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Van ipr ee | mda 9 ical i es a IN j : CE 3 a « is & «Ks < qc ca . ee” ae ame, < ae EO SS apna A AAA sai A AA AA nn i | a A ‘ala Akar Ga GE Se i ee ae — . PS - q ‘ - / PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE; A GUIDE TO THE SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION OF FLORISTS’ PLANTS, FOR THE AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL FLORIST. NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION. BY PETER HENDERSON, AUTHOR OF “GARDENING FOR PROFIT,” JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS. ILLUSTRATED. . Pee a { at OA a (Scena aA a 1874... wa: Le ASHINGIS NEW YORK: 4 ORANGE JUDD. COMPANY, 245 BROADWAY. | Sy 4. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by the ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ‘ CONTENTS. MATLOGUCHION Jaciccss sc ce eves sna yatevanateg ce ata. oletorateraleders.ara-o aie bat disters 6 oc crerote sie clare ateeralots 5 PT taG ee TONS C COTM GS EIGICLOM sce eis atals clerete, pate ar orsyele tise sage a> «1619's | AValee nie aisae tas % CHAPTER I. PR SCH AIG SOUL. cis «cite sei oie 50 CHAPTER IX. GunNSEnUICTONN Or HOtDed Ses cctazars aie oetana ose oie alale inieionstove © stale fo arelbie iereloicrera) «aerate 52 CHAPTER X. ETC OR-NOUSEHSUUCKUIECS osc. eect tas) ile satete ol cole stele Fate. siete sickle alorete Relonie ae 53 CHAPTER XI. Grecn-nousesvAttacheds tow Wellimas fo .i,.' ane ce ose eee 194 CHAPTER XXVIII. RAAT RRE NAS ISE crcl cis wie airman eS wie ore niele fans [K wM =e lies 8 Eavoaine ee wae BS AE Ci 196 CHAPTER XXIX. pporiar or Window: Gardemine, .oss'.\oh cies 2S. bs es dae. 2 oe ae 199 CHAPTER XXX. a Vwarclisin Cases. Mernenies, (CbG: &..toc-tsr duc. e DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS. thy a play-ground for children, surrounded by seven deciduous shade trees, which might be, in preference, the Silver- leaved Maple (Acer dasycarpum,) a-healthy, strong-grow- ing, and clean tree. At 15, for variety of foliage, a Weep- ing-Willow. 16, a hedge-row of Siberian Arbor-vite. 17 is a flower-bed, with an outside border made of the small-leaved, trailing Juniper, or Juniperus procumbens. This magnificent plant, which, in small beds, forms the densest glaucous-green carpet, may be easily trained for a border by planting small young plants at 8 to 10 inches apart, and then guiding the main leader with small wooden pins in the direction of the border. It offers something entirely new in color and shape, and it is to be regretted that it is so little in use. A second border, immediately arotind the flower-bed, affording a greater contrast in color, would be the small Tom Thumb Arbor-vitz—a very precious novelty, too, or account of its very dark foliage. At 18, on the north-west side of the house, there would be a very favorable location for a group of Rhododendrons and other so-called North American evergreen shrubs. At 19, may be placed two single bushes of Calycanthus floridus, or, still better; two large vases or other pieces of statuary. At 21, a circle, to be decorated with a purple Beech, or a good specimen of the Kilmarnock Willow. At 22, all along the eastern boundary, a row of Norway Spruces, Balsam Firs, and American Arbor-vite, in the rear, planted at sufficient distance from each other to per- mit a second row in front of them (alternating), about 4 or 5 feet from the side of the walk. In this front line ought to be employed Siberian Arbor- vitze, Irish and Swedish Junipers, Golden Arbor-vite, Up- right Yews, Retinispora ericoides, and Podocarpus. At 22 a, in the rear of the play-ground, there ought to be the following shrubs, in three rows; for instance, in the 18 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. rear, the Venetian Sumac, Cercis Siliquastrum, and Cercis at enais. Double White and Red Flowering Thorns, American Mountain Ash, etc., etc., but no larger trees. In the second row there aoe be planted (alternately) the Purple Hazel (or Filbert), the Halesia. tetraptera, some Philadelphus, Euonymus, and Rose of Sharon. In the third row, still smaller sorts, closing down to the edging, such as the Purple Barberry, Hypericum Kalmia- num, Daphne Mezereum, Cotoneasters, Prunus Sinensis, and Prunus triloba. Herbaceous Plants, like Peonies, Iris, Phloxes, etc., etc., may be added, too, to great ad- vantage. At 23, the group near the front fence must be stocked with such shrubs as will prevent outsiders from troubling the privacy of the place, but low enough to allow the in- mates to see the street from the piazza or first floor. The following plants may best answer, viz.: Spirea Reevesii fl. pleno, Spirzea prunifolia, and Spireea callosa, Deutzia crenata fl. pleno, Crateegus Pyracantha (near each gate), and in front of these, towards the house, Hypericum Kalmianum, Deutzia gracilis, Spirea Fortunil, and some herbaceous plants. 24, a corner group, ought to be filled in the rear with one or two Virgilia lutea, and in front of these there should be some five or six Aisculus macro- stachya, a shrub of a remarkable fine effect. At 25 and 26, the two small groups could be employed for Hydrangeas. 27 and 28 require, to hide the hen- yard, some taller shrubs of the following sort: the Cali- foruian Privet, some Lilacs, and the Golden Elder Cen cus nigra aur ea) The small border, 29, may be employed for some espaliers of Pears tees or Medlars. 30 is intended for flower-beds, arranged in the most simple way, and which ought to be filled in the fall with Dutch bulbs for the spring season, and in summer with fine selected bedding plants, of very distinct colors, but DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS. 19 each separate color in one strip; or with annuals, like Por- tulaca, Phlox Drummondii, Nemophilas, ete., ete. At a,in Div. 30, there may be some Magnolias, a Cercis Japonica, and one Berberis macrophylla, or Japonica. By mentioning exactly all the sorts of trees and shrubs that Imight employ, I do not intend to say that the laying out may be a failure by employing other sorts, as corres- ponding varieties in size and foliage will answer just as well, but it will be noticed that I have mentioned no trees of large size, except along the eastern boundary and the play-ground. Indeed, of what use would it be to employ Sugar Maples, Elms, Norway Maples, and Sycamores, which after a few years would cover up half the width of the place, and leave no room for good shrubbery and flow- ers; allow no sun in the place, and even prevent the turf GS, Fig. 2.