February, 1920 
t3be Slower (Brower 
17 
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MRS. AUSTIN’S TALKS 
= [ W ritten txfrtiily fer The FI 0Wtr Grtwer. ] 
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February Hints. 
T HE real gardener is 
generally happiest 
when he is the busiest 
and after the usual 
wid-winter rest, enforced by 
the biting cold (in central 
Ohio) he is fairly itching for 
some out-of-door work, and 
by the time that Mr. 
Groundhog has seen or 
failed to see his shadow, he sallies forth 
to work off his surplus energy and en- 
thusiasm, but it is not necessary to 
give even a thought to cherry trees 
when there are many other things that 
really need attention. 
It is a fairly good rule to leave the 
pruning of the grape vine until Wash- 
ington’s Birthday. There is no danger 
of the vine “ bleeding ” and our gar- 
dener has something pleasant to look 
forward to that day. That vine on the 
trellis by the kitchen door probably 
needs it badly. It shaded us so long 
and yielded its fruit so freely that each 
trendril has become endeared and we 
are loth to part with them, but we 
must not forget its needs, if we wish 
it even heavier foliage, and greater 
yield of fruit, and should prune it 
closely. 
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Trimming the Hardy Hydrangea. 
There is the Hydrangea tree (Panic- 
ulata) still holding its panicles of 
bloom, not withered, but dried to the 
brownish gray of midwinter. This 
unlike some shrubs, blooms on new 
wood and must be cut back closely. 
You may have trimmed this shrub 
yearly and been rewarded so hand- 
somely that you feel like cutting back 
every shrub you come to, but you 
would soon learn your mistake. All 
early blooming shrubs bloom on last 
year’s wood and after you have 
trimmed that Hydrangea to suit your 
fancy, if the next shrub nearest you 
happen to be a Wiegelia or other early 
blooming variety and you prune it in a 
similar manner, you will discover next 
spring that you have cut away the 
flowering wood, and your shrub will 
furnish you a good growth of foliage 
but no blooms. 
It is well to keep in mind that all 
early flowering shrubs 
bloom on last year’s wood 
and should not be pruned 
until after blooming. Then 
with the pruning should 
come good cultivation to 
induce strong growth of 
new wood for the following 
spring blooming. 
Unless these shrubs are 
large many of them need 
very little trimming, espe- 
cially if they are of the fountain shaped 
or drooping varieties, but may be 
thinned by cutting out the old wood, 
perhaps that part that has become tall- 
er than we wish. In the thinning pro- 
cess the growth should be cut close 
to the ground. 
Mrs. A. H. Austin. 
Guide for Horticultural Exhibi- 
tions and Garden Competitions. 
We are just in receipt of U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture Circular No. 
62, by F. L. Mulford. This bulletin we 
should call, as the above heading indi- 
cates, a useful guide to those who 
wish to stage exhibits of fruit or flow- 
ers. The bulletin which contains 38 
pages with many illustrations, covers 
not only the subject of proper arrange- 
ment of the exhibits, &c., but gives 
a general discussion of the subject in- 
cluding organization, competitions, 
classification and schedules. 
Flowers especially mentioned are the 
Narcissus, the Iris, the Peony, the Rose, 
the Sweet Pea, the Gladiolus, the Dah- 
lia, and the Chrysanthemum. These 
cover the better known outdoor sum- 
mer-flowering plants and the informa- 
tion given in the bulletin could easily 
be applied to the staging of a competi- 
tion of most any variety of flowers. 
Illustrations and descriptions are 
given of suitable tables, benches and 
shelves for staging competitive ex- 
hibits, also suitable labels for marking 
exhibits and a scale of points is given 
for the judging. Altogether we are 
disposed to commend this bulletin ex- 
ceedingly for the useful information it 
contains and we recommend that those 
who have charge of the promoting of 
flower shows should send for a copy 
and keep it on hand for reference. 
The popularity of the Poinsettia as a 
Christmas flower is increasing and we 
will be glad to have a brief article with 
some suggestions for the care of same 
so as to carry them over from one year 
to the other. Also some suggestions 
about the propagation will be interest- 
ing. 
Cut flowers, as most everyone knows, 
are kept longest by cutting off small 
portions of the end of the stem each 
day and fresh water supplied ; but 
there are exceptions in the case of 
plants with milky juices like Poinset- 
tias and Poppies. 
St. Thomas Horti- 
cultural Society. 
AN UNUSUAL CO-OPERATIVE FLOWER 
GROWING PLAN. 
In a recent personal letter from Dr. 
Frank E. Bennett, President of the 
Horticultural Society of St. Thomas, 
Ont., he incidentally gave some infor- 
mation about the unique and splendid 
work of his society, and this appeared 
to me so interesting that 1 asked and 
got his permission to make an extract 
of that part of his letter which relates 
to the work of the above named society, 
and send it along to The Flower 
Grower. I am sure it will interest 
many others as it interested me. Dr. 
Bennett says : 
“ Our work is very different from a dealer’s. 
A dealer claims he has no time to educate 
the public, but right here is where we step 
in and insist upon the educational feature. 
We buy all the good things of each of the 
good hybridizers and get some enthusiast to 
grow certain varieties, and as they bloom 
they are exhibited in a local jeweler’s win- 
dow, not a big exhibit at any certain time 
but a small one every day. Each bloom is 
put up individually in a cut glass vase and 
correctly labeled, also giving the name of 
the originator and of the person who grew it. 
“ This exhibit idea is original on my part 
and is now being copied by many Ontario 
societies. We used probably 45,000 Gladioli 
last year. You would be surprised at the 
letters which we receive from prominent 
men all over the country, who are interested 
in our work, and ask us to secure bulbs for 
them. 
“ Think of a town of 18,000 people with a 
Horticultural Society of over 2,000 members 
and receipts over $10,000 for 1919 ! There 
are flowers everywhere. One man sent me 
last Monday a check for $100 just for the 
good of the cause. He lives in a city 18 
miles from here and has no property in our 
city. That’s the way the people appreciate 
our work. 
“ We have church organizations growing 
flowers for pulpit decorations on Sunday, to 
give to the sick in their congregation and for 
any other purpose, and we, as an organiza- 
tion, grow probably 5,000 Glads and we keep 
our local hospital flooded with flowers. If a 
man of note comes to town, he is sent a 
bouquet and a letter of welcome from our 
society. If an out-of-town society holds a 
show, we send them a contribution. We 
preach the gospel of flowers 365 days in the 
year, incidentally advertising the ‘ Flower 
City.’ ” 
-X- * * * 
You cannot read this without wish- 
ing that you had a horticultural 
society of this order in your town, or 
rather, that you had a man or men, 
who could create such a society. 
The hat off, deep, for St. Thomas 
Horticultural Society and its wide 
awake and energetic president, and a 
generous number of cheers for “ The 
Flower City of Canada.” 
Kristian Prestgard. 
Those who are able to secure good 
germination from bulblets find that the 
purchase of bulblets is the cheapest 
way to get a good start with Gladiolus 
varieties that they are interested in. 
Some growers are offering bulblets at 
very low prices at the present time. 
