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12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Maech 2, 1911. 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. 



For Outdoors. 



The present is a suitable time to 

 make a sowing of sweet peas in pots 

 for planting outdoors. These should not 

 be placed in any artificial heat at all. 

 A coldframe, which can be protected 

 with mats and board shutters, is an 

 ideal place for them. Stand the pots 

 close together on a bed of clean cinders. 

 Sow two seeds in each 3-inch pot and 

 thin out to one, or five or six in a 4-inch 

 pot and thin out to three. Never mind 

 if the temperature in the frame falls to 

 32 degrees, or even below it; no harm 

 will come to the peas. As the seedlings 

 germinate, keep them well aired, and be- 

 fore planting-out time arrives remove 

 the sashes entirely during the day and 

 on mild nights. Planting out can be 

 done any time from the middle of April 

 until the beginning of May. Plant 

 those from 3-inch pots a foot apart and 

 the 4-ineh ones eighteen inches apart 

 in the rows. It is better to have the 

 brush or other supports in position be- 

 fore setting out the little plants. Closer 

 planting than recommended is not ad- 

 visable, as at the distances named the 

 plants will make strong haulm and soon 

 cover the supports. They will also 

 carry much finer flower stalks than 

 when planted more closely. Of course, 

 the ground in which they are planted 

 should be rich and well prepared. It is 

 a mistake to start the plants in heat. 

 They will come along faster, but never 

 prove so satisfactory as those raised in 

 cooler quarters. 



A small selection of good outdoor va- 

 rieties is as follows: White, Dorothy 

 Eckford, White Spencer; lavender, Asta 

 Ohn Spencer, Frank Dolby; orange 

 pink, Helen Lewis, Miss Willmott; 

 pink. Countess of Spencer; blush, Mrs. 

 Eoutzahn Spencer; scarlet and crimson, 

 King Edward VII, John Ingman; blue 

 and purple, Navy Blue, Lord Nelson. 

 As a general rule the light pink, orange 

 pink, white and lavender shades are in 

 the best demand. Anyone planting 

 mixed seed is away behind the times. 

 There are few customers who want mix- 

 tures and they are unsalable in the 

 flower markets. Plants started at once 

 in pots will give flowers ten to four- 

 teen days ahead of the earliest outdoor 

 sown ones and better flowers at that. 



Under Glass. 



The later sowings of sweet peas are 

 now growing rapidly and will soon have 

 flowers opening. With the increasing 

 sunhcat and longer days, it is now pos- 

 sible to ventilate much more freely. 

 Avoid, however, anything in the nature 

 of cold drafts. In March we frequently 

 get a day which starts out hot; soon a 

 black cloud will start a snow squall, 

 with alternate sunshine and cloud the 

 re^ of the day. It is necessary under 



these conditions to watch the venti- 

 lators closely, or mildew will get a start, 

 and is not easily eradicated. Preven- 

 tion is much better and easier than 

 cure. With the plants growing so fast, 

 the work of stringing and fastening 

 them up will need constant attention 

 and must never be neglected, as once a 

 stem gets bent the flowers are unsalable. 

 Houses which are now in full crop 

 should have more feeding now, either in 

 the form of liquid manure or top-dress- 

 ing of cow or sheep manure lightly 

 pointed in with a fork. A dressing of 

 fine bone, scratched in, is also good. 

 Maintain a night temperature of 48 to 

 50 degrees and the plants will enjoy it. 

 It is a great error to run them at 55 de- 

 grees. You may get longer stems, but 

 the flowers are softer and do not stand 

 up like the cooler grown ones. 



SHAMBOCKS. 



Can you tell me how and when to 

 plant shamrock seeds and what care 

 to give them in the greenhouse, or out 

 in the ground? J. E. W. 



The only time when shamrocks are 

 in demand is March 17. It is, of course, 

 much too late to secure plants from 

 seed now for that date. The seed should 

 be sown during October or November, 

 in shallow flats in a house kept at 

 about 45 degrees at night. When suf- 

 ficiently large to handle, prick out in 

 other flats and later pot singly, or place 

 several plants in small pans. Always 

 grow them in full sun and not in any 

 temperature exceeding 50 degrees, 5 

 degrees lower being better. C. W. 



FOBCING SHBUB BLOOM. 



How long does it take to bring dor- 

 mant branches of apple, plum and 

 cherry into blossom? We are figuring 

 on a decoration for a millinery opening. 



M. & J. 



From two to three weeks in a tem- 

 perature of 65 degrees at night will be 

 required. Place the branches in a good 

 bulk of water and spray freely until 

 the flowers start to expand. Forsythia 

 will open within two weeks. The ap- 

 ples, pears and cherries require a few 

 days longer. • C. W. 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. . 



Propagating. 



Increasing sunlight, longer days and 

 the fact that the cuttings are getting 

 longer, all serve to warn the chrysan- 

 themum grower that he must be getting 

 his stock under way for the year 1911. 

 If the cuttings are leggy they can be 

 topped, leaving about six to ten inches 

 of stem, and later these stems will 

 throw out an abundance of quite good 

 shoots, though the ideal cutting is one 

 that is taken from the base of the 

 plant and is called a sucker. 



It is assumed that these stock plants 

 are growing in a cool house. A tem- 

 perature of 40 degrees, with lots of 

 light, suits the chrysanthemum fairly 

 well. 



If one desires to grow his plants ex- 

 ceptionally well, stock of all the slow 

 kinds should be in the sand as soon as 

 possible. This would include such 

 varieties as Beatrice May, A. J. Bal- 

 four, October Frost and others of. the 

 early varieties, October Frost is not a 

 slow growing variety, but it should be 

 gotten under way in good season, be- 

 cause one must secure an early bud on 

 it in order to get a heavy, full flower. 

 It is quite impossible to plant October 

 Frost from a June cutting and then 

 expect a good flower. Some good grow- 

 ers take cuttings from their plants in 

 November or December, as soon as they 

 are through flowering, and these, when 

 potted up and benched in the new year 

 and afterward planted out in a light. 



airy bench, soon throw an abundance 

 of nice, healthy cuttings for late spring 

 propagating. 



One Cause of Failure. 



The grower who sticks his stock 

 plants under the bench and keeps them 

 there until this season of the year, 

 always invites failure and nearly al- 

 ways meets with it. Where the stock 

 plants have been growing cool and. 

 hardy and the cuttings are hard, there 

 will be practically no loss in the sand 

 bed, with reasonable treatment. Where 

 the cuttings are soft, they will simply 

 melt away in most cases when propa- 

 gating begins. 



A sand temperature of 50 degrees ia 

 ample, and we find in this season of 

 the year that if cuttings in a north 

 house receive a good soaking when. 

 they are put in the sand, this is gen- 

 erally enough water to carry the cut- 

 tings until they are rooted and ready 

 to come out. When one is propagating 

 in a house that is more or less exposed 

 to the sunlight and has more ventila- 

 tion, it is, of course, a different proposi- 

 tion, and cuttings in such a position 

 would stand spraying almost every day. 



The process of separating the cut- 

 tings is well known to almost every 

 grower and consists merely in removing 

 the bottom leaves of the cuttings and 

 shortening back the tips of the upper 

 ones. This permits setting the cut- 

 tings closer in the bench and gives the 

 air a chance to circulate through them, 

 thus lessening the possibility of loss 

 by damping. • Chas. H. Totty. 



