. 



Azaleas. 



There is no great difficulty in getting 

 Hexe, Deutsche Perle, Mme. Petrick or 

 Vervseneana in flower for Christmas, 

 provided a warm, moist house is allotted 

 them. It is an advantage to keep 

 plants which are in flower 10 degrees 

 cooler before selling to the stores or 

 selling direct to your customers. Take 

 an azalea grown at 65 to 70 degrees at 

 night and subject it at once to 45 de- 

 grees and the flowers will probably 

 wilt badly and any customer securing 

 such are bound to make a kick. Last 

 ypar a neighbor tried to get in a lot of 

 Mme. Vander Cruyssen for Christmas, 

 a variety which is ill-adapted for early 

 forcing. By keeping it at 70 degrees 

 at night and syringing with warm 

 water, a few flowers expanded. These 

 same plants went to a store 25 degrees 

 cooler at night. They wilted so badly 

 as to be practically unsalable. This 

 hard forcing on pot plants hardly pays 

 in the long run. 



Lack of bench room compels many 

 azalea specialists to crowd their plants 

 intended for Easter, on the benches or 

 even underneath, just as they are un- 

 packed. With Christmas stock out of 

 the way, these should now be potted as 

 fast as time will permit. There is, of 

 course, no need to hurry them into heat, 

 as Easter is a long way ahead yet. 



Camellias. 



There is a pleasing growth in the 

 popularity of camellias, and at Christ- 

 mas plants in 6-inch, 7-inch and 8-inch 

 pots, carrying a few open flowers, sell 

 well. Camellias are not plants which 

 can be hurried into bloom. Too much 

 heat will cause a heavy loss of buds. 

 The only time they rather seem to revel 

 in warmth and moisture is when mak- 

 ing their growth. Plants which are a 

 little backward should be syringed 

 freely, but keep water away from the 

 flowers as they show color. At a swell 

 dinner a few nights ago, where 200 

 guests were present, red camellias and 

 Lilium speciosum magnificum were used 

 on the tables and made a pleasing 

 change from the rather stereotyped 

 roses and carnations. When packing 

 camellias in flower, use great care not 



to press or bruise the flowers in any 

 way, or they will surely drop to pieces, 

 and a plant lacking flowers is, of course, 

 unsalable. 



Spanish Irises. 

 If a batch of Spanish irises has not 

 yet been brought into heat, they should 

 be got in at once, now that the clean- 

 ing out of Christmas stock gives some 

 needed bench space. Anything like 

 hard forcing is to be deprecated, as 

 these irises will simply not stand it. 

 The best flowers are produced in a 

 temperature not exceeding 45 degrees 

 at night, but to get some early flowers 

 5 degrees more can be allowed. Where 

 many thousands are grown, bench cul- 

 ture is often adopted, but it has not 

 been found in general practice that any 

 better flowers are produced in benches 

 than in flats, and when the latter are 

 used there is the added advantage of 

 being able to store them in a frame or 

 pit until wanted, and when in flower 

 the flats are readily moved to cooler 

 quarters and their places occupied by 

 other plants. 



Oladlolus America. 



(jrladiolus America continues to de- 

 cline in price and is now sufficiently 

 moderate to be within the reach of all. 

 In the whole gladiolus family no other 

 variety has yet approached it in popu- 

 larity and no one can go far wrong in 

 planting it, either under glass or out- 

 doors. The bulbs are now obtainable 

 and after Christmas any spare bench 

 room can be utilized for it. There is 

 no need for any special soil. What will 

 suit carnations or mums will be just as 

 good for gladioli. The distance apart 

 will depend on the size of bulbs used. 

 Usually ten inches between the rows 

 and four inches between the bulbs will 

 be found ample. Small bulbs can go 

 closer than this. A carnation tempera- 

 ture, which would not exceed 55 de- 

 grees at night, suits gladioli, but, of 

 course, they do well 10 degrees cooler. 



La Reine Tulips in a Tin-lined Gold Box. 



