^ 



•fTThc Florists^ Review 



Mabch 13, 1913. 



of New York state. I want them to 

 bloom next winter. If this method of 

 procedui-e is wrong, kindly tell me how 

 to go abotit it to get flowering plants 

 next winter. Is the c^op continuous 

 aftfer they once commence to bloom? 



A. E. B. 



Your plants have been started a lit- 

 tle early for next winter's crop. If 

 you. have any vacant bench it would 

 pay you better to plant them out now, 

 placing them twelve inches apart each 

 way, and get a crop of flowers through 

 May and June. If topped once, the 

 plants will send up five or six shoots 

 eadh, all of which should be allowed to 

 remain. An additional batch of seed, 

 sown now, will give you good plants 

 by the end of April, which can at that 

 tiihe be planted out in the field, kept 

 headed back, lifted and benched in the 

 early part of August for winter flower- 

 ing. Geo. E. Buxton, a successful grow- 

 er of Silver Pink snapdragons, puts 

 ea«h plant in a strawberry box, which 

 he covers about one inch', and when 

 lifting he thus gets a good ball of roots 

 and the plants sustain little check. Of 

 course, cuttings inserted now will also 

 make you nice little stock to plant out 

 about the last of April. Snapdragons 

 do not mind a little frost and should 

 be planted out earlier than such stock 

 as geraniums, verbenas and petunias. 

 C. W. 



SOWING SPSENGEBI SEED. 



Please let me know how to treat 

 Asparagus Sprengeri seed to get the 

 best results. Of some fresh seed that 

 I sowed, only a small percentage ger- 

 minated. C. B. 



Asparagus seed should be sown in 

 shallow flats, containing about two and 

 one-half to three inches of soil. A 

 good rule to follow in regard to the 

 depth of soil with which to cover the 

 seeds, is to use enough to cover them- 

 about the diameter of the seeds, or, in 

 the case of asparagus, generally to 

 cover them with about a quarter of an 

 inch of soil. A thin coveriog of sand 

 will answer well, and will keep the sur- 

 face of the soil from baking hard. 



Place the flats in a temperature of 

 65 degrees and keep them moist, but 

 not sodden, and there should be no 

 trouble in germinating the seeds, pro- 

 viding they are fresh, W. H. T. 



PRINCESS OF WALES VIOLETS. 



, When and how should Princess of 

 Wales violets be watered and sprayed, 

 and what ventilation is necessary dur- 

 ing and after the process! What are 

 the best temperatures in which to grow 

 themf During the month of Decem- 

 ber should they be treated different- 

 ly? How can aphis and red spider best 

 be fought? What is the effect of too 

 much heat and closed ventilators on 

 that violet? - E. L. 



Morning is the best time to do any 

 necessary watering. Never allow vio- 

 lets to become in the least dry at the 

 root, or they will suffer severely and 

 fall an easier prey to red spider. 

 When you do water, give a thorough 

 soaking. The proper night tempera- 

 ture for single violets is 40 degrees; it 

 should not exceed 42 degrees. No dif- 

 ferent treatment should be given in 

 December, with the idea of increasing 

 the pick. 



No spraying should be given except 

 near heating pipes, where spider is lia-, 

 ble to attack the plants. Spray with 

 nicotine or Aphine for green aphis, or 

 fumigate with one of the tobacco pa- 

 pers. Violets will not stand heavy 

 fumigation. They want abundant ven- 



tilation. Only on the coldest nigh 1 3 

 should the ventilators be closed. Tco 

 much heat and closed ventilators will 

 mean flowers off color, a heavy cro 

 of leaves, plenty of insect peats and au 

 early runnin* out of the plants. 



C. W. 



DOUBLE VIOLETS IN POTS. 



Can anyone tell me how to grow 

 double violets in pots to sell to locfd 

 trade? I once saw some that carried- 

 about seventy-five flowers to a pot an 1 

 they were beautiful. My location is 

 western Massachusetts. A. F. J. 



Good field-grown plants should be dug 

 up and potted in 6-inch or 7-inch pots 

 in August. Place in a coldframe at 

 first, keep freely aired and spray occa- 

 sionally until established. Place in a 

 cool greenhouse in September, giving 

 a night temperature as near 45 degrees 

 as possible. Bather let the heat run 

 a little lower than higher in winter. 

 Use soil such as you would grow roses 

 or mums in, with a good proportion of 

 decayed cow manure. Feed with liquid 

 manure occasionally when they are well 

 rooted in pots. You will find Lady 

 Hume Campbell the best variety to 

 grow. C. W. 



EUROPEAN NOTES. 



American readers are undoubtedly 

 aware of the extraordinary outrage that 

 was recently perpetrated by militant 

 suffragettes at Kew Gardens. The 

 glass in two orchid houses was 

 broken and hundreds of valuable or- 

 chids were torn from their pots and 

 trampled under foot. An envelope 

 bearing the words, "Votes for 

 Women," was found among the wreck- 

 age of glass and flower pots and the 

 greenhouses had the appearance of hav- 

 ing been swept by a terrible storm. 

 Just how this outrage is to help women 

 to obtain votes is difficult to conceive. 

 The damage is estimated at $1,000. 



The one hundred and ninth annual 

 meeting of the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety was held February 11. Twenty- 

 five years ago the society had 1,100 

 members; .today there are over 13,000 



BAkketk of Cut Flowers Have Come to the Front as Fioe Sellen at Easter. 



