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Januahy 5, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



18 



water to make it potable, or, in other 

 words, fit for drinking and domestic 

 use, it will certainly not injure your 

 carnations. "Water will only take up 

 a certain quantity of lime and, unless 

 the mixture were kept agitated, you 

 would get only the same amount of 

 lime in the water you used, regardless 

 of how much of the lime were put into 

 the water. If agitated, the water would 

 have a milky appearance, but this would 

 not be done, as it would prevent the 

 accomplishment of the very purpose 

 for which it was put into the water. 

 The addition of lime in any form to 

 water will cause the vegetable matter 

 on which the typhoid germs feed to 

 drop to the bottom and leave the water 

 free from all foreign matter. 



The continuous use of this water may 

 cause the stems of your carnations to 

 become a trifle brittle at the joints. 



but outside of that I hardly think you 

 will notice any effect whatever. 



CAENATION FOR NAME. 



Please tell me the name of the in- 

 closed flower. G. F. D. 



The bloom forwarded was badly 

 frozen and wilted, so that about the 

 only thing left to guess by — and it can 

 only be a guess — was the calyx. From 

 that, I would guess the plant to be 

 Beacon. Beacon makes a bushy plant, 

 with long grass. The blooming shoots 

 come up quickly after they begin to 

 shoot up, which is not very early in the 

 fall, and the stems are quite stiff. The 

 color is orange-scarlet in cool weather, 

 and decidedly bricky in warm weather. 

 Perhaps this description will help you 

 to name your plant. A. P. J. B. 



^^m 





PROPAGATION. 



It should be possible to secure a good 

 many tops from the stronger geranium 

 plants now, and if you carried over a 

 number of old stock plants, they should 

 now furnish a good crop of cuttings. 

 Geraniums at this season can be rooted 

 either in the cutting bench, or singly in 

 2-inch pots, unless the propagating 

 bench gets the sun, and as these houses 

 are often built to face the north, it is 

 better and safer in every way to use 

 pots. Stand them where they can get 

 some bottom heat and let them have 

 the full sun. Use sandy loam in the 

 pots. Soak well after inserting the cut- 

 tings; then allow them to dry out well 

 before watering again. Under this plan 

 not over five per cent of the cuttings 

 should damp off, but if a sunless cut- 

 ting bench is used, or the cuttings are 

 heavily shaded, the loss will be much 

 heavier. From cuttings taken now and 

 potted along, nice 4-inch pot stock can 

 be had for Memorial day. The loss 

 from damping off on cuttings produced 

 on plants under glass is always less 

 than when the thicker and softer out- 

 door cuttings are used. 



Plants in pots should receive some 

 attention at least once a week. Give 

 them a fresh stand. Pick off any dead 

 or decaying leaves. Remove weeds and 

 scratch over the surface soil, as well as 

 the ashes or sand on which they stand. 

 As there is no advantage in allowing 

 them to flower now, keep all trusses 

 removed. Let the plants have plenty 

 of fresh air, always avoiding anything 

 in the shape of a stuffy atmosphere. 

 The plants which have been in 2-inch 

 pots for some time, if not yet potted, 

 should be moved into 3-inch pots. Do 

 not use any fresh animal manure in the 

 soil, but add a little fine bone. If you 

 have some spent hotbed or mushroom 

 manure, which will crumble through 

 the fingers, one-fourth of this to three- 

 fourths loam will suit them. 



cherry and pale pink geraniums sent 

 under separate cover? H. W. 



The flowers were so much discolored 

 that identification was impossible. 

 Later in the season, when frost is less 

 liable to affect, send a sample truss of 

 each in a small wooden or tin box. 

 Wrap the bottom of the stems in damp 

 moss or cotton wool. The shoot in- 

 closed with silvery foliage is Santolina 

 maritima. C. W. 



PROVIDENCE. 



The Market. 



GERANIUMS FOR NAME. 



Will you please name the three red. 



Everybody is happy, because, taken 

 as a whole, 1910 was a history-making 

 year and brought a big stride forward 

 in the florists' business. There is no 

 denying that the people of Providence, 

 always conservative, are waking up to 

 the fashion and propriety of having cut 

 flowers on all occasions. The greatly 

 increased weekly sales are evidence of 

 this, while the demand for flowers for 

 special events is especially marked. 



