246 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



Fig. 87. — Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum 

 cunbatum). Although there are several 

 newer varieties, of Adiantum, the old Maid- 

 enhair Fern is still popular and hard to 

 beat as a light, airy green for the florist 

 shop. If you have a warm house, a few 

 plants always come in handy in Winter 



best done during the Winter 

 months. Expose the little soil 

 you need for a few pans or 

 bulb-dishes underneath the 

 grate or a clean bed of hot 

 coals in your boiler for fifteen 

 minutes or so to kill all weeds. 

 Thoroughly soak the filled 

 pans before sowing them, 

 gently press the spores into the 

 surface, and cover the pans 

 with a pane of glass. After 

 that, rather than water with 

 the can, place the pan in a dish 

 of water until the soil is well 

 soaked again. The object is 

 not to disturb the seeds. At 

 all times keep the surface moist 

 and maintain as near 65 deg. 

 as possible in the house or 

 frame you have the pans in. 

 The young plants can later 

 on be transplanted into a fine 

 mixture of mellow loam and sand, and when large enough should be 

 potted up. For later potting a sandy loam with one-fourth cow ma- 

 nure will suit them nicely. If you want to grow plants on benches, 

 don't allow hot water or steam pipes to be directly under or near the 

 bottom of the benches. These ferns prefer a cool footing and a well- 

 drained, moist soil, but plenty of heat on top, and shade for bench 

 culture. Early Spring is the best time to get busy, and well-estab- 

 lished plants in 3J^-in. pots should be used. 



For pot culture the treatment is the same, and whenever you 

 get specimens in 5- or 6-in. pots they may be divided; this is best 

 done with plants which have been cut down and after they have been 

 kept in a cool house for awhile to rest. Toward early Spring, when 

 they again show signs of life, you can cut them into four or five 

 pieces, pot them up and bring them into warmer quarters. 



AGATH^A (BLUE DAISY) 

 The Blue Daisy, as the name indicates, is not a show flower, 

 nor one on which a fortune can be made, but belongs to the same 

 class as double Sweet Alyssum, Forget-me-not and Pansy. Every 

 retail grower always has among his customers a good number who 

 want these flowers during the Winter and early Spring months 

 whenever they can be had, and the Blue Daisy, for the space it 

 occupies and the care it requires, brings in as much as, if not more 

 than, anything else grown on the place. You don't want a house 



