56 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



JULY 



Outdoor and Indoor Activities 



KEEP the cultivator working overtime. There is nothing quite 

 as beneficial as cultivation; it beats manure and rain. Keep 

 the soil stirred up and let it breathe. The drier the season the more 

 cultivation becomes a necessity. In early July, sow Hollyhocks, 

 Gaillardia, Coreopsis, Pyrethrum, hardy Pinks, Shasta Daisies, 

 Columbine, Helenium, Delphinium, Anchusa, Sweet William, Rud- 

 beckia, hardy Primulas, Achillea, Heliopsis, Hibiscus and others. 



A planting of Gladiolus about the tenth will result in a late 

 crop of flowers. Sow another lot of annuals such as Zinnia, Larkspur, 

 Cosmos, Schizanthus, Calliopsis, Scabiosa, Candytuft, Salpiglossis 

 and Calendulas. 



Sow Cinerarias and Calceolarias, more Primula chinensis and 

 P. obconica, also P. malacoides. Attend to the shifting of the Cy- 

 clamens and Begonias, but do not overpot. It is time now to obtain 

 small table fern seedlings and pot them up into 23^s for next Fall. 

 If you can spare the bench room, you cannot devote it to anything 

 better than Boston Ferns. Small stock planted out now wiU result 

 in salable 5-in. and 6-in. pot plants by October. Plant Asparagus 

 Sprengeri in a deep bench or in large-sized hanging baskets ; you will 

 need the green during the Winter months. Bench Bouvardia Hum- 

 boldtii now. Sow seed of a good strain of pink Snapdragon for 

 Winter flowering. 



Carnations and Chrysanthemums 



Get the benches filled with soil and start to plant by the middle 

 of the month. Select cloudy days if you can, but do not wait a 

 month for them. Stock left in the field should be kept cultivated 

 and pinched back if you want to sell the plants for housing. If not, 

 let them flower; they wiU keep it up untU frost, and wiU pay well 

 for themselves if you are in a position to retail the flowers. 



Keep the newly housed plants pinched; don't overwater; and 

 cultivate the surface of the soil lightly, the oftener the better. Any 

 plant with the least sign of stem rot should be removed at once, and 

 a httle of the soU surrounding it as weU. Don't have shade on top 

 of the house any longer than is necessary, and spray the plants 

 rather lightly several times during the day. 



Shift and pinch the pot plants and pinch the Pompons. If the 

 plants in the benches are once well established there isn't much 

 danger of overwatering, but be careful just the same. 



Keep the stock sprayed regularly. Do not miss this, it will help 

 more than anything else to keep away trouble, not only in the way 

 ot bugs, but of disease also. There is stiU time to bench very late 



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