—SECTION OF ROAD WITH SINGLE DRAIN. from growing under their extended shade? It would be as sensible as to place in a small drawing-room a table, of which the four corners would touch the four walls. In the selection of the right kind of plants is the whole secret of the art. The walks in such a regular garden must be as well graded as possible, and on the same level as the turf, which ought not to overreach them more than 1 or 1} inch. Very narrow walks, unless the grass is frequently clipped, often look like ditches. To establish such walks, if there is any drainage re- quired, the digging out of the soil before stoning ought to be as clearly defined and done as well as the dressing of the top. The best way to dig them out is, in general, for single drains, according to the diagram, figure 2, and where 20 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. double drains are required, I generally recommend the following system, shown in figure 3. It will be seen by the first diagram that the bottom of the ditch represented in the cut is an inclined plane, run- ning downwards from one side of the walk toward the opposite side to the drain, which I figure here simply as a stone drain. The stoning is to be laid uprightly, and never flat, on the hardened bottom of the ditch or dug- xt Ee Ws V1) € WW \ \ ae eee C.\UNNW\\ VEER ase V7 AK A XN \ \y SY KW \N \ \ Fig. 8.—SECTION OF ROAD WITH DOUBLE DRAINS. out trench; if laid flat, the stones will never bind together, but if upright, they will soon become tight by the intru- sion of the gravel that has to be put on top of them. The depth of the trench depends very much on the quality of the subsoil, and has to be regulated by it, and so with the ditch for the drains. Such walks also depend very much on the quality of the soil, and very often, indeed generally, on the facility of procuring the materials. In some places I have seen walks and roads made by simply scratching off three or four inches of light top soil, beneath which was gravel several feet deep. Such a road may be dry, but is very noisy, tiresome, and movable. In other instances I have seen walks made by opening ditches over four feet deep, only for the sake of burying rocks and saving the soil found in digging; these form very fine drains, and help to clear the land of boulders and rocks, as is the,case on top of Orange Mountain, N. J. The second diagram (fig. 3) shows the section of a walk or drive requiring more drainage. The bottom between the two drain ditches forms a curving line, on which, if well placed, the stones will soon form an arch, and give the road all the qualities required. DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS. 21 -The depth here is not as much regulated by the uality of the soil as by the width of the drive or roads. The more convexity given the bottom, the better for the absorption of the water by the drain, which ought to be at least 12 inches deeper than the extremity of the curve, whilst the top of the curve must remain at least 6 inches below the top of the road or drive. Frequent raking, to remove the larger gravel or pebbles, and more frequent rolling during damp weather, are neces- sary for new walks. If good clay is at hand, a thin coat of it may be put between the coarse and the fine gravel on top. Gutters made of flagstone, or simply paved, will be needed only where there is a great descent and a large accumulation of water above, or sometimes even where the ground is very light and sandy, although the surface may slope but very little. In uneven grounds, drives and walks are to be made in the same manner, but their finish and beauty will never depend upon themselves, nor upon the way in which they are laid down. An additional, correct grading of the grounds, right and left, so as to bring the sod every- where at equal height over the gravel, and then a careful grading of the grounds 3, 4, to 6 feet off the margin, where the soil rises or falls, is indispensable in such cases to make a finished drive. The staking out of such uneven walks, and the regular distribution of their grading, to avoid unsightly ups and downs, is a matter of taste and practice, ruled by the shape of the land and the direction of the walks. DESIGN FOR A FLOWER-GARDEN. We give in figure 4 (next page) a design for a regular flower-garden, intended for the ornamenting of the foot of a terrace, built in front of a large villa. eee te 2 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. The terrace is intended to be of a heavy stone work, about three feet above the ground, with a projection in or 0 OS OF OF Of OF nue LOOt Fig. 4.—DESIGN FOR A FLOWER GARDEN. the middle and two steps on each side, leading to the main walks in the flower-garden. Such an arrangement, often seen in English villas, or in English designs, belongs only to large pleasure grounds, and may be considered as the real “dress ground.” DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS. 23 This design has been expressly made with the view of keeping in order cheaply. ’ The lawn, or what is to be kept in sod, is as much as possible in regular straight lines, easily mowed with some of the patent lawn-mowers. The walks are wide, as, starting from the bottom of the terrace, they will be overlooked the whole length from the top, and would appear scanty if not of liberal dimensions. The place is intended to be kept as private as possible,— a sort of open-air saloon,—by a belt of selected shrubbery, and shade trees in its rear. At 1, there are seats indicated in several recesses cut into the shrubs, the seats to be of heavy timber, as stone would be rather too cool, and iron or rustic work not looking architectural enough. At 2, there are pedestals for pieces of statuary, or vases or large specimen plants in painted boxes. At 3, 4, and 6, groups of Roses, bedding-out plants of broad, showy foliage, or flowering shrubs, such as Hydran- geas, which continue long in bloom. At 5, the centre piece, there is a large flower-bed for Scarlet Geraniums, Feverfew, etc., surrounded by a border of Irish Ivy, kept in line, so as not to exceed 12 to 18 inches in width. Such borders of Ivy, if employed in the right place, and well kept in order, are a magnificent ornament to a garden, and, according to their location, may be kept 3 and 4 feet wide. A very little covering in winter will keep the foliage, of the right sort, in very good order. In the large squares, plainly sodded, that are in the gardens of the Louvre and the Tuileries, at Paris, there is no other ornament but such borders of broad-leaved Ivy, established at 3 to 4 feet from the walks, and left running about 2 to 3 feet wide; and they make, with the dark green or the lighter turf, a most striking show. PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. Viana SHUR TES (tinier peor UTS rex GREEN . 5. —DESIGN FOR A PARTERRE.—Aee page 23. Fig DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS, ‘D5 Fig. 6.—DESIGN FOR A FLOWER-BED IN A WALK.—(See page 25.) shade of the balustrade, there will be a very good location for hardy Rhododendrons, and similar shrubs. DESIGN FOR A PARTERRE, The design (figure 5) represents a parterre to be Fig. 7.—DESIGN FOR FLOWER-BED IN A WALK.—(See page 26.) established in front of a large green-house, or conserva- 26 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. tory, and bringing together, in one single spot, all the flower-beds generally scattered over the lawn, on a large place. For privacy, it is surrounded by a belt of flower- ing shrubs. Two principal flower-beds, at 1 and 2, are intended to be surrounded by a small evergreen border, kept for itself, ’ Fig. 8.