The growers have been quick to note 

 the increasing demands, and as a result 

 several have put up new glass during 

 the year just closing and others are 

 preparing to add to their ranges this 

 spring. The growing demand for potted 

 stock is causing several of the green- 

 house men to arrange for propagating 

 this line of stock, something of 

 which there has been comparatively lit- 

 tle in this vicinity heretofore. 



Since Christmas there has been but 

 little general business, although the 

 latter part of the week witnessed a 

 revival, caused by several funerals and 

 the placing of orders for the municipal 

 and state inaugurals for Monday and 

 Tuesday, January 2 and 3. These en- 

 tailed conspicuous decorations and the 

 making up of bouquets, baskets and 

 other designs. Prices have dropped 

 back almost to normal, although a 

 slight advance was maintained because 

 of the inaugurals. 



Various Notes. 

 George Hunt, of Burnside street, took 

 his seat this week for a second term as 

 a member of the Common Council. 



Lindsay Bros., Clyde street, Clyde, 

 report an unusually good business dur- 

 ing last year. They are contemplating 

 renovations the coming spring. 



Thomas Curley, Harkness street, this 

 city, has recently had several large 

 decorations for weddings and social 

 functions. 



Frederick Covell, manager of the 

 flower department of the Shepard Co., 

 reports the biggest year's business since 

 the department was opened. It is re- 

 ported that the net profits were over 

 $7,000. 



Nels Pierson, this city, cut over 10,- 

 000 fine Princess of Wa^es violets for 

 the Christmas trade. 



Frank P. Barker, of Warren, is con- 

 templating a rearrangement of his vio- 

 let houses in the spring, with much 

 additional glass. 



Johnston Bros, had the decorations 

 for the anniversary dinner of St. John's 

 lodge of Masons at Masonic Temple, 

 December 27. 



John M. Green, of Plainfield street, 

 has opened a retail store at 232 Crans- 

 ton street. 



Giles S. Congdon, of Court street, 

 Bristol, reports an unusual rush of busi- 

 ness recently. 



Nathan D. Pierce, of Norwood, has 

 put one of his new houses that he com- 

 pleted last fall to sweet peas, for early 

 spring cutting. The house is 30x100 

 feet. 



Elmer E. King has finished the re- 

 building of his houses at Attleboro, all 

 the underpinnings having been con- 

 creted. He has 40,000 geranium cut- 

 tings, all in, that are looking fine and 

 promise excellent returns. 



Theodore Peterson, of Benefit street, 

 had an unprecedented business in con- 

 nection with the holidays, choicest stock 

 finding ready sale. 



John Sharkey, with the Elmwood 

 Nurseries, who suffered from a shock a 

 few months ago, is said to be recover- 

 ing and hopes to be ready to resume 

 work with the opening of spring. 



Annie F. Peckham, 112 Carpenter 

 street, had the decorations for two large 

 weddings last week. 



Ernest Carl, 295 Lowell avenue, 

 brought* in several hundred fine azalea 

 plants for the local trade at Christmas. 

 At the last meeting of the Rhode 

 Island Horticultural Society, Charles W. 

 Smith, who has been secretary for the 

 last twenty-one years, announced that 

 he would not be a candidate for reelec- 

 tion at the coming annual meeting. A 

 nominating committee was appointed to 

 select candidates for the various offices. 

 Richard M. Bowen was reelected to 

 represent Rhode Island as the vice- 

 president of the New England Fruit 

 Show. The appreciation of the mem- 

 bers of the services rendered by Miss 

 Louisa M. Mullen, as assistant secre- 

 tary, was shown by their presentation 

 to her of a silk umbrella. 



A drop of 43 degrees in about ten 

 hours on December 30 brought the tem- 

 perature down to zero and caused the 

 growers to keep on the alert against 

 loss by freezing. 



Visitors in this city last week in- 

 cluded Charles R. Fish, of Charles B. 

 Fish & Co., the West Side Nurseries of 

 Worcester, Mass.; Mr. Lawton, of Fall 

 River, Mass., and James F. Mulcahey. 

 representing N. F. McCarthy & Co., of 

 Boston. W. H. M. 



