THE FLORAL WORLD 



9 



THE NEW YEAR IN THE FLOWER 

 GARDEN. 



In flower growing, as in everything, 

 there is a starting point, and to succeed one 

 must begin at the beginning. One must 

 learn to make haste slowly and not go be- 

 yond his * present knowledge, and to 

 avoid extravagance. Begin with plants ot 

 easy culture and learn from them how to 

 succeed with other and more difficult 

 plants. The secret of success in flower 

 growing is selection — a knowledge of 

 flowers and their requirements before or- 

 dering them. Many plants will succeed 

 well in one locality while in another local- 

 ity the same plants will prove an utter 

 failure. Start slowly but with success 

 firmly rooted in your mind and success is 

 assured. Some people spend annually 

 hundreds of dollars on plants but they are 

 not necessarily the most successful or the 

 best gardeners, but the best is he who pro- 

 duces the best plants at the least expense. 

 The soil should be made rich and worked 

 deep at first, then keep the flower garden 

 always clean, for it is necessary to success. 

 One's taste and means should always 

 govern the extent of his flower growing. 



Ohio. Annice Bodey Calland. 



[ Our correspondent has certainly struck the 

 key-note of success. Observation is everything in 

 flovi^er culture. It is possible that it is by sticking 

 to their old adage, " Make haste slowly," that the 

 Germans are such successful gardeners.] 



EARLY BLOOMING PLANTS. 



In February or March we dig from the 

 woods the roots of bloodroot, spring beau- 

 ties, dutchman's breeches, isopyoums and 

 other early plants, and set them out in 

 shallow boxes where they will bloom very 

 soon if placed in a sunny window. They 

 bloom in the woods early in April and we 

 enjoy having them a month or two ahead 

 of time. They are particularly nice for 

 people who can not take care of house- 

 plants during the winter. We have also 

 taken up small roots of the old-fashioned 

 bleeding heart from the garden and had it 



bloom i n the window long before its time- 

 of blooming out of doors. It is a beauti- 

 ful plant for this use. So, also, is the lily 

 of the valley. Apple, peach, pear and 

 cherry twigs can be brought in a month or 

 six weeks before their time of blooming, 

 and if placed in a jar of water in a sunny 

 window will bloom very quickly. Such 

 foretastes of spring are very cheering; 

 when the weather is drear out of doors.. 

 Illinois. Mary Andrews. 



[ We imagine there would be some difficulty in.i 

 locating the bulbs of these plants at the time you. 

 suggest unless one marked them during the sum- 

 mer previous. Have you tried trillium grandiflora ? 

 This is one of the prettiest of native bulbous 

 plants, and should do as well as those you. 

 suggest.] 



TAKING TIME BY THE FORELOCK.. 



Those who wait until bedding time tO' 

 start seed and bulbs are usually behind 

 time the whole season and frost nips- 

 many plants before they are ready to-^ 

 bloom. Seed of the cosmos and dahlia 

 should be started in February. I start 

 mine about the fifteenth in shallow boxes 

 of rich soil — usually finely sifted woods 

 earth — and water well at the start and 

 then keep moist, but not wet,until well up. 

 I find it as injurious to 3^oung seedlings to- 

 become very dry as to keep them very 

 wet. Germination of the cosmos takes 

 place in from three to five days and of the 

 dahlia in from five to seven days. Some; 

 of the prettiest dahlias I had last year' 

 were grown from seed started in Febru- 

 ary. I have gotten a good start of a num- 

 ber of greenhouse seed started in this way 

 and only the finest of seed are very difficult 

 to manage. For the very fine seed I sift 

 the soil, press it down, sifting the seed 

 finely over the soil and then sift a fine 

 layer of soil over the seed. For very hard, 

 coarse seed I either file or soak a few 

 hours before planting. 



Kentucky. Miss Laura Jones. 



[ Have you tried some of the newer varieties of 

 dwarf early blooming cosmos. It is rather discour- 

 aging, even when one does start them early to have-- 

 plants cut dowm b-y the frost before blooming ] 