—FLOWER-BEDS AT THE JUNCTION OF WALKS.—(See page 26.) and not to be considered as an edging; small edging-box might answer best. At 8, there are recesses for statuary, behind which the foliage ought to be of the darkest kind, to keep the white statuary well in sight. DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS. Q24 At 4, similar recesses for seats of heavy timber. At 5, in front of the green-house, alternating with the fiower-beds, are single, upright-growimg evergreens, sym- metrically planted, such as Irish and Swedish Junipers, Taxus erecta, Podocarpus Japonica, Retinispora, ete. 1 At 6, single specimens of shrubs of medium size, Fig. 9.—FLOWER-BEDS AT THE TERMINUS OF A WALK. remarkable for their flowers, fragrance, or fine foliage ; for example, Deutzia crenata flore pleno, Pyrus Japonica, Cratzegus Pyracantha, or the Prunus triloba. FLOWER LEDS IN WALKS, OR JUNCTIONS OF WALKS. Figure 6 (p. 23), and the three following illustrations, are designs for introducing ornamental planting where oppor- 28 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. tunity offers along the course of a walk. In figure 6, the walk divides and passes each side of a bed of choice shrub- bery, while the opposite sides of the walk are planted with some of the select shrubs already named, or others. By the judicious use of flowering shrubs, and the low-grow- ing evergreens, very fine effects may be produced. In figure 7, is a similar but more elaborate plan, which allows of the introduction of flowers in masses ; such an arrange- ment would be very appropriate for a rose-garden. In fig. 8, we have a design for ornamenting the point at which two walks unite at right angles. The planting may be of Ivy, Trailing Juniper, and other low-growing Evergreens, upon a ground-work of well-kept grass, or flowers may be introduced. In figure 9, we have a bit of ornamental flower garden at the terminus of a walk. What has been said of the selection of shrubs, etc., in describing the larger designs, will be a sufficient guide in carrying out these smaller plans. CHAPTER IV. PLANTING OF FLOWER-BEDS. Much difference prevails in the modes of planting flower-beds, some holding to the promiscuous intersper- sion of the different plants, others to the ribbon or carpet style of planting, now so general in Europe. If the pro- miscuous system is adopted, care should be taken to dis- pose the plants in the beds so that the tallest plants will be at the back of the bed, if the border is against a wall or background of shrubbery, the others gradating to the front, according to height. In open beds, on the lawn, the tallest should be at the centre, the others grading PLANTING OF FLOWER-BEDS. 2a down tothe front, on all sides, interspersing the colors so as to form the most agreeable contrast in shades. But, for grand effect, nothing, in our estimation, can ever be produced in promiscuous planting to equal that obtained by planting in masses or in ribbon lines. In the grounds of the Crystal Palace, near London, and at the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, wonderful specimens of this mode of planting are to be seen. The lawns are cut so as to resemble rich green velvet; on these the flower-beds are laid out in every style that art can conceive; some are planted in masses of blue, scarlet, yellow, crimson, white, etc., separate beds of each, harmoniously blended on the carpeting of green. Then, again, the ribbon style is used in the large beds, in forms so various that allusion can here be made to only a few of the most conspicuous. In a circular bed, say of 20 feet in diameter, the first line towards the grass is blue Lobelia, attaining a height of 6 inches; next comes the famous Mrs. Pollock Geranium, occupying the space of 14 foot wide and 9 inches high, with its gorgeous leaves and flowers ; then, against that, is aline of Mountain of Snow Geranium, with its silvery white foliage and scarlet flowers, backed hy the chocolate- colored Coleus Verschaffeltii; the centre being a mound of scarlet Salvia. Another style is a fringe for the front of the fern-like white-leaved Centaurea gymnocarpa; back of that is the Crystal Palace Scarlet Geranium; then Phalaris arundinacea picta, a new style of Ribbon Grass ; next, Coleus Verschaffeltii, and, in n the centre, a clump of Gonna. or Pampas Grass. During my visit to Europe last year (1872) I visited the celebrated Battersea Park, the most interesting, in a horticultural view, of the many parks in the neighbor- hood of London. A feature peculiar to Battersea Park is the subtropical and alpine planting, both of which as here done were to us a novel feature of landscape-gardening. It was interesting to see how common and rough-looking 30 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. plants were made to produce such wonderful effects when grouped and contrasted in the subtropical arrangement. The plants used were mainly Cannas, Japanese Maize | (striped), Wigandias, Ferdinandas, Bocconias, Sola- nums, and many of the tall-growing sorts of Amar- anths. These were grouped in beds of every conceivable form, some clearly defined on the broad lawn, some skirt- ing the edge of a clump of trees, others planted in and among the trees and shrubbery as undergrowth, giving the impression when looking at it under the leafy shade of trees that you were viewing an undergrowth of the tropics rather than a piece of the most artistical planting of an English park. One particular spot, which will not soon be forgotten, is a ravine of considerable extent, well shaded by tall trees, where were planted immense plants of tree ferns, the stems covered with Lycopodium, so ex- actly as to resemble what would be their condition in nature. Behind these and against the blue sky stood out strongly some gigantic Palms, so that we had here again a glimpse of what an Australian or Indian forest might seem. In direct contrast to these was a hill, a miniature Alp, planted from base to nearly the summit with alpine plants of the rarest kinds, among which were largely in- terspersed Sedums, Sempervivums, and other succulents, in rarity and variety sufficient to give joy to a botanist’s heart. On the peaks and in the crevices of this little hill was planted closely one of the most common native plants of Britain, Antennaria dioica, one of the Everlastings, having white foliage, and this plant easily conveyed the impression of snow on the hill-tops and in its gullies. Altogether, on this little mound of half an acre, were planted probably three hundred distinct species. Then from this mound of botanical interest, the first turn brought us to a very different style of planting—the massing or ribbon style, or what would be more appro- priately (as it is done here) called the “carpet style,” PLANTING OF FLOWER-BEDS., ol for it often resembled just such patterns as would make a beautiful carpet. This style is meeting now with much opposition from Mr. Robinson, editor of the “ Garden,” and many others; but whatever may be