18 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



May 23, 1912. 



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f SEASONABLE ^ 1 



^ ^ SUGGESTIONS ^ 



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Begonia Incamata. 



Begonia incamata is a useful winter 

 flowering variety. It cannot be grown 

 into a really salable plant, however, in 

 one season and for this reason is un- 

 likely ever to be a serious rival of B. 

 Gloire de Lorraine or B. Glory of Cin- 

 cinnati. It is not in good flower for 

 Christmas, but in January and February 

 it far outclasses Lorraine. Well grown 

 plants would easily command a fancy 

 price, for as a house plant it is away 

 ahead of Lorraine. Plants carried over 

 from last year, if they were cut back 

 and kept on the dry side for a few 

 weeks, will now be producing plenty of 

 nice, succulent cuttings, which will root 

 readily in a cutting bench such as you 

 would root roses in. The carried over 

 plants, provided they have not yet re- 

 ceived any attention, should be shaken 

 out, repotted and stood on the bench in 

 any light, airy greenhouse. Pinch back 

 any runaway shoots. About the middle 

 of June plunge these plants outdoors in 

 a bed of coal ashes and they will make 

 splendid, stocky plants for fall. They 

 '•an also be planted outdoors with other 

 fibrous-rooted varieties and, if carefully 

 lifted, will soon establish themselves in 

 pots and show little ill effect from their 

 lifting. 



Begonia Gloire de Lorraine. 



Now is the time when the old stock 

 plants of Lorraine are producing cut- 

 tings in abundance. These should be 

 taken off every few days and placed in 

 the cutting bench. Eooted cuttings 

 ./Should be potted off before they become 

 hard. It is a great mistake to leave 

 cuttings of any kind too long in the 

 sand, as they soon become hard and 

 stunted, especially now, when the 

 weather is so much warmer. The ear- 

 liest batch of plants will now be ready 

 for a shift into larger pots. Should 

 their balls be somewhat matted with 

 roots, loosen them a little with a pointed 

 stick. Use a light compost; one which 

 contains plenty of flaky leaf-mold is 

 what they revel in. Lorraine and Cin- 

 cinnati each like a fairly warm house 

 and they do not like heavy shade, but 

 just sufficient to break the direct sun's 

 rays. 



Marguerites. 



For some weeks yet marguerites 

 which have been grown fairly cool will 

 give a lot of flowers for cutting. For 

 Memorial day all flowers sell, and mar- 

 guerites are always favorites. Not only 

 will the cut flowers sell, but nicely flow- 

 ered plants are in demand. These are 

 not persistent bloomers, as are gera- 

 niums, but a good many in 4-inch and 

 5-inch pots are annually sold to plant on 

 graves or to go into window boxes. Do 

 not tell your customers that these will 

 flower all summer, as they will not, but 

 they will do service for a few weeks, 

 which is all that many ask of them. 



Cuttings rooted late and which are 

 now small plants can be kept potted 

 along through the summer, or, better 

 still, be planted outside. With the 



white varieties, planting out is the 

 best summer method of culture, as fine, 

 big plants are produced, which lift 

 easily in September. On the other 

 hand, yellow sorts are more liable to 

 go blind if planted out and we find they 

 summer better if kept in pots plunged 

 to their brims, and, furthermore, they 

 seem to enjoy a little shade through 

 the hottest months, such as can be af- 

 forded by standing lath shades over 

 them during the hottest hours of the 

 day. 



Geranium Stocks. 



The demand for geraniums is now 

 strong and Memorial day will see it at 

 its flood tide in many places. We hope 

 enough stock plants have been reserved 

 to provide cuttings for another season, 

 for too often growers never think of 

 stock for themselves until the selling 

 season is practically over, and, on look- 

 ing around, they find that they have 

 sold out almost clean on the more pop- 

 ular sorts. This should never be done 

 unless you are one of those who buy 

 rooted cuttings annually and grow them 

 on. There are no cuttings equal to good, 

 home grown ones, and, in order to have 

 an ample supply, the stock plants should 

 now go out in beds or nursery rows. 

