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THE FLORAL IVORLD 



The Floral World 



PUBLISHED MONTHT.Y BY THE 



FLORAL WORLD COMPANY, 



13 to 14 South Limestone Street, 

 Spbingpield, Ohio. 



Subscription Price, 25 Cents a Year. • 



Correspondence invited from all persons interested in 

 flowers. Write us your experience with plants. 



TIMELY PREPARATION FOR THE SUMMER 

 GARDEN. 



I start my bulbs from the 15th of 

 February to the 1st of March in my 

 pit. In starting seed, we must decide 

 just what we want them for, plan for 

 the summer beds, and allow for acci- 

 dents and failure to grow. 



For small seed I use shallow tin 

 pans, cans and boxes, good drainage, 

 and light, porous soil. For the finest 

 seed — double petunias, coleus and such 

 — I press soil into the box, sift seed 

 lightly over, then sift a thin layer of 

 soil over the seed. I cover all the seed 

 in proportion to its size. Take care in 

 watering seedlings of all kinds. Much 

 moisture causes them to "damp off." 



In starting bulbs of canna, dahlia, 

 and caladium, I use long narrow boxes, 

 eight inches deep, and when ready to 

 transplant, the boxes can be pulled 

 apart without injuring the roots. 



The bright flowers of the verbena are 

 indispensable for tubs, rockeries, and, 

 in fact, can be used almost everywhere. 

 They grow readily from seed and are 

 usually healthy from the start. 



Kentucky. Laura Jones. 



CANNAS FROM SEED AGAIN. 



If any of the readers of The Floral 

 World desire a bed of choice cannas 

 with very little expense, let them try 

 growing them from seed. Start seed in 

 February or March. Any good soil, 

 free from worms, will answer the pur- 

 pose. I bought one paper of seed of 

 the large, flowering kind, and it con- 

 tained twenty-four seeds — half of 



which are enough to furnish one large 

 bed. I soaked the seeds one night in 

 water, and in the morning filed 

 through the hard outside covering with 

 the sharp edge of a file. I used two- 

 inch clay pots, as I had a supply, set- 

 ting six in a large plant saucer for con- 

 venience in handling and watering. I 

 put only one seed in each pot and every 

 one grew and was shifted into a larger 

 pot as required. By placing a fiat 

 piece of broken crockery over the hole 

 in the bottom of the pots, and pressing^ 

 against it, the ball of earth may be 

 raised without disturbing the roots. 



Two plants proved to be the dark red 

 leaved variety and were placed in the 

 center, with others around them. I 

 had a variety of colors and Wris sur- 

 prised that they bloomed so early. 

 Give them plenty of water and fertil- 

 izer during the summer, and when the 

 tops have been frozen, lift the bulbs- 

 and place them in a dry cellar. Cover 

 over with sand. Care must be taken, 

 for, if too cold and damp, they rot; if 

 too warm and dry, they will fail to 

 come up in the spring. 



New York. Mrs. J. A. Adams. 



ABOUT WINTER-BLOOMING BULBS. 



Last winter I had lilies, hyacinths^ 

 narcissus of different kinds — oh, such 

 fine ones — crocus of many colors. They 

 all just bloomed and bloomed. People 

 would say: "How lovely your flowers, 

 are," and many a one found its way 

 to a sick friend or neighbor. I planted 

 them in pots and cans, any time in the 

 winter, set in cellar for a few weeks 

 and then brought to the sitting room. 

 My Chinese lily I planted in a dish, 

 with sand, pebbles and shells and 

 plenty of water, on the 9th of January, 

 and what a delight to watch it grow. 

 In three weeks from that day it had 

 open flowers, and soon there were 

 twenty-seven open, sweet-scented dou- 

 ble flowers on it. 



Ohio. E. Stewart. 