objectionable to those whose conceptions of gardening are beyond this rectan- gular system, there is no denying the pleasure that it gives to the masses—as was apparent by the crowds ad- miring these flower-beds at Battersea Park, many persons being engaged in sketching the plans and taking notes of the varieties used to produce the effect. This park of Battersea contains only two hundred acres. Its natural beauties are far inferior to either our Central, of New York, or Prospect Park, of Brooklyn; but its judicious system of planting, which gives novelty and freshness at every turn, conveys to the visitor a lasting impression of pleasure that the plain, monotonous shrubbery and lawn of our New York parks can never give. The public parks in Britain or Ireland are the best schools of taste in floriculture the people have to model from; and so it should be with us, but with the few extremely limited at- tempts that have been made at the Central Park the past two years, there has been no ornamental planting of a public character in the vicinity of New York. Some fine examples of this kind of gardening may be seen in pri- vate grounds in the vicinity of Boston, and at Forest Hill Cemetery, at Roxbury, Mass., where the effects of massing may be studied to advantage. The climate of Boston is much less favorable for such planting than that of New York, yet it is followed with gratifying success. For beds, at a distance, having a background of shrub- bery, large and bright-colored foliage, or showy-flowering plants only should be used; of these, an excellent effect is produced by having Amaranthus sanguineus for the background, a plant of crimson foliage growing 6 feet in height; next that, Salvia Gordonii, with its scarlet feather-like flowers, attaining a height of four feet, fronted 32 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. by Dactylis glomerata variegata, one of the most beauti- ful variegated grasses, which grows some 2 feet high. For narrow beds along the margins of walks, ribbon lines should be formed of low-growing plants, such as the white Lobelia Snowflake, for the front line, followed next by Tom Thumb Tropeolum ; then, as the centre, or third line, Fuchsia Golden Fleece; as a second marginal line on the other side, Geranium Flower of Spring, with its white foliage and scarlet flowers, followed by a line of Lobelia Paxtonii CHAPTER V. SOILS FOR POTTING. I rarely pick up a work on floriculture but the matter of soils is treated of in such a way as to be perfectly be- wildering to amateurs, if not also to professional florists. One authority gives a table of not less than 19 sorts! Whether these authorities practice as they preach is very questionable; some of them I know do not, but why they should thus write to mystify those they attempt to teach, can only be ascribed to a desire to impress their readers with the profundity of their knowledge on such subjects. Now, what is the effect of such instructions? Our ama- teur cultivators are disheartened, as such combinations are to them perfectly impracticable. The private gardener, perhaps, falls back on his employer, and ascribes the un- healthy condition of his plants to the effect of his not being able to procure such and such a soil, which, he says, is necessary for some special class of plants, and excuses his failures thereby. The young florist, beginning busi- ness in some country town, with restricted means, and with SOILS FOR POTTING. 33 limited knowledge of what he is undertaking, looks upon this august authority in despair, and his heart sinks within him when he knows that no silver sand is within a thou- sand miles of him, and he is told, without qualification, that it is necessary for his propagating bench, or as an ingredient in his potting soils. He begins without it, and as he will possibly make some failures, these failures are laid at the door of the soil or sand that he has been’ obliged to use, while the chances are, twenty to one, that they were not. Not the least satisfaction I have in writing this book is, that of being able to attempt the simplifica- tion of many of our operations to such an extent as to put the means of doing the work within reach of any one. Not the least simple of these operations is the preparation of our Potting Soil. We have, we may say, only one heap—a big one it is—but it contains only two ingredients, rotted sods, from a loamy pasture, and rotted refuse hops from the breweries, in about the proportion of two of the sods to one of the hops. The sods are cut during spring or summer, and laid, with grassy sides to- gether, so as to decompose, and the heap is repeatedly turned until it becomes friable. The rotted refuse hops (one year old), or rotted manure, is then added, either at once or when the soil is wanted for potting. For small pots,—from 2 to 4 inches—we run it through a sieve of 4-. inch meshes, which thoroughly incorporates the parts ; for larger pots, it is not necessary to run it through a sieve, unless, perhaps, for the sake of thoroughly mixing, it may be quicker to run it through a 14-inch screen or sieve. If the loam is rather clayey, we use more hops; if rather sandy, less than the proportion named. If refuse hops are not attainable, thoroughly rotted horse or cow manure will do nearly as well. From this mould heap the soil is taken in which our plants of every description are grown and flowered; we make no exceptions, unless in the case of the few fine-rooting plants, such as Heaths, 34. PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. Azaleas, Epacris, etc. In potting these, we use about two-thirds of the decayed refuse hops, to one of loam; if the hops are not attainable, leaf mould from the woods will do, in lieu of the hops, for this purpose. Our general mould heap supplies the soil, alike for Bouvardias, Be- gonias, Carnations, Camellias, Chrysanthemums, Daphne, Dracenas, Dahlias, Fuchsias, Ferns, Gazan‘as, Gardenias, Geraniums, Hyacinths, Liliums, Lantanas, Petunias, Pan- sies, Roses, Tuberoses, Violets, and Verbenas. Whether plants show vigorous growth under this universal applica- tion of soil to their varied natures, our hundreds of patrons, who will be readers of this book, can attest. If any of the disciples of the old school doubt this, let them come and have ocular evidence of the fact. Our location is within half an hour’s walk (or 15 minutes’ ride) of the city of New York; our gates and doors are always open; visitors are free to go and examine as they choose. They will see our mould heap looming up like a miniature mountain; they will see hundreds of thousands of plants, natives of every clime, deriving their luxuriant growth from this one source. While ignoring the necessity of special varieties of soil, for special families of plants, I do not mean to say that plants may not be grown as well by the use of such different compounds as by ours; but I claim, as a whole, they can be grown no better, and that the advice to make use of these combinations is bewildering to the amateur, or inexperienced gardener, troublesome in its