 Never mind if you cannot fill every late 

 order. It is far better to turn down a 

 few of these than to deprive yourself of 

 stock. 



Nerines. 



The nerines, or Guernsey lilies, will 

 now be maturing tbeir foliage. The 

 proper place for them is on the shelf in 

 a cool greenhouse, or, if this is not at 

 command, a coldframe will answer ad- 

 mirably. Eeduce the water supply as 

 the/ibliage starts to fade, but not too 

 suddenly. In order to flower these 

 charming plants successfully it is neces- 

 sary to remember that they must have 

 their root action restricted. They will 

 not bloom unless the pots are matted 

 with roots. From the time the leaves 

 have faded until the flower spikes ap- 

 pear in September they must be kept 

 absolutely dust-dry, either under a sash 

 in a coldframe, or by laying the pots 

 on their sides or board shutters out- 

 doors. The long summer baking is just 

 as necessary as having the pots well 

 matted with roots. 



Amaryllises. 



The flowering season for amaryllises 

 is over and many growers are apt to 

 seriously neglect them through the sum- 

 mer. If fine spikes are wanted next 

 winter they must have the best of atten- 

 tion all summer. If an empty bench is 

 at hand plunge the pots in it, using any 

 old manure or leaves as a plunging ma- 

 terial. This will keep the roots cooler 

 and much reduce the necessary water 

 supply. Give some shade, sufficient to 

 prevent burning of the foliage, and 

 spray freely on warm, sunny days. Cold- 

 frames with the necessary head-room 

 will answer well for their summer cul- 

 ture where no greenhouse space is at 

 disposal. Plunge the pots up to their 

 brims. Give them some liquid manure 

 occasionally. Leave air on night and 

 day. Keep up this treatment and you 

 will be astonished at the bulbs you 

 will have next fall. 



I 



ARTIFICIAL 

 REFRIGERATION 



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AT THE DALE ESTATE. 



A few years ago the Dale Estate, of 

 Brampton, Ont., recognizing the impor- 

 tance of refrigeration as applied to the 

 storing of bulbs, valley pips, etc., in- 

 stalled a small refrigerating plant for 

 the cooling of two rooms. They found 

 that refrigeration was of considerable 

 assistance to their business in keeping 

 the bulbs in perfect condition, and, 

 owing to the increase in trade which 

 has taken place during the last two or 

 three years, they were soon compelled 

 to regard this cold storage space as 

 much too small. Accordingly, they 

 have just completed a concrete build- 

 ing, the overall dimensions of which 

 are 20x40x80 feet, and each story of 

 which is now stacked with several hun- 

 dred cases of valley pips. 



The building consists of two stories 

 and each story has been divided into 

 four rooms, which have been thorough- 

 ly insulated with cork; slabs 18x30 

 inches, and 2% inches in thickness, 

 were used for the purpose. After the 

 floors had been put down, cement was 



laid all over them, the cork insulation 

 being then set in and covered with a 

 good coating of cement. The parti- 

 tions and ceilings of the eight rooms, 

 each of which measures 8^x17x32 feet, 

 are composed of cork slabs joined to- 

 gether with tar, and present a finished 

 appearance, having also received a thin 

 coating of cement. In the center of 

 the building is an anteroom 10x14 feet, 

 specially arranged for the purpose of 

 handling the goods being conveyed into 

 and out of the rooms, so that the tem- 

 peratures in the various departments 

 may be maintained as level as possible. 

 Contiguous to this anteroom there is 

 another handling space, between the 

 outside entrance and the entrance to 

 the anteroom, while at the back of the 

 anteroom a staircase has been erected. 



The ground floor is entered directly 

 from the driveway. 



A refrigerating plant of twenty tons' 

 capacity has been installed by the 

 Linde Canadian Refrigeration Co., and 

 the various rooms have been piped with 

 the direct expansion system, to main- 

 tain them at a suitable temperature. 



