THE proverbial bee-hive should be 

 a mighty slow place compared 

 to the greenhouse during Feb- 

 ruary. This month the sun gets 

 "over on the right side again," as the 

 gardener would remark, and vegetation 

 indoors grows apace. This, of course, 

 means more frequent watering, close atten- 

 tion to ventilation — in fact, close applica- 

 tion to all details if we are to take advantage 

 of the favoring conditions and profit 

 thereby. The sun gets rather high during 

 February and the plants that have been 

 rather inactive because of the short days 

 will start showing growth. This sign of the 

 renewal of life must not be neglected. 

 Plant food must be furnished and liberally 

 at that time. In some cases repotting 

 will be the best method to pursue. Nothing 

 must be allowed to become potbound at this 

 season of the year. When repotting is not 

 practical, liquid feeding must be resorted 

 to. This can be done very copiously when 

 plants are in benches. Of course you always 

 start feeding lightly, 

 and increase the 

 strength gradually. 



Because of the in- 

 crease of the sun's 

 strength the green- 

 house will require 

 more damping down. 

 This must be done re- 

 gularly to keep up 

 growth. The plants 

 must also be sprayed 

 more frequently to 

 keep down red spider 

 and other pests which 

 have no fondness for 

 water. In fact at this 

 season we should be 

 far more liberal with 

 our water supply than 

 we have been during 

 the short days of 

 winter. One of the 

 mostimportant duties 

 for February is the overhauling of the palm 

 or plant houses. 



PALM STOVE AND PLANT HOUSES 



All plants, foliage or flowering, which are 

 carried from one season to another in pots 

 usually go through a period of rest during 

 winter. We assist this by watering them 

 rather sparingly. But during February 

 these plants will show growth and need 

 attention. This cannot be held back any 



Repotting, Propagation, Summer Bulbs 



By W. C. McCoIlom, New York 



longer without taking chances of injuring 

 them. The best way to tackle the work 

 is to mix up a good batch of soil for repot- 

 ting. Good rich, heavy loam is necessary 

 for this class of plants and when potting 

 proper drainage must be provided. A good 

 soil compost is made as follows: About 

 six shovelsful of well rotted sod, about 

 two shovelsful of good, well decayed man- 

 ure, two 6-inch pots of bone (coarse) or the 

 same amount of horn shavings, with one 

 shovelful of clear, sharp sand added to 

 keep it open and free. In some cases it 

 is advisable to add leafmold to this mixture 

 to lighten it up, but this is mostly in the 

 case of ferns or light rooting stove plants. 

 It is always advisable to place about one 

 inch of broken crocks or sifted coarse 

 cinders to the bottom of the pot for drain- 

 age and cover this with a little sphagnum 

 moss to keep it open. I usually crock a 

 number of pots of various sizes, and do not, 



As sunlight increases plants will need more water, and will take more feeding 



under any circumstances, use dirty pots. 

 All pots must be clean. We are now ready 

 for the actual work of repotting. 



All plants that show the least signs of 

 being pot-bound should be repotted, and 

 when repotting always use a potting stick 

 and ram the soil firm. Also be sure that 

 you set the plant deep enough to allow 

 the pot to hold a liberal supply of water, 

 as plants of this class require more water 

 than most others. This is sometimes a 



hard matter when repotting some of the 

 heavy-rooted varieties, such as the phoenix 

 or pandanus, because of the heavy roots 

 which force their way to the bottom of the 

 pot. The best plan is to take a sharp 

 knife and cut these off. This is not harm- 

 ful; in fact, it is beneficial to cut a number 

 of these roots, as young fibrous feeding 

 roots will soon spring out from the fresh 

 cut. 



CARNATIONS AND ROSES 



The carnation house must have some 

 attention at this time if we wish to keep 

 up the quality of the flowers. Disbudding 

 must be attended to more regularly be- 

 cause of the increased growth. On fine 

 days the plants can be sprayed to keep down 

 red spider. This is dangerous in dark 

 weather, as it may promote rust. A good 

 mulch applied at this time will do more 

 than anything else to keep up the quality 

 of the flowers. This will prevent the rapid 

 evaporation of moisture from the benches 

 and will have a tend- 

 ency to keep a more 

 even condition in the 

 soil. This will main- 

 tain the size of the 

 bloom while a fre- 

 quent application of 

 soot (a 7-inch potful 

 dissolved in a barrel 

 of water) is the very 

 best thing to keep the 

 flowers from fading. 

 The mulch when ap- 

 plied should consist 

 of about four shovels- 

 ful of good, well 

 rotted manure, about 

 three shovelsful of 

 good turfy chopped 

 loam and one of bone- 

 meal. Be sure to 

 use bonemeal as it is 

 much quicker than 

 the coarse grades. 

 About an inch or an inch and a half of this 

 mulch should be applied to the benches. 

 In watering, however, always dig below 

 this mulch to ascertain the condition of the 

 soil as the mulch often appears fairly wet 

 when the old bench soil may be "bone 

 dry." Young carnation plants should now 

 be ready for potting in 4-inch pots which 

 will be their final shift. Do not, under 

 any circumstances allow them to suffer 

 as your next year's blooms depend in no 