practice, and of no benefit whatever in its résults. In proof of this, I have, on different occasions, received Camellias from half a dozen different growers in Phila- delphia, hardly two of whom use the same soil, but all grow them well. So in the vicinity of New York, where the soil is varied at the different points, as much as soil can be; yet we see growers using very different compounds with equally good results, showing, as has long ago been satisfactory to me, that special soils have less to do with TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE. 39D the healthy growth cf plants than the proper application of temperature and moisture. In cities having paved streets, we find the sweepings to be a most valuable in- gredient, which may be used to advantage in lieu of re- fuse hops, manure, or leaf-mould. CHAPTER VI. TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE. Many young gardeners and amateurs flounder befogged, attributing failure of crops in the garden, or want of health of plants in the green-house, to bad seeds, uncon- genial soil or fertilizers, when it is much oféener the case that the cause is of a totally different nature, and entirely within their control. A temperature at which seeds are sown and plants grown must be congenial to the nature of the variety, else success can not follow. In a tempera- ture at which a Portulaca will vigorously germinate, a Pansy seed would lie dormant, or at least show a sickly existence, and vice versa. Nearly half of the Lima beans sown annually perish by being sown from two to three weeks too early, by the impatience of our embryo horticul- turists. On the other hand, the colder-blooded Carrot or Turnip seed all but refuse to germinate in the sultry days of July. Seeds of Calceolarias, Cinerarias, Chinese Prim- roses, and Pansies, will germinate more freely and make better plants by delaying the sowing until the middle of September than if sown earlier. Many failures are attrib- utable to want of knowledge of this fact, and, without question, laid to the charge of the seedsman. The same necessity of accommodating the temperature 36 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. to the nature of a matured plant exists even to a greater extent than it does with the seed; and one of the main causes of want of success in cultivating plants under glass is a want of knowledge, or from carelessness in keeping a temperature unsuited to the growth of the plants. In ordinary green-house collections the fault is oftener in the temperature being kept too high than too low, for it is much easier, requiring far less watchfulness by the person in charge to keep up a high temperature. The injury done by this is gradual, and will not, like the action of frost on the plants, show in the morning. In consequence of this, we often see the green-houses containing Camel- lias, Azaleas, Pelargoniums, Carnations, etc., etc., swelter- ing under a continued night temperature of 60° or 65°, when their nature demands 15° lower. It is true, we too often see collections of hot-house and green-house plants intermingled, and attempts made to grow them, which, of necessity, result in failure to one or the other. The temperature to grow, in healthy condition, Coleus, Bouvardia, or Poinsettia (hot-house plants) would not be likely to maintain Verbenas, Carnations, or Gerani- ums long in a healthy state. The same rules follow as to the propagating-house, showing the necessity, even in a greater degree, of observing the requirements of their differ- ent natures. Coleus, Bouvardia, Begonia, and Lantana root in a bottom heat of 75°, with atmospheric temperature of 65°, in ten days; at 20° lower they will not root at all, but will perish. Although cuttings of plants of a more hardy nature will root in some conditions of growth at this temperature, yet we prefer, to insure plants of vigor ous health, that Verbenas, Carnations, Geraniums, Roses, etc., be rooted in a temperature at least 15° lower, both in the bottom heat and temperature of the house. The subject is one that relates to so many varieties and different conditions of organism at the different seasons of growth, that it is impossible to convey to the inexperi- TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE. of enced what these varieties and conditions are; but my object is to impress upon young or inexperienced readers what I have long believed to be an important truth—that the supplying the proper conditions of temperature to plants under glass, according to their different natures and conditions, has as much, or more, to do with their welfare than any other cause ; and that often when ascrib- ing the unhealthy state of a plant to uncongenial soil or defective drainage, or the “‘ damping off” of some favorite cutting to the way it was cut or the sand it was put in, ' the true and sole cause of failure was nothing more than condemning them to an atmosphere uncongenial to their nature. Thus far, we mainly allude to temperature. Serious injury is often done to plants from a want of, or excess of, moisture. The old gardener with whom my first essay in gardening was made used to define the difference in dryness in plants as “dry” and “killing dry ;” “dry” was the proper condition that the plant should be in, when water was applied, the surface indicating dryness by becoming lighter, but no flagging or wilting; but woe betide the unfortunate that allowed a plant in charge to become in the condition of “killing dry ;” this in his eye was an unpar- donable offence. “ Killing dry” was, to some extent, really killing in such a collection as we grew, which consisted largely of Cape Heaths, Epacris, and other hard-wooded plants, which are easily killed outright by allowing their tender, thread-like rootlets to become dry; unlike soft- wooded plants, such as Geraniums, or Fuchsias, they have less recuperative powers, so that a “dry” that would kill a Heath would have only the effect to stagnate the growth of a Geranium, and bring the tell-tale yellow leaves that are certain to follow whenever such plants have suffered for a lack or excess of moisture. Although the effect of dry- ing is, for the time being perhaps, less marked in a hard- wooded plant than in a soft-wooded one, yet the ultimate 38 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. effect is much more fatal. To the unpractised eye, a Heath that has been injured by drouth may appear all right, while it is gone beyond recovery. The old gardener - before alluded to used to make his dead Heaths do excel- lent service in assisting him in some severe jokes played on his less experienced brethren. Specimen plants of Heaths were scarce, and in some sorts, very valuable, and if he succeeded in making a present of one of these dead plants to one of his less posted friends, it used to keep him in good humor for a week. No plant should ever be allowed to flag or wilt for want of moisture, neither should it be watered until the necessity for water is shown by the whitening of the surface of the soil, particularly if in dull weather, or if the green-house is = kept at a low tem- perature. As a rule, with green- house plants kept in a-night temperature of 45°, with a day temperature of 6)°, watering twice aweek from December to March will generally be sufficient ; on the approach of clear weather, with higher temperature in April and May, they will re- quire daily attention. Our practice is to water during winter with the common rose watering-pots, of the pattern shown in fig. 10, giving the plants water sparingly, or otherwise, as required. But as spring opens, we go at the operation more expe- ditiously, using a West’s Force Pump (fig. 11), and 2-inch rubber hose. To the end of the hose is attached a heavy sprinkler, similar to that shown in the common watering-pot (fig. 10). in all districts where there is no hydrant-water, this means of watering will be found to be most thorough and effective. In my work, “Gardening for Profit,” I — et 7 Ta | Fig. 10.