16 



TheWcekly Horists' Review. 



Apbil 18, 1912. 



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f SEASONABLE s^ 1| 

 \ ^ SUGGESTIONS j 



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Peonies. 



In the warmer states peonies will 

 already have made quite a little growth, 

 but in the northern states they are al- 

 most dormant yet, but one or two 

 warm days will cause them to grow 

 rapidly. If they received a good mulch 

 of rotted manure last fall, this should 

 be worked in about them with an 

 ordinary digging fork, or where there 

 is a considerable planting of them, a 

 cultivator can be used. Some addi- 

 tional food which will be quickly avail- 

 able should also be applied now. Dried 

 blood has been found to be an excel- 

 lent fertilizer, and any fertilizer con- 

 taining ten per cent of potash is good. 

 Fine bone, pulverized sheep manure and 

 tankage have all been used with good 

 results. After applying the fertilizer, 

 run the cultivator over the ground and 

 keep the soil constantly stirred, par- 

 ticularly after each rainfall. When 

 buds appear on the plants, disbud 

 promptly, and this is the time when 

 liquid manure, if it can be applied, will 

 greatly improve the quality of the 

 flowers. 



Fansies. 



After the middle of April it is safe 

 to remove any mulch which remains 

 on the pansies wintered outdoors. As 

 no doubt some have been lifted almost 

 out of the ground by alternate freez- 

 ings and thawings, such plants must 

 be firmed. This takes considerable 

 time where a large number are grown, 

 but if it is not done, many of the olants 

 will be lost. If an early batch are 

 wanted in flower they should be lifted 

 and planted in a coldframe in rich 

 compost. Take good balls with each 

 plant. Soak well with water, cover 

 with sashes, air freely and you will 

 soon have plenty of flowers. Where 

 they are to be sold in small baskets 

 containing a dozen plants each, the 

 plants can go direct into the baskets 

 and, if placed in a cool greenhouse, will 

 soon be in a salable condition. 



Dahlias. 



It is a little early to plant out 

 dahlias and, as a matter of fact, it is 

 not the early planted tubers which are 

 the best. June planted stock has al- 

 ways given excellent results and in- 

 stances have been known where plants 

 set out as late as July 4 flowered finely. 

 If the stock of tubers has not been 

 overhauled, now is the time to do this 

 work. Cut away all moldy or decayed 

 portions, divide the roots so that they 

 will have a good sound eye each, and 

 lay them on a bench of sphagnum moss 

 or sand where they can be lightly 

 sprayed. A warm house is neither nec- 

 essary nor desirable, as it would only 

 make the shoots soft and spindling. 

 When nicely started put the divided 

 roots in flats of sandy loam and grad- 

 ually harden them off. They will do 

 just as well transferred to the open 

 ground from flats as pots. Where large 

 areas are to be planted and horse cul- 

 tivation used altogether, it is far better 



in every way to use tubers which are 

 dormant, or as nearly dormant as pos- 

 sible. Eooted cuttings, which are much 

 used in Europe, are less popular here. 

 If one is perchance eaten down by 

 cutworms, it is finished, while a tuber 

 will usually sprout again from the base, 

 but rooting cuttings is a good method 

 of propagation when it is desired to 

 work up stock of any particular 

 varieties. 



Fuchsias. 



Fuchsias in 4-inch pots carrying a 

 few flowers each always sell well around 

 Memorial day. They are not successes 

 when bedded out in the full sun as in 

 Europe, but where they can be grown 

 in partial shade, and also in vases or 

 piazza boxes, they are useful. Pick 

 the flowers from any which are bloom- 



ing this early and do so until the last 

 part of April; then allow them to 

 flower. If a batch of cuttings is taken 

 now and grown along through the sum- 

 mer they will make useful plants in 

 5-inch pots for early autumn flowering, 

 a season when blooming plants in pots 

 are quite scarce. The single fuchsias 

 are much better than the doubles for 

 practically all purposes; the doubles 

 look too heavy and clumBy and flower 

 less freely. o^ 



Show Felargoniums. 

