

14 



The Weekly Florists' Revie#. 



Decbmbeb 29, 1910. 



were the dates fixed for the 1911 shows. 

 The annual year book of the society, 

 with a record of the year's work and 

 many interesting articles and illustra- 

 tions, will be published early in the new 

 year. Bee. 



SNAILS. 



Last summer and autumn I was much 

 troubled with snails. They would not 

 touch Paris green and molasses on cab- 

 bage leaves, but fed on asters, dahlias 



and other fine plants. Can you tell me 

 what to do for them? .^.H. W. 



Pans green a;nd other poiBofis' are 6t 

 no value in fighting spalls.. Strew 

 slaked lime or black soot,a|30ut their 

 haunts. The lime will destroy all that 

 it touches. Salt is another excellent 

 remedy. A ring df cork dust or saw- 

 dust around each dahlia will act as a 

 sure preventive. Give your land a 

 dusting of lime before planting and a 

 large proportion of the snails will be 

 destroyed. ,^ C, W. 



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LUies. 



Easter is now some sixteen weeks 

 away. This seems a long time and the 

 later than usual date is likely to tempt 

 some growers to hold the plants back 

 too long. The standard lily in 1911 

 will undoubtedly be giganteum. It is 

 naturally a late variety and is always 

 seen at its best on a late Easter. It 

 is a dwarf grower and very floriferous, 

 with a large flower. Harrisii was once 

 supreme, but now there are few so 

 poor as to do it reverence. Disease has 

 frightened many from touching it at 

 all. Formosas are valuable and will 

 bloom over a larger period than any 

 other lily. They are not of one fixed 

 type, but are seedlings comprising a 

 wide range of varieties and differing 

 greatly in their heights. In some ways 

 they afe exceptionally satisfactory. As 

 yet they have developed little disease, 

 but, on the other hand, while clean 

 they are often aggravatingly disap- 

 pointing in producing only one, two 

 or three flowers on many of their stout 

 stems, even when they have grown 

 three to five feet high. They are with- 

 out doubt, however, an acquisition and 

 will be more grown each year. 



Giganteum, apart from multiflorum, 

 which flowers somewhat earlier but 

 hardly makes so fine a flower or so good 

 a plant, should have been potted before 

 now, and if they have made some roots 

 and have the tops peeping, all the bet- 

 ter. They will not root and grow so 

 fast as either Formosa or Harrisii and 

 should not be unduly hurried until the 

 pots are full of active roots. Then give 

 them a- night temperature of 60 degrees, 

 for this lily enjoys a good heat right 

 along. Be careful in watering until 

 the pots are full of active feeding roots, 

 and remember that you should be able 

 to see all the buds well separated forty 

 days before Easter. The best time to 

 do forcing is after the buds have 

 formed. It is an easy matter to retard 

 them after the flowers start to expand. 

 Do not, however, run the plants cool 

 after housing them, which would prob- 

 ably spoil many of them. 



Dutch Bulbs. 



To keep up a steady succession of 

 flowers, a number of flats of tulips and 

 narcissi should be brought into heat at 

 least once a week. The tulips for 



some time will need to be kept dark 

 and warm. The narcissi after the mid- 

 dle of January will not need any draw- 

 ing up. Trumpet Major is the nar- 

 cissus of the hour, but Golden Spur is 

 now in heat and will be in flower in a 

 few days. It remains easily the most 

 popular of all single forcing trumpet 

 daffodils. 



As the average country retail florist 



Th« Bdltor la plMMed 

 whma » R«ad«r 

 presanta bla UkitmM 

 on any aubl«ot treated la 



Aa •zp«rienoe la fbe baat 

 taaclier, ao do we 

 iMum faateat by an 

 •zebans* of axpartencaa. 

 Many valuable polnta 

 ara broucbt out 

 by dlacuaalon. 



Good penmanship, spelling and 

 {rrammar. though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doing your best. 



WX SHALL BK GLAD 

 TO HXAR rBOM TOO 



has a call for pans of tulips through 

 the winter, a few each week should be 

 started. Such varieties as Thomas 

 Moore, La Keine, Yellow Prince and 

 Keizerskroon are suitable for early 

 flowering. Keep the doubles until 

 later. 



If it is desired to keep tulips and 

 narcissi for Easter, which is quite late 

 next year, they must be kept cold. A 

 cellar or pit as near freezing as pos- 

 sible is what they need. At 45 de- 

 grees, or even 40 degrees, they will 

 come in much too early. 



Propagation. 



Now, while there is a nice, steady 

 •warmth in the cutting bench/, is a 

 Suitable time to root batches of crotons, 

 colored dracsenas, dieffenbachias, fitto- 

 nias and other warm house plants. Give 

 them plenty of water and few will fail 

 to root. It is a good plan to root a 

 quantity . of coleus from the old stock 

 plants carriedi over. Keep these old 

 „pj^nts for another batch of cuttings 

 and then throw them away, as they get 

 full of mealy bug. Heliotropes, sweet- 

 scented verbenas, fuchsias, bedding ge- 

 raniums and alternantheras can also 

 be propagated as cuttings are procur- 

 able. 



The useful winter blooming Erica 

 melanthera can be rooted in a bench 

 which is used for carnations. Bub off 

 short shoots with a heel for the best 

 results. Few will fail to root. Plant 

 out in summer and they will make nice 

 little plants before fall. Genistas in- 

 serted now will make fine 6-ineh pots 

 for Easter in 1912. 



Do not forget a good batch of mar- 

 guerites. These carried over summer 

 in pots will make the best possible 

 plants for blooming another winter. If 

 you want a late planting of snapdrag- 

 ons for Memorial day, root the cuttings 

 now. Continue to keep the cutting 

 bench well filled. Apart from carna- 

 tions, there will be from now on quite 

 a number of cuttings which can be in- 

 serted each week. 



Keep a diary. This advice may be 

 pooh-poohed by many and classed as 

 needless by others whose memories are 

 of the encyclopedia stamp, but there 

 are many florists who do not now keep 

 one who would find a great benefit from 

 doing so. A short calendar day by day 

 of work performed, such as seed sow- 

 ing, potting, propagation, time of 

 flowering of various crops, weather con- 

 ditions and other matters, will prove 

 interesting to look over the following 

 year, and will prove of great practical 

 benefit. The pace in all trades today 

 is such that we leave the things of yes- 

 terday .behind and forget them, while 

 our hopes and ambitions concern only 

 the things of the morrow. There is so 

 much business to occupy our attention 

 that the plea, "I have no time," may 

 be true. Try, however, to find time 

 to keep a little epitome of floricultural 

 operations. It will not consume much 

 of your time and nothing will repay 

 you better. Among resolutions for the 

 new year about to dawn, resolve to 

 keep a diary. 



STABTma CANNAS. 



Please advise me when cannas should 

 be placed in the benches to make good 

 plants for bedding. J. W. S. 



March is sufficiently early to place 

 cannas in heat in order to get strong 

 plants for bedding in May and June. 

 Watch the cultural columns of The Ee- 

 view for directions from time to time. 

 C. W. 



NAME OF PLANT. 

 We are enclosing a few leaves of a 

 plant and will ask you to kindly give 

 us the name. It grows about eighteen 

 to twenty-four inches high and has a 

 glossy green leaf that is highly aro- 

 matic. A. F. C. 



This is a species of hedychium, com- 

 monly called the cinnamon plant and 

 ginger plant. C. 