—WaTERING-POT. _when the change is made TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE. 39 expressed the opinion that no labor-saving appliance we had ever used was so satisfactory as this; two years have passed since then, and, with increased work to do, we are still more than satisfied. One man pumps, another regu- lates the water and sprinkles it over the plants; each green-house, of 100 feet long by 11 feet wide, is watered thoroughly in 15 minutes; the changing of the hose from one house to another re- sath lieves the workman from wll the labor of pumping for a few minutes, so that of the hose to another house, he is ready to start afresh again. By this mode of watering, we not only give the plants a thorough drench- ing, but we save at least three-fourths of the labor that is usually spent in watering with the water- ing-pot. Some may ob- ject to this rough-look- ing way of watering plants; to such we say, even with the danger of being thought to be puffing our own wares, come and look at the results of such rough work. We have now practised it for the past four years, and have lost thousands of dollars by not having done so from the beginning. Two rules are laid down by nearly all writers that I Fig. 11.—Wwest’s FORCE PUMP, _ have read on floriculture, in reference to the water to be used for plants; one, that it must be rain, or at least “soft? water; the other, that the water should be of the AO PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE, same temperature as the atmosphere in which the plants are growing. To both these dogmas, I beg to respectfully enter my protest. Such dogmas are handed down from one to another, without one in a hundred of those who hold them having either the opportunity or inclination to test their truth by experiment. My green-houses, at Jersey City, for a dozen years, were entirely watered from a deep well of hard water, winter and summer, which might average in temperature 40°; most of my green-houses, now at Bergen City, are watered from cisterns inside the green-houses, from rain-water caught by the roof; yet we have never been able to see that our plants have been any better grown or healthier in one place than in the other. If any one will take the trouble to\reason for a minute, he will understand why there is no necessity for this equality of temperature between the water and the soil. If we plunge a thermometer into the soil of a plant in the hot-house, it may indicate say 80°; if we pour a pint of water at 40° into the soil, the temperature will not be 40°, but about the mean between 40° and 80°, say 60°. Now if the soil remained for any length of time at 60°, it might be claimed to be injurious; but it does not. In 10 minutes it will become of the same temperature as before it was watered, or nearly so, by the absorption of heat from the atmosphere of the house. It is the duration of extremes of temperature that does the mischief; place a plant of Coleus in a temperature of 33° for 24 hours, and it will be almost certain to die, while it would remain as many minutes without injury. Let a dash of sun raise the tem- perature of your hot-bed to 100°, or over, for 10 minutes, and it will not seriously injure the contents, but an hour of this temperature might destroy the whole. We pour ice-water into our stomachs at a temperature of less than 40°, with impunity, because but a few minutes suffices to bring it to the temperature it meets with there ; THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 4l did we swallow a sufficient quantity to keep the stomach at the temperature of ice-water for any length of time, fatal results wouid follow. A point indispensable in our hot and arid climate is, that all plants in the green-house should stand on close benches, overlaid with sand or ashes, or some such mate: rial. This keeps moist and prevents the plants from suf: fering, if any omission occur in watering. We know that the practice in many places is entirely different from this, the plants being stood on benches of open slat-work. No plant can be kept healthy in such a place, unless with at least double the labor of watering necessary with those standing on sand. This, like many other of our mistakes, is copied from the mode pursued in England, where a colder, moister, and less sunny climate may make it a necessary practice. For this reason also, we prefer to use benches, or tables, instead of the stair-like green-house stage, which is now almost discarded. CHAPTER VII. THE POTTING OF PLANTS. The first operation of potting is when the rooted cutting is transferred from the cutting-bed to the pot. Almost without exception, plants of every variety, at this stage, should be placed in a 2-inch pot; occasionally some of the coarser-growing Geraniums may require the 3-inch size, from the fact of the roots being too large for the 2-inch ; but there are few exceptions of this kind. The great mass of plants, when in the condition of rooted cuttings, 4> PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. do much better in the smaller size, for the reason that the smaller mass of soil in the 2-inch pot allows the moisture to pass off quicker, and thereby prevents the soil from becoming sour, or sodden, which would be the case, more or less, if the cutting had been overpotted in a 8 or 4-inch pot. The operation of potting cuttings is very simple, and, in florists’ establishments, is performed with great rapidity, average workmen doing 200 plants per hour. The pot is filled to the level with soil, a space made with the finger, in the centre of the soil, of sufficient size to admit the root, which is placed in the opening thus made; the soil is closed in again by pressing with the thumbs, close to the neck of the cutting, which firms the soil around the root; a smart rap is struck the side of pot with the hand, which levels the surface of the soil, and the operation is done. For nearly all the commoner kinds of bedding plants, such as Verbenas, Heliotropes, etc., cuttings in these 2-inch pots, if stood on tables, which are covered with an inch of sand, and occasionally moved, to keep the roots from