10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



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January 12, 1911. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



Bambler Roses. 



Easter comes April 16 and rambler 

 roses wanted for that date should now 

 be started. Bend the strong canes 

 down to insure their breaking well. 

 Cut away any weak, dead or dying 

 wood. If the plants were pot grown 

 through the summer, give them a lib- 

 eral mulching. If potted or tubbed in 

 the fall, the soil will need no attention. 

 Do not give too much heat at first; 45 

 degrees is ample until they break; 10 

 degrees higher can then gradually be 

 given, but 60 to 65 degrees is too high, 

 and such heat should only be applied if 

 the plants are likely to be late. A high 

 temperature produces plants which will 

 speedily go to pieces when placed in a 

 cool store, and in addition the flowers 

 are lacking in substance and bleach 

 out badly. Allow the Pink Kamblers, 

 such as Lady Gay and Dorothy Perkins, 

 a week or ten days more time to devel- 

 op them than the old Crimson Kambler. 

 Spray the canes freely until they break 

 and always avoid anything in the na- 

 ture of cold drafts, which will produce 

 mildew and ruin the appearance of the 

 plants. 



Marguerites. 



There are not so many marguerites at 

 Easter as would sell. There is no more 

 beautiful pot plant than well-flowered 

 marguerite. Do not allow any of the 

 plants wanted in April to become pot- 

 bound. Give them a shift before the 

 roots become too matted together. Pinch- 

 ing should be discontinued after the 

 middle of Februarj', and in the case of 

 Queen Alexandra may well be stopped 

 at -once, this being naturally a later 

 bloomer. As these plants grow fast 

 now, they will need spacing apart at 

 least once a week and few plants want 

 more copious supplies of water. Whore 

 wanted for cutting only and not to sell 

 as plants, let the pots stand on a bench 

 from which some crop has been cleaned 

 and allow them to root through. With 

 this additional root run, they will give 

 much finer flowers. Pick oflf the leaves 

 affected with the leaf miner, which this 

 year is disfiguring these plants almost 

 everywhere, and to keep it in check 

 spray the plants with some nicotine ex- 

 tract. 



Palms. 



While the days are short is the time 

 to overhaul and clean the palms. All 

 will gather considerable dirt and their 

 share of scale and other insects in a 

 year, in spite of constant use of the 

 hose. Sponge the leaves carefully with 

 whatever is your favorite preparation. 

 It will kill most of the scale and soften 

 it so that a large proportion can be 

 blown off with a spray nozzle attached 

 to the hose. Endeavor to get all the 

 plants cleaned during the present 

 month. If put off it may never be done 

 at all, as after February comes in other 

 indoor work becomes more pressing, and 

 if you have dirty palms it means they 

 are unsalable, for who will purchase a 



plant covered with scale and with soot 

 stains all over the leaves? Then again, 

 if you have a decoration, it means that 

 you must wash your plants before they 

 can be used, which will tax both your 

 time and patience. Midwinter is the 

 time when all this cleansing can be 

 most economically and easily done, 



Iiinum Trigynum, 



Botanically known as Reinwardtia 

 trigyna, this useful winter flowering 

 plant is still known as a linum. It is 

 not seen as much as years ago, perhaps 

 because its growth is somewhat slow 

 and the individual flowers are not last- 

 ing. For Christmas a more charming 

 flowering plant than this golden yellow 

 linum can hardly be found. A neat 

 bush in a 6-inch pot, thickly dotted 

 with its allamanda-like flowers, should 

 sell on sight and it is to be hoped that 

 this {)ld-time favorite will again be 

 taken in hand. 



It is less easy of propagation than 

 some other winter flowering plants, but 

 plants that have stopped blooming, if 

 headed back and kept a little dry for 

 a time, will send up a crop of bottom 

 shoots, which are easily rooted and will 

 make good plants. Top shoots will 



root, but seldom branch, and persist in 

 flowering rather than growing. Old 

 plants can be planted outdoors, where 

 they will make a fine growth. They 

 must be carefully lifted, as they do not 

 move so easily as bouvardias, stevias 

 and other winter flowering subjects. L. 

 trigynum likes a cool, sunny house; 45 

 degrees at night is better than 10 de- 

 grees higher. Grown cool, the plant 

 flowers longer and the blooms have 

 more substance. This plant can easily 

 be had in fine flower for Christmas, and 

 few more charming subjects are seen 

 when well bloomed. 



Euphorbia Jacquiniseflora. 



Euphorbia jacquiniseflora is not so 

 much seen as its merits would seem to 

 warrant. After the flowers are cut, 

 keep the plants somewhat drier, but do 

 not dry off as severely as you would 

 poinsettias. Soft-wood cuttings rubbed 

 off with a heel will root readily in May 

 and .Tune, treated similarly to poin- 

 settias. Pot off singly when nicely 

 rooted and, if salable plants are desired, 

 put five to seven in a 6-inch pot or pan. 

 They will need one or possibly two 

 pinchings. If wanted for cutting, of 

 course, no pinching is needed. To secure 

 really fine sprays for cutting, plants set 

 out in a box or bench, where they can 

 be rested, are the best, or old plants 

 after blooming can be packed close to- 

 gether in boxes, kept on the dry side 

 until the end of April, then potted 

 singly and later transferred to a shal- 

 low bench, where they can get a winter 

 minimum of 60 degrees. Euphorbia 

 fulgens is the botanical name of this 

 useful winter blooming plant, but horti- 

 culturally it is better known as E. 

 jacquiniseflora. 



i^ 



ADIANTUMS, 



Adiantums which need repotting 

 should first be given a rest for a few 

 weeks, not to the extent of keeping 

 them dust-dry, but with a greatly re- 

 duced water supply. They appreciate 

 this rest, as will be shown by the way 

 they send up a fresh crop of fronds 

 when started. Loosen up the ball with 

 a sharp pointed stick. The plants will 

 then strike out roots much more quickly. 

 Drain the pots well. Cover the broken 

 i-rocks with some moss and lay some of 

 the coarser compost over this. A suit- 

 able compost for adiantums of the 

 cuueatum type consists of two-thirds 

 fibrous loam and one-third leaf-mold. 

 To this may advantageously be added 

 some screened and well decayed cow 

 manure; this need not exceed one-tenth 

 of the whole. A good dash of sharp 

 sand should also be used. Large-sized 

 clumps may be divided, using an instru- 

 ment which will make a clean cut. As 

 a general rule, we find that divided 

 portions are much slower in developing 

 into plants than smaller sizes potted on. 



Snails are often a great menace where 

 adiantums are grown on benches. Where 

 pot plants are grown, when cleaning 

 over the plants stand them on the paths 

 and give the bench bottoms a soaking 

 of boiling water, to which has been 

 added some salt. Examine the pot bot- 

 toms and kill any found there. Among 

 bench-grown plants, scooped portions of 

 potatoes, lettuce leaves and similar bait 

 will attract many. Where they are 

 quite bad, dust a little air-slaked lime 

 inside the clumps. 



The present is a suitable time to sow 

 spores, which are to be had from any 

 well-matured fronds of such varieties 

 as cuneatum, gracillimum, tenerum and 

 Croweanum, in flats or pans containing 

 a mixture of fine peat, leaf-mold and 

 sand, which can be placed in a case in 

 a house where a moist atmosphere and 

 a night temperature of 60 to 65 degrees 

 are maintained. The big fern special- 

 ists offer these and other small ferns, 

 however, at such cheap rates, that it 

 hardly pays the small country grower 

 to bother raising them. 



