Januabt 12, 1011. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



11 



OEBANIUMS FOB MEMOBIAL DAY. 



Will you please tell me how to treat 

 geraniums so as to have short, bushy 

 stalks and large blooms for Memorial 

 day? Also give names and descrip- 

 tions of the best commercial sorts. 



J. K. 



As you probably wish to purchase 

 young plants to grow along, the pres- 

 ent is a suitable time to secure the 

 necessary stock in 2-inch pots from 

 some of the many specialists whose ad- 

 vertisements you will find in The Re- 

 view. If unable to secure pot plants 

 of any of the varieties, do the next 

 best thing — get strong rooted cuttings 

 and place them in 2-inch pots when 

 received. 



Give the geraniums a light, sunny 

 bench. After potting they enjoy a little 

 bottom heat; so, if you have any heat- 

 ing pipes under any of the benches, 

 these would provide the necessary 

 warmth. A temperature of 55 degrees 

 in the day and 45 to 50 degrees at 

 night is sufficient. A little more warmth 

 is desirable for young stock, until it 

 gets established. These plants, when 

 well rooted in 2-inch pots, should be 

 moved successively to 3-inch and 4- 

 inch pots. It is better to give two 

 shifts than one. For soil, two-thirds 

 good pasture loam, one-third spent hot- 

 bed or mushroom manure, with some 

 sand added, make an ideal mixture. 

 Never use any fresh manure of any 

 kind. For the second and third pottings 

 add a 4-inch pot of fine bone to each 

 bushel of soil. This tends to make the 

 growths harder and more floriferous 

 than would the use of animal manures. 

 Never use any of the latter manures, 

 unless old and thoroughly decayed — in 

 a condition in which they will crumble 

 through the hands. 



The stronger plants will need one 

 pinch. The growths can be left until 

 of sufficient strength and inserted singly 

 in 2-inch pots of sandy loam, as cut- 

 tings. Do not, however, do any pinch- 

 ing after March 1. Spread the plants 

 out from time to time. Pull out any 

 weeds; loosen the surface soil if baked 

 or slimy; remove flower trusses until 

 the middle or end of April, also all 

 dead and decaying foliage. Always 

 allow the plants to dry well between 

 waterings. If kept > constantly wet, 

 they will make a soft, flabby growth. 

 Plenty of fresh air should be given on 

 every possible occasion. Never coddle 

 the plants, and remember that they pre- 

 fer a dry to a moist atmosphere. 



The following are some of the best bed- 

 ding varieties in both doubles and sin- 

 gles. The double varieties are most in use, 

 but a bed of first-class singles is much 

 more effective and as a rule they are 

 more floriferous. Grow which you think 

 your customers will prefer. Doubles — 

 Beaute Poitevine, salmon pink; Jean 

 Viaud, mauve rose, light throat, fine; 

 General Grant, vermilion scarlet; E. H. 

 Trego, dazzling, velvety scarlet; Com- 

 tesse de Harcourt, white; Alphonse 



Eicard, vermilion scarlet; La Favorite, 

 pure white; S. A. Nutt, deep scarlet, 

 the finest of all double red bedders; 

 Mme. Landry, salmon pink; Marquise 

 de Castellane, soft crimson. Singles — 

 Jacquerie, rich crimson scarlet, im- 

 mense trusses, superb bedder; Paul 

 Crampel, dazzling scarlet, the most bril- 

 liant and free flowering of all scarlet 

 geraniums, the most popular bedder in 

 Great Britain and will become popular 

 here; L'Aube, pure white; Bichmond 

 Beauty, scarlet, white center; Tele- 



§raph, Lincoln red, hardy and robust; 

 nowdrop, pure white; Granville, rose 

 pink; Mrs. Brown Potter, rose pink. 



C. W. 



FOLIAGE BXTBKED. 

 I am sending several geranium leaves. 