pushing too far through into the sand, will grow in a healthy condition from three to feur months, at least, at the cool season of the year, from January to May. But when plants are required to be erown as specimens, or of larger size for sale in spring, they must be repotted at intervals, as the condition of their growth demands; for example, to grow a Fuchsia of a height of 6 feet and 3 feet in diameter, a pot of at -east 12 inches across at top, and 12 inches in depth, would be necessary, but it would not do to jump from the 2-inch cutting pot to this size at once; three or four different shifts are necessary to attain this end; these shifts should be made, as a general thing, not greater than from a 2- inch size to a 4-inch, and so on. I know that,a few years ago, considerable agitation was made in favor of what was termed the “one shift system,” and fine specimens were exhibited by its advocates, to show its advantages. There am a eee Ne eee ye ee , * i anne) a webied op del THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 43 is no question that, in the hands of a careful and experi- -enced man, it can be done, but it must necessitate much closer watching in watering, involving much more labor than the trouble of the safer plan of repeated shiftings, The time to shift a plant from a smaller to a larger pot is shown by the roots beginning to mat around the outer surface of the ball. It is not necessary to shift when the first roots touch the side of the pot; let them curl pretty well around the ball, but they must not be allowed to remain long enough to become hard or woody. They must be of that condition known to: gardeners as “ working roots,” a condition not very easy to describe, unless to say that the appearance of such roots is white, soft, and succulent. We would think that the mode of shifting a plant from a smaller to a larger pot would soon suggest itself to the operator, even though he had never seen it done; but it is a little ludicrous to see the various absurd methods sometimes resorted to by our amateur friends to attain this very simple end. One proceeds with a knife and inserts it all around the sides of the pot, and thus scoops it out; another favorite way is to break the pot with a hammer. Ihave known many of our lady amateurs to practice these methods, who, no doubt, knew well how to turn a pudding or a jelly out of a form, but who did not think that the ball of earth enveloping the roots of a pJant could be turned out of a flower-pot in the same way. In most cases, the slightest tap on the edge of the pot is sufficient to turn out the ball of earth. Soil, in depth ac- cording to the size of the plant, should be placed in the bottom of the pvt, the ball placed in the centre, and the soil packed moderately firm in the space, either by the fingers or by a piece of stick made cf suitable size for the purpose. When plants are first potted off, or shifted, they should be stood with the pots touching each other, if the diameter of the plant is less than that of the pot; but, ax they begin to develop growth, the plants should be spread 44 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE., apart, according to their size or development of foliage, to allow the air free circulation about the outside of the pots. The effect of this is most marked in the green- house, and teaches us a lesson as to the great necessity of the admission of air to the roots in all our operations, whether under glass or in the open field. If we pot off a lot of Fuchsias, Geraniums, or other large-leaved plants, with the pots touching each other, and place them in a temperature of 60°, in eight or ten days they will have prown so as to cover the whole space over, so that the pots ean hardly be seen. Examine those in the centre of the lot, and it will be found that the roots that have reached to the side of the pot are few and feeble; but move a por- tion of the pots so that a space of an inch or two is made between each, to give the air a free circulation around the pots, and in six days after it will be found that strong and healthy roots will have been emitted by those that have been given the additional space, while the others left standing close have made little or no progress in root formation, and but a slender and weakly upward growth. The roots in the open field, could we see them in their unbroken state, as we can in turning out a plant from a pot, would show the same differences in vitality under cor- responding circumstances. It has often been a matter of surprise to many amateurs, and even professional gardeners, how it is that such extraor- dinary vigor and health are obtained in the plants grown by many New York florists, in pots that seem to be entirely inadequate in size for the support of such vigor. This is done by a practice not very generally known outside of this vicinity. When a plant shows by the condition of its roots that it requires a supply of fresh soil for its support, instead of shifting it into a large pot, it is taken out and the soil washed clean from the roots, and either placed back again in the same pot, in fresh soil, or in ene of 4 single size larger. THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 45 This washing the soil from the roots, instead of shaking it off, has the advantage of leaving all the fibres or work- ing roots intact, while by shaking the soil off the ball, the most valuable parts of the root are injured. Plants thus grown are particularly valuable for distant shipment, as a strong-rooted and vigorous plant is obtained without the necessity of shipping a heavy weight of soil. The same practice is resorted to in another way, to effect a saving of freight in shipments. For many years we have sent to our patrons in the trade thousands of plants annually, every particle of soil being first washed from the roots; the plants, in all cases, arriving in as fine order as if they had been sent with the ball of soil around them, and saving at least nine-tenths of the freight. This practice, however, is not proper, unless the season is early enough for the plants to have time to become established in the pots, and it is not prudent to do so later than March. If the weather is hot, more care is neces: sary in shading the plants until they have begun to root in the new soil. I have never yet seen any writer on floriculture but who, in his instructions on the potting of plants, reiterates the ery of his predecessors about the imperative necessity of draining pots, in the operation of shifting or potting plants. This draining process is performed in various ways, according to the school in which the operator has been trained, or whose book authority he has taken as his guide; one simply places a piece of potsherd, or crock, over the hole in the bottom of the pot; another goes at it more elaborately, placing large pieces below, and grading off with finer ones, to the height of 2 or 3 inches; another finds great virtue in charcoal, as a drainage, used in the same way; another knows that oyster-shells, for that pur- pose, cannot