18 



The Florists^ Review 



Decbmbbb 26, 1912. 



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II SEASONABLE ^ 1| 

 jl ^ SUGGESTIONS j 



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Bftnsies. 



If you have what appears to be an 

 insufficient stock of fall-sown pansies, 

 you can increase your supply by sowing 

 seeds in flats now, in a cool greenhouse. 

 Sow the seeds rather thinly and trans- 

 plant into flats before they get drawn 

 or crowded. A temperature of 40 to 

 45 degrees for these should not be 

 exceeded. These pansies will not bloom 

 early, like the fall-sown ones, but for 

 late sales and summer blooming are 

 quite satisfactory. You can also sow 

 double daisies, Delphinium Chinense 

 and hybrid delphiniums now. All these 

 will flower next season. 



Hydrangeas. 



Hydrangeas are not so popular at 

 Easter as some other plants. They sell 

 better for Memorial day, but a good 

 many are annually disposed of. The 

 new race of French hybrids are now 

 more common, and as these make excel- 

 lent pot plants and are preferable in 

 many respects to H. Otaksa we look to 

 see a large sale for them the coming 

 Easter. AH the hydrangeas should now 

 go into heat. Do not use too warm a 

 house at first; 48 lo 50 degrees at night 

 will suffice. When nicely started they 

 can have 10 degrees more heat and, as 

 soon as the flower heads peep, even a 

 little more can be added. If pot-grown 

 through the summer it will be found 

 that they respond more quickly when 

 placed in warmth than do those potted 

 up in the fall. It would be well to re- 

 member that the pot-grown stock will 

 require a great deal more water than 

 the others. 



Bambler Boses. 



As in the case of hydrangeas, ram- 

 bler roses which have been pot-grown 

 will give much the best account of 

 themselves for an- early Easter, but fall- 

 potted plants can easily be flowered on 

 time. The day of Crimson Bambler as 

 an Easter plant has passed and the pink 

 varieties now have the call. A year 

 ago Dorothy Perkins, Tausendschon and 

 Lady Gay were leaders, with Hiawatha, 

 "White Perkins, Wedding Bells, Amer- 

 ican Pillar and one or two other sorts 

 all appearing in fair quantity. It used 

 to be considered that white plants only 

 could be sold at Easter, but now the 

 tendency is each year more marked to 

 buy colored ones, and white a year ago 

 was more druggy than any other color, 

 apart, of course, from lilies themselves. 



The roses must not be started warm. 

 Provide 45 to 50 degrees until they 

 break, after which give more heat, and 

 still more may be given in the final 

 stages if they seem at all backward, 

 but I do not like to run them over 60 

 degrees at night, as hard forcing makes 

 them soft and susceptible to mildew. 

 Spray freely until the plants break, 

 then more cautiously, so as not to get 

 mildew. Cold draughts and too much 

 moisture will soon start this trouble 

 and, as it renders plants practically un- 



salable, every care should be taken to 

 keep it away. / 



IiilacB. 



Pot-grown stock of lilacs imported 

 from Europe is now at hand. If wanted 

 for the flowers alone, keep them dark 

 and warm until the flowers start to ex- 

 pand, but if plants for store trade are 

 needed give them a hot, moist house, 

 frequent syringings and a cooler house 

 when the flowers start to open. If taken 

 from a warm house to a low tempera- 

 ture they will wilt badly, and it is well 

 to give these and all other deciduous 

 shrubs subjected to hard forcing a grad- 

 ual lowering of the heat to prepare 

 them for exposure to a comparatively 

 low temperature. • It is much too early 

 to start these or any of the other de- 

 ciduous flowering shrubs for Easter. 



Seed Sowing. 



There are a number of seeds which 

 can be profitably started now. The 

 germination at this early season will, 

 in nearly every case, be found much 



NEXT 

 WEEK 



ONE = 



DAY 



EARLY 



piECAUSE New Year's (a legal 

 ■^ holiday on which no union 

 printers work) falls on the day 



usually is printed, next week 

 the paper will go to press one 

 day earlier than usual. Ad- 

 vertisers and contributors are asked 

 to note that forms will close at 

 5 p. m. Monday instead of 5 p. m. 

