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48 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Makch 30, 1911. 



whole, or by pinching one shoot per 

 week on each plant so far us is practi- 

 cable, the crop can be made continuous. 

 For a holiday it is sometimes prefer- 

 able to crop a section, or a bench, but 

 for steady trade the continuous crop 

 seems to be preferred. The plant never 

 gets the severe check that cutting off 

 an entire crop will give it, and the re- 

 turns may be ahead at the end of the 

 season. In this case the treatment will 

 be different, and the extremes of water- 

 ing will need to be avoided. 



Watering is also one of the essen- 

 tials, and the use of water, or the fail- 

 ure to use it, has changed the output 

 of many sections of rose houses. The 

 rule is to water sparingly when wholly 

 off crop, and water at least three times 

 per week, and when the plants are 

 coming into crop always water thor- 

 oughly, but remember that if a bench 

 is cropped when you cut from the top 

 the root action suffers correspondingly, 

 and, with less foliage, less water should 

 be given. 



When the Plants Are Off Crop. 



Air is essential to root formation. 

 Did* you ever notice that the largest 

 root a plant has is the one that comes 



things, water it. Liquid manure with 

 some muriate of potash will help, but 

 care in using these is essential, because 

 they are dangerous things in the hands 

 of incompetent help. 



For roses that are to be left in year 

 after year there is nothing better than 

 the solid bed and a thorough drying 

 out in the summer before cutting back. 

 The question of how much to cut back 

 a plant is important. Cut no more than 

 is absolutely necessary if your plant 

 has not been thoroughly rested. Never 

 dry a plant so the wopd will shrivel, 

 and do not try to lift plants to replant 

 from solid beds unless they have been 

 thoroughly dried out. As a rule, roses 

 lift better for replanting from benches 

 than they do from solid beds, as in 

 solid beds the roots are deeper. 



The question of removing the soil 

 from the top of a bed after drying it 

 out is one that is of interest, and I 

 firmly believe that taking off soil ex- 

 cept that which has been washed to the 

 center of the bed, and is loose, is un- 

 necessary work and labor wasted. 

 For Midsummer Blooming. 



To be a successful rose grower is not 

 all there is to being a successful fio- 



Patrick Welch. 



(Member Board of Control, National Flower Show.) 



out of the hole in the pot, and that 

 the largest roots are nearest the edge? 

 Air, with sufficient moisture, seems to 

 be the reason for this. Thus, by with- 

 holding water when plants are off crop, 

 the new roots get a chance, an4 the 

 new crop comes strong and heavy; 

 when it does come, feed it; above all 



rist, for there is the business side to 

 consider and the retailers mii«t be 

 taken care of, and that means a steady 

 supply of such stock as they may need. 

 Not all of the money in roses is made 

 during midwinter and the spring 

 months. We have a long summer, when 

 good roses are in demand, and the mar- 



ket is usually supplied with poor stock 

 at that time. How to remedy this has 

 been a problem until the coming of 

 new varieties, which have their places 

 just as assuredly as Killarney has its 

 place. 



Should we put ourselves in the places 

 of the retailers and dictate what we 

 should grow, it would not be all Kil- 

 larney and White Killarney. The early 

 planting of other varieties, which have 

 their strong points in^spring, summer 

 and fall, will tide .p:\|p| the situation, 

 and the returns will , 

 satisfactory. To cit 

 and that is My Maryl 

 produced 120,000 bloc 

 and August of this las 

 a creditable showing t^ 

 year. Without these 

 have been almost without roses, and 

 have disappointed not only our custom- 

 ers, but their customers, who love the 

 beautiful, and whose love for the beau- 

 tiful has made the florists' business 

 what it is today. Give them novelty; 

 give them variety; and the reward of 

 increased business is sure to follow. 



.found highly 

 ly one case, 

 5,700 plants 

 during July 

 r, and made 

 lance of the 

 'ers we would 



NOVELTIES IN SWEET PEAS. 



[.\ paper by G. W. Kerr, of Philadelphia, Pa., 

 read before the National Sweet Pea Society, in 

 convention at Boston, Mass., March 25 to April 1, 

 1911.] 



Not SO many years ago, if one men- 

 tioned sweet pea novelties, it was quite 

 unnecessary to ask the raiser's name, 

 as they were then practically all the 

 result of the patient and painstaking 

 labor of the late Henry Eckford, but 

 of recent years, more especially since 

 the introduction of that glorious va- 

 riety Countess Spencer, all this is 

 changed, as the last six years have seen 

 the advent of many sweet pea special- 

 ists and raisers, with the result that our 

 list of varieties is growing by leaps 

 and bounds — so much so that were they 

 all distinct it would be almost an im- 

 possibility to keep in touch with**khem. 

 But as it is, only a few of the many 

 novelties which are introduced each 

 year are found worthy of a permanent 

 place in the garden, the majority of 

 the novelties being either synonymous 

 -with existing varieties or in many cases 

 inferior. 



For instance, we are trying out at 

 Fordhook this year considerably over 

 100 of the season's introductions, and 

 T fancy I am safe in saying that there 

 will not be twelve out of that number 

 which will be found worthy of perpetu- 

 ating. As far as we can judge by news 

 paper reports, the most sensational Eng- 

 lish novelties of the year are Stirling 

 Stent and Charles Foster. Stirling 

 Stent is a waved, orange-colored flower, 

 for which the introducer has been 

 charging 7 shillings and 6 pence, or al- 

 most $2, for six seeds. It was awarded 

 a first-class certificate and the silver 

 medal of the English Sweet Pea So 

 ciety, as being the most meritorious 

 novelty in their trials. Charles Foster 

 is said to be the first of quite a new 

 shade in sweet peas and is described as 

 a blending of rose, salmon and apricot 

 on a lavender and violet ground. Both 

 these varieties are of immense size and 

 generally produced four on a gtem. 

 After having read such glowing reports 

 of their merits, I am eagerly looking 

 forward to the advent of their first 

 flowers some two and a half months 

 hence. 



Last Year's Novelties. 



Of the 1910 novelties, Miriam Beaver 



