May 9. 1012. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



19 



THE EVEBY-D AY WORK. 



Throwing Out Old Stock. 



' Most growers begin to throw out a 

 portion of their old plants as soon as pos- 

 sibly after the Easter cut is oflF. This 

 'spreads the work of replanting over a 

 longer season, saves employing so much 

 extra help and, incidentally, allows the 

 planting of considerable new stock be- 

 fore the summer. heat is at its greatest. 

 Looking at- the benches at this date, 

 one is often tempted to carry over to 

 another season stock that ought to be 

 thrown out.- The Teas9n is that almost 

 any kind of ".a plant^is, making good 

 growth, now, but. if this, worn-out stock 

 is allowed to go on and 'flower all sum- 

 mer, or even part of the summer, it will 

 be worthless during late fa^ll and winter, 

 when flowers are again in demand. 



From One Extreme to Another. 



But some people who have suffered 

 from leaving old stock in too long are 

 prone to .i^mp to the opposite extreme 

 and say that rose plants should be re- 

 ne'w-ed annually. Extremes are seldom 

 profitable, and the man who steers clear 

 of them and uses common sense instead 

 of sticking to hard and fast rules will 

 be ahead of the game. 



Take the case of American Beauty. A 

 frequent cause of failure is leaving the 

 plants too long in the same soil. It may 

 not be necessary to throw them away, 

 but I am positive that no Beauty is 

 good the second year unless it has a 

 good rest sometime during the season. 

 This rose is, strictly speaking, an old 

 French-raised hybrid perpetual, of the 

 same character as General Jacqueminot, 

 .and all such varieties need a rest. "With- 

 out it they keep on pushing shoots, but 

 not the class of shoots that. produce the 

 fine flowers characteristic "Stf this rose 

 at its best. 



Forcing Plants to l&sst. 



An excellent method wiii|Sf plants not 

 needed for flowering now is 'to dry them 

 off entirely and cut them back to within 

 about a foot of the soil. Then, when 

 Ih^ new soil has been placed in the 

 benches, replant and treat the same as 

 for established Beauties. It is useless 

 to wait for the plants to go to rest nat- 

 urally. Force them to rest by withhold- 

 ing water and lowering the temperature. 

 On solid, ground beds it will probably 

 be necessary to remove a good deal of 

 the soil to get the plants to rest. When 

 replanting, cut back the strongest roots 



considerably, and any that are bruised 

 or damaged in any way. 



Good Wood for Propagation. 



It is not too late for propagating, and 

 if late plants are likely to be useful a 

 good deal of the wood on any plants of 

 any variety may be used before throw- 

 ing them away. Such wood, in fact, is 

 better than the small, blind shoots that 

 are all that can be spared for the pur- 

 pose during the earlier months of the 

 year, when every bit of flowering wood 

 must be made the most of. Plants prop- 

 agated late are quite satisfactory for 

 following old stoclc kept for summer 

 flowering and thrown out in August — 

 better, in fact, than earlier propagated 

 stock that has been neglected owing to 



rush of other work and left in small 

 pots all summer. 



Young stock growing in ^'tha houses 

 needs constant attention now. Some- 

 times it is well looked after until potted 

 into 3-inch; then it is stood pot-thick 

 and allowed to drdw up arfd Ijecome 

 spindly, in which .casef it is no better 

 than later struck plants. At least once 

 in two weeks it slyould be gone over, 

 cutting all weak ShooVs clean out, re- 

 moving half open flowers and giving the, 

 plants a new stand/ Even th€ removal 

 of the plants from one bench to an- 

 other does a great deal of good, pre- 

 venting stagnation of air, about them 

 and improving their lappearance. 



The Sununer Flowering Stpck. 



The summer flowerinjg plants must not 

 be neglected. Kaisenn.^is pushing up 

 the fine, straight shoots characteristic 

 of the variety, and the roots' must be 

 well fed and plenty Of water allowed. 

 Keep the plants open and cut out all 

 useless spray. There i» little danger now 

 of checking the plants or losipg folia^ge, 

 provided the night temperature is kept 

 regular and plenty of aii" is allowed on 

 all possible occasions. Consolidate the 

 growth, as it is produced, bj^ this plen- 

 tiful air supply and by keeping the glass 

 free from all obstructions to the light. 

 The same holds good for summer Kil- 

 larney. White Killarney, Richmond, Ka- 

 diance and others, none of which will 

 stand for neglect if good flowers are to 

 be produced. 



GETTING BEADY FOR JUNE. 



It takes about three weeks to flower 

 lily of the valley, provided the proper 

 bottom heat and top temperature can 

 be given it. Cold storage pips from 

 now on will be used exclusively and 

 these give excellent results if the pips 

 are not kept in too low a temperature. 

 At 26 to 28 degrees they will not take 

 any harm, but at 18 or 20 degrees a 

 large proportion of the pips will be de- 

 stroyed. Always soak in water for a 

 few hours to plump them up well before 

 starting. This makes quite a differ- 

 ence in the way they start. Keep close 

 and dark until the stalks are half 

 grown. Then gradually increase the 

 light. Use no water overhead after 

 the flowers are expanding, for fear of 

 spotting them. At this season there is 

 less danger from this cause than in 

 winter. If you want good foliage, and 

 after all valley without leaves is worth 

 little at this season, you must give the 

 plants good light after the first ten 

 days. If you want valley with fine, 

 dark foliage, equal to the outdoor arti- 

 cle, grow the pips in full light all the 

 time. The stems will come shorter, but 

 the splendid leaves will fully counter- 

 balance this. 



Valley of fine quality can be produced 

 in frames after the early part of May. 

 All that is necessary is a well built, 

 close frame. For a week or two longer, 



a little bottom heat will be an advan- 

 tage; after that it is not necessary. 

 Put six inches of sand over your ma- 

 nure and plant the pips in here as you 

 would in your frame in the greenhouse. 

 The frame can be partitioned so that 

 you can have two or more batches com- 

 ing on and give it the proper treatment. 

 In the increasing solar heat it will be 

 comparatively easy to maintain a brisk 

 heat in the frame. Don 't overdo the 

 heat, however, or you will get leggy 

 stalks. 



In June, the season of weddings, the 

 demand for valley is quite heavy, and, 

 in order to be prepared for this, a 

 frame should be prepared at once. 



COLD STORAGE VALLEY. 



Can you give me any information on 

 the forcing of cold storage valley? 



W. K. L. 



When received, if the pips are frozen, 

 allow them to thaw out before unpack- 

 ing them. Then lay them in a tub of 

 water for several hours. Valley, no 

 matter whether cold storage or other- 

 wise, likes a good bottom heat. There- 

 fore, arrange your bed so that this can 

 be given it. Of course, after the end of 

 May bottom heat is less necessary, but 

 it assists even in the summer months if 

 you can apply a little. Plant the pips 

 in six inches of clean sand. It is not 