 The plants which have been growing 

 along in a cool, airy house will now be 

 coming into flower and this is the time 

 when they need careful culture. In the 

 matter of feeding, pelargoniums re- 

 quire as much as chrysanthemums and 

 it should not be discontinued on the 

 appearance of the first flowers, but 

 kept up until the plants are practically 

 at their best. Liquid cow or sheep ma- 

 nure twice a week, or a surfacing of 

 Clay's fertilizer alternated, will keep 

 the plants well toned up and of a good 

 color. If any staking is required do it 

 at once, using short stakes which will 

 be invisible. Don't on any account 

 neglect fumigatiiig, as green aphis is 

 the arch enemy of this beautiful plant. 



BEDDING GERANIUMS. 



The earliest and strongest gerani- 

 ums have now been in a gentle hotbed 

 for over a fortnight, where they are 

 plunged almost to their brims. The 

 growth they have made is surprising; 

 every plant is of a rich, dark color 

 and the growth is short and stocky, 

 while the shoots are bristling with 

 flower stalks, which will be kept picked 

 off until the end of April. Many large 

 growers scorn the frame culture of 

 these plants, but it is a veritable god- 

 send to the smaller growers, with their 

 overcrowded houses, and most of us 

 have yet to see finer geraniums pro- 

 duced in spring in greenhouses than in 

 frames. 



After this date it is tolerably safe to 

 stand out geraniums in frames without 

 any bottom heat, provided they are 

 built closely and have good sashes 

 over them. Either coarse sand or fine 

 screened cinders are excellent to stand 

 the pots on, and if a bed of either ma- 

 terial of sufficient thickness is used 

 so that the plants can be partially 

 plunged they will dry out less and grow 

 all the better. 



Any winter batches of cuttings in 

 need of potting should be attended to 

 before they become potbound. Give 

 these a raised bench where they can 

 enjoy a little bottom heat and thej' 

 will quickly take hold of their new 

 compost. When first potted they can 

 stand pot to pot, but they will soon 

 need some spacing, as growth is now 

 rapid. No more pinching must now be 

 done, but the plants should be looked 

 over once a week and all dead and de- 

 caying leaves and weeds removed. 



Sometimes defective glass will cause 

 scorching of the foliage. If you can 

 locate the squares causing the damage, 

 change them, or, failing that, use a 

 light shading of kerosene and white 

 lead over them. 



Many inquiries come to hand^at this 

 season with samples of diseased foliage 

 enclosed. It is not always easy to tell 

 what has caused the trouble. Leaving 

 cuttings too long in a propagating 

 bench will weaken them. A heavy fumi- 

 gation when the plants are dry at the 

 root will cause many leaves to turn 

 yellow, as will painting the steam pipes 

 with sulphur or lampblack and oil, 

 especially if turpentine is used to assist ^ 

 in drying the paint quickly. Where this 

 is used, always leave some air on night 

 and day until all fumes have vanished. 

 Injudicious feeding with strong chem- 

 icals, such as nitrate of soda -or sul- 

 phate of ammonia, will burn the roots 

 and cripple the plants. They are use- 

 ful only when applied sparingly and in 

 moderate doses to improve starved 

 plants. These strong chemicals will 

 produce green, luxuriant-looking plants, 

 which, however, will never flower well, 

 and these plants with soft, sappy 

 growths fall an easy prey to disease. 



Geraniums are among the easiest of 

 plants to grow, but how to grow them 

 well and make them flower freely is 

 not by any means generally under- 

 stood. Eemember they do not want 

 saturation at the roots; they should 

 not be constantly sprayed overhead. 

 They do not need a warm house; 45 to 

 50 degrees at night is ample. They like 

 a soil containing some fine bone, which 

 builds up stocky, floriferous wood. They 