 Can you tell me what the trouble isf 

 Some time ago I borrowed a sprayer 

 and sprayed them. I have learned since 

 that there was Paris green in it. Would 

 that cause the trouble? E. S. 



The foliage forwarded had every ap- 

 pearance of having been scorched in 

 some way and Pans green is the un- 

 doubted cause of the trouble. This 

 poison should never be used except on 

 perfectly smooth foliage and even then 

 the doses must be quite light to pre- 

 vent burning. The best thing — in fact. 



the only thing — you can do, is to pick 

 off these burned leaves. This will, of 

 course, considerably cripple the plants, 

 but they will gradually grow out of it. 

 You do not say what you were spraying 

 the plants for. If for any fungoid af- 

 fection on the foliage, while you can 

 use Bordeaux mixture for it, you can 

 achieve equally good results by pick- 

 ing off affected leaves, keeping the 

 plants drier both at the roots and in the 

 atmosphere, giving them all possible 

 sun and air on every favorable occa- 

 sion. C. W. 



YOUNG STOCK. 



I have a few geraniums which I have 

 put in 2^4 -inch pots. Can I carry these 

 plants in this size of pot until the first 

 part of April and then shift to a 4-inch 

 pot and place in a hotbed and get them 

 in bloom by the middle of Mayf They 

 are in a carnation house now, on shelves. 

 I will not have room for them when 

 they are shifted to 4-inch pots. When 

 should I stop pinching the flower stems 

 off to have them in bloom by Memorial 

 day? G. S. 



If you keep the 2^ -inch geraniums 

 until April 1 without a shift, they will 

 become hard and potbound and will not 

 grow satisfactorily after repotting. A 

 far better plan will be to shift them 

 into 3-inch pots as soon as the smaller 

 ones are well filled with roots, later 

 placing them in 4-inch. While they 

 might succeed in a gentle hotbed as 

 early as April 1, you should, if space 

 will allow, keep them where they can 

 get some fire heat three weeks later, 

 after which they will do well in the 

 frames. Discontinue picking the flower 

 trusses off about April 20. They will 

 then flower well for Memorial day. 



C. W. 



OUTDOOB SWEET PEAS. 



When is the best time to plant sweet 

 peas for outdoor flowering early in the 

 spring? What is the best way to 

 plant them? What named varieties in 

 white, pink and lavender would you 

 recommend? T. F. C. 



Ground should have been prepared 

 for your sweet peas in the fall by lib- 

 erally manuring and deeply plowing it. 

 In the spring, as soon as the frost 

 has left the ground and it is in a 

 sufficiently dry condition to work, the 

 seed can be sown. Cover the seed 

 about two and one-half inches and firm 

 well after sowing, especially when the 

 ground is dry. Sow rather thinly, or 

 thin severely if they come up too 

 thickly; four to five inches between 

 the plants is quite thick enough and 

 you get far stronger haulm and better 

 flower stalks when they are not too 

 thick. The rows should be five to six 

 feet apart. 



The following varieties are excellent: 

 White, Dorothy Eckford; blush pink, 

 Mrs. Routzahn Spencer; orange pink, 

 Helen Lewis; clear, deep pink, Gladys 

 Unwin or Countess of Spencer; laven- 

 der, Frank Dolby or Lady Grisel Ham- 

 ilton; scarlet. King Edward VH. 

 Helen Pierce, white veined and mar- 

 bled bright blue, is a fine variety and 

 is selling well in the markets. 



C. W. 



NATIONAL SWEET PEA SOCIETY. 



A meeting of the executive board of 

 the National Sweet Pea Society of 

 America was held at the Astor House, 

 New York «ity, January 6, President W. 

 Atlee Burpee presiding. Secretary H. 

 A. Bunyard announced that the Na- 

 tional Flower Show committee had 

 offered the society $150 with which to 

 arrange premiums for a sweet pea sec- 

 tion at the Boston show in March, pro- 

 vided the society would duplicate the 

 amount for the same purpose, making 

 $300 in all. The offer meeting the ap- 



