14 



The Florists^ Review 



July 4, 1912. 



THE EVERYDAY WORK. 



Refilling the Benches. 



* It'aiiiiig out and ii'lilliiiii hi'iiclios 

 nnd lit'ds, witli tlie afconiiKUiyinif hard 

 lalmi', do not, lortuiiatoly, conio under 

 the luMding of c\ cry-day work. It lias 

 liccn said tliat moving earth is the next 

 liai'dest task to moving heaven, and cer- 

 tainly, under the glass, with the .lune 

 nr ,luiy sun beating down upon tlie 

 Workers, tlieie are lew more ar<luous 

 ta-ks in the llorists" luisiness ;nid tlit^ 

 care of the young stodv in the Ix'iiehes 

 'onies as a jdeasing (diange. 



A rose tliat is iMMUg lai'gcdy ]danteil 

 this seasiin is liailiaiu'c. I'or som{> rea- 

 son tliis line \aiiety lias not. uji to the 

 I'l'esent, liad the l-ero;;n it ion it desei-\-es. 

 It is line (it' tlie must lieautiful in cul- 

 ti\ation. 'Jdie (-(dor is a sul't, lunii 

 ni'ii^. i(i-^y jiiiik. that is excn nini-e ;it- 

 ti:oti\c molcr artiliidal liulit than liy 

 day. It has L;i\en ns more Inii'.;- 

 -Ifuimed, lii-t Lirade IImwi'Is than any 

 I'thcr x.Miicty and i< a inaLmilii-ent grow- 

 cM', In --nme ]places il ((oiics with I'atlier 

 a weak neck, hut tlii- i< the only fault 

 that c:in lie urucd aLiaiu'^t il. (irnw it 

 ■-tronLily and the stcni-^ will lie heavy 

 enougll til cair\- the Idnnnis well. There 



are one nr t w u new |iinks that .ari^ lie- 

 ing I'lantc'l in j.lace ef it. loit. as far 

 a< 1 lia\e -cell, iidiii' call cmne up to 

 Ii'adiaurc', either t'er c(.dor (ir \'!i:iir. 



Some Pinks and Yellows. ' 



Mrs. Aamn A\'aid ]iro\ed a Ljre;it 

 d i-appniiit nii'iit here aiioni'j the yi'llows. 

 While tin- plants uli'W well and ll.iwered 

 I'lecdy, there was an aliseiu-e o|' long- 

 stemmed lliiwei-^. and the cM|,ir of jm 

 1 w II lliiw ers was exact 1 v alike. 



Snid.urst is ile-rrilie,| ;is yellow. 

 \v hi'di it i-^ not, lull it i-^ a Keaut ifiil 

 rose t'nr --pecial purpii>-es. It is pndt\- 



ill the I Old ;iiid extremely show\- e\en 

 when fully open, and will proliald\' lie 

 lai'LJely planted. Killarnev (jlueeii 



pronii-es -well, the coloi- and sulist.ance 

 of a few iliiweis that op(Mied on small 

 I'l.aiits lieiiiL: line, while the i:ruwfli a|i 

 pe.ars to lii^ all that can lie desired. 

 li'o>e (^lueen is truly lieautiful in color, 

 luit that is the only point in its fax'or 

 so f,ii' noticed. Ilowcxci', it is Tiiiicli 

 too eiiily to say anything .alioiit these 

 nii\ elt ies as yet. 



When the Soil Is Heavy. 



The treatment of the young sto(d< 

 after ]dantiiig de]iends to sonn* exttMit 

 ujion the nature of the soil. Soils that 

 are hea\v and iideiitixc of moisture 



often grow grand idses if the root 

 system of tlie young jdants is carefully 

 studied in the earlier stagi's. The thing 

 to avoid ia getting the soil wet and 

 inert outside the radius of the roots, 

 (lood drainage is essential, so that the 

 young ]dants can be watered more or 

 less daily in bright weather, and this 

 without wetting the surrounding soil. 

 .\ slight depression or "ilish" around 

 (>ach plant facilitates this and conducts 

 the water just where it is wanted. As 

 a general rule, this class of soil gets 

 sulliciently tirm without any ramming 

 or treading, though when there is plenty 

 of fiber jiresent, from decaying grass 

 roots in the sod, it is sometiines h(d[i- 

 ful. 



1 .always like to see a good crop of 

 ■weeds in the new soil, for a soil that 

 is so ''lazy"' that the summer weeds 

 will not thii\e in it will piohaldy fail 

 the roses at a critii-al t inie. 



When the Soil Is Light. 



^\'hel■(l the natural soil is liiiht and 

 ^andy or gia\idly. gi'ovvers are often 

 adxised to bring in hea\v soil to mix 

 with it, or to make solid beds above it, 

 the advisers jKHiitine mit the excid 

 lent draiiKiLie that the natural, gi'av- 

 <dly soil m;ike>-. There is, I bidieve. 

 no wiii'M' luediiiiii for Liiowini: I'oses in 

 than liea\\' soil .-iddeil to .-i iiatiir.'illv 

 li l:1iI one. 'file 1 oil I i II iia I w a t eri ni:' 



makes the upper layer wet and cohesive, 

 keeping the air from the roots that 

 will go down into the lower soil. Then 

 it is impossible to get water or feed 

 down througli the top layer; conse- 

 quently the top layer is sour and over- 

 rich, (piite nnsuitable for surface roots, 

 while below there is nothing to keep 

 the laiger roots going. It is far better 

 in such cases to build low benches and 

 ]dant in about live inches of the heavy, 

 imported soil. The roots are then al- 

 ways under control and their condition 

 as to jnoisture easily ascertained. 



The Annual Fight with Thrips. 



The annual fight against thrips is 

 now at its height, and while it seems 

 useless to try to e-\terniinate this pest, 

 yet unless it is fought unceasingly at 

 this time of year all the llowcrs will 

 be ruined. Southern growers are prone 

 to think they are the worst sufferers 

 in this I'espect, and say that northern 

 men have less trouble in keeping their 

 idants clean. But. from observations 

 in both the northern and southern ex- 

 tremities of the country, and also in 

 Canada, I think there is little to choose 

 between the various localities. No mat- 

 ter how clean the plants may be, the 

 lirst ujiward move of the ventilators 

 opens the way for millions of the in- 

 sects to enter the houses, and nothing 

 but constant sjiraying will keep them 

 in (liecdv. Any of the commercial in- 

 secticides are good when they reach 

 the inse(ds, but, safely hidden in the 

 |i(d;ils of the flowers, only a small per- 

 centage can be reached. 



Preventive measures consist of re- 

 moving all old llovvers, keeping the dis- 

 budding \vidl in hand and damping all 

 dry iil.aces in the houses several times 

 daily, to maintain a moist .atmosphere. 



PTERIS PARKERI. 



The great h'oyal Internat ioiuil Horti- 

 cultural ]''xliibi'i ion ;it 1-ondon without 

 ;i doubt s(d :t new high mark for llower 

 ■-hows — in every particular save one: 

 there were comparat ividy few novelties 



Pteris Parkeri. 