 Tuesday. 



DON'T MISS IT 



better than if sowing is delayed a cou- 

 ple of months. Practically all seeds 

 want a light soil; one containing two- 

 thirds leaf-mold, one-third loam and 

 some fine sand to make it porous is 

 suitable. For such seeds as begonias 

 and gloxinias the soil is better steril- 

 ized. In fact, if facilities exist for ster- 

 ilization, and it is possible on nearly all 

 places, at least in a moderate way, it 

 pays to do it, for then all weed seeds, 

 fungoid germs, insect life and worms 

 are destroyed. 



A few seeds suitable for present sow- 

 ing are: Tuberous rooted begonia, 

 gloxinia. Asparagus Sprengeri and plu- 

 mosus, Ardisia crennlata, Grevillea ro- 



busta, antirrhinums for a late indoor 

 crop, ten weeks' stocks for a spring- 

 crop, Early Wonder or Queen of 

 the Market aster for an indoor crop,, 

 annual lupines, annual larkspurs,. 

 Dimorphotheca aurantiaca and Lep- 

 tosyne maritima, these latter annuals 

 all being serviceable plants to grow 

 for a spring crop, particularly where 

 fiowers a little out of the beaten track 

 are wanted. 



TOO MUCH rUMIQATION. 



Enclosed you will -find samples of 

 violets, carnations and heliotropes. 

 What seems to be the matter? I have 

 the violets on a south bench, part of 

 which gets no sun; the carnations are 

 in the same house, on solid beds, and 

 the heliotropes are in pots. I smoke 

 the house with tobacco stems twice a 

 week. The soil is black loam, enriched 

 with cow manure, well rotted. The 

 violets have not done well since I set 

 them in from outdoors. They are al- 

 most all affected more or less. I have 

 no success with alternantheras and will 

 send a sample. I brought in plants that 

 were doing as finely as one could ex- 

 pect, but in the pots and benches they 

 wither and finally get into the same 

 condition as the sample. Kindly help 

 me out. L. M. S. 



You are growing in one house a va- 

 riety of plants that require radically 

 different temperatures. For instance,^ 

 violets want a night temperature of 

 40 to 45 degrees; carnations, 50 to 54 

 degrees. Heliotropes will do well in 

 the carnation temperature, but would 

 be chilled with violets. Alternantheras 

 might winter at 50 to 54 degrees, but 

 would do much better 5 to 10 degrees 

 warmer. But the temperature alone 

 would hardly be responsible for your 

 scorched foliage, and the leaves for- 

 warded seem in each case to be burned. 



Tobacco stems are not now used as 

 they were even a decade ago. The va- 

 rious tobacco extracts, nicotine papers, 

 hydrocyanic acid gas and improved in 

 secticides to be used as sprays hav(»^ 

 relegated the tobacco stems to the rear. 

 They are cheap, but messy and danger- 

 ous unless used with considerable care. 

 They leave a disagreeable odor behind 

 them, making flowers unsalable for 

 twenty-four hours or more after using, 

 and if the user allows his stems to take 

 fire, which has probably been done with 

 yours, foliage and flowers both suffer 

 severely. I believe all your troubles 

 are due to too much smoke. The house 

 does not need fumigating twice a week; 

 once a week is ample, and where proper 

 spraying is done, little smoking is 

 needed. I would advise dropping to- 

 bacco stems in favor of one of the 

 nicotine papers. These leave no bad 

 smell behind them, are cleanly and will 

 not hurt the leaves or flowers. C. W. 



USELESS AFTEB BEINQ FOBCED. 



Are Paper White and French 

 Trumpet bulbs good to use after bloom- 

 ing once? If so, what is the right way 

 to dnr the tops — by letting them drv in 

 the flats or taking them out green? 



C. L. 



The Paper White and French 

 Trumpet Major bulbs are of absolutely 

 no value after being once forced, either 

 for forcing again or for outdoor culture. 



C. W. 