be excelled, and practices accordingly. Now fifteen years’ extensive practice in the growing of plants, without the use of crocks, charcoal, or any other 46 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. substitute, has led me to believe that the system is utterly wrong in theory and perfectly useless in practice. It is wrong in theory, for I contend that the escape of moisture or draining from the flower-pots takes place, in a very slight degree, from the bottom, but almost entirely from the porous sides of the flower-pot. Every gardener knows how quickly the soil gets sour in a glazed, a dirty, or a hard-burned pot, let him drain or crock it as he will, and that yellow leaves and a sickly growth quickly fol- low. If the patient is not too far gone, removal from the glazed pot to one of proper texture will quickly recusci- tate, even if the draining or crocking is dispensed with. Whenever we wish to recuscitate an unhealthy plant, we wash the soil from the roots and pot in a new pot, where the drainage is perfect from its porous sides. What better evidence can be given than this universally known fact that the theory of the operation is wrong? Whether this sufficiently proves the theory of the operation to be wrong, may be questioned by some, but that the system is useless, utterly useless, in our practice, cannot very well be questioned. It is upwards of fifteen years since I utterly dispensed with the use of the so-called draining of pots; in that time some millions of plants have been grown by us, and few will say, from the appearance of the plants, that they suffered by the deviation from the orthodox system. In our annual importations of English novelties, at prices often double their weight in gold, the pots always come filled one-third up with the inevitable potsherd. Little reverence is had for this labor of poor John Bull; the smallest boy in our establishment learns to sneer at him when he sees the drainage dispensed with, and the pam- pered $10.00 novelty growing vigorously under our radical regime. ‘“‘Ah! but” exclaims some dyed-in-the-wool old fogy, “ it’s all very well on your Roses and soft-wooded plants; dis- THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 47 pense with your crocking in growing Azaleas, Heaths, Epacris, Camellias, and you will soon see how it will result.” Now if my theory is correct that the plant drains from the sides, and not from the bottom of the pot, the variety of plant has nothing to do with the matter, and for that reason it makes no difference what is the size or what the kind of plant grown, be it 6 inches or 6 feet, be it a Scarlet Geranium or an Orchid. But though I © do not grow them now, I have grown Heaths, Camellias, and Azaleas, without eck just as one as we grow anything else. Heaths particularly, at one time, we grew largely, supplying them to the trade in large quantities, for winter flowers. Iam glad to know that nearly all the larger florists’ establishments thoughout the country have abandoned this useless practice. I do not know one in the vicinity of New York but where it is ignored, unless, perhaps, when in growing large plants of Roses or Camellias in boxes or tubs; but, in such cases, there is not much chance for admission of air or evapora- tion from the sides, and, to compensate for this, the box or tub is usually filled with potsherds or charcoal to one-third its depth. And, again, perhaps when pots too large for the size of the plant are used, drainage to one- third the depth is employed to counteract the injury that would be done by too great a mass of soil around the roots. That plants are grown as well in our florists’ establishments here as they are in England, there is but little question. Ifthe specimens of plants that we import annually are fair examples, we think far better, although I do not mean to say that the use of crocks is the diffi- culty ; but in these large European establishments the pro- prietor is apt, in many cases, to get above his business, and leave it to the care of his subordinates. One great bar to changes is the easy maxim, that we are all apt to hold, “ Let well enough alone.” This, perhaps, is what rakes thousands excuse themselves fon what I think is an 48 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. utterly useless practice in this case. Throwing a handful of potsherds into the bottom of a pot will certainly not injure the growth of a plant, neither would a gold dollar, but neither would do any good; the dollar would have bought something, and so would the labor thrown away in this useless operation. An old farmer, in planting a peach orchard, in one of the inland counties of this State, was informed by some obliging neighbor that it would greatly improve their growth if he would place a shovelfull of small stones under each tree; as chance would have it, the soil and climate being suitable, the orchard was a success, and to this day no man is supposed to know any thing about planting peach trees in that neighborhood unless he knows sufficient to place a few stones under the roots! Most of our gardeners would laugh at these credulous farmers, but to my notion, it is not one whit more absurd to place a shovelfull of stones under a peach tree than it is to throw a handfull of potsherds into the bottom of a flower-pot before potting the plant. The amateur, in potting his plants, will find it neces- sary to place something over the hole in the bottom of the pot, not for the purpose of drainage, but to prevent the soil from shaking out. The hole may be covered with a bit of broken pot, an oyster shell, chip, or what- ever is at hand. EXPERT GARDEN WORKMEN. In my long experience with workmen I have observed that, other things being equal, the man who could move his hands quickest, was almost certain to be the man most successful in life. Rapid movement of the hands in such light operations as writing or type-setting argue quick EXPERT GARDEN WORKMEN. 49 mental decision, and if such a mind is well-balanced, its possessor is more likely to distinguish himself than he who moves more sluggishly. Now, two-thirds of all gar- den operations—particularly those of flower-gardening— are as light as either writing or type-setting, and for many years I have taken great pains to stimulate my workmen to rapidity of movement in all our light work, and it is astonishing what the gain in Jabor has been in this particular. Jor example, the average work of a man planting cabbage or lettuce plants, when we began mar- ket-gardening, did not exceed 2,000 a day; now, and for many years past, a man, with a boy to drop the plants, will set 6,000 a day, and one of my old foremen, John Scarry, now gardener to Dr. Thos. Vail, of Troy, N. Y., has repeatedly planted 10,000 in a day. In the lighter work of our green-houses rapid movement is even of more importance, and the rivalry among our workmen for distinction in this matter is of great benefit to themselves as well as to us. The acknowledged champion, at pres- ent, of our whole force of forty men is a young Irishman named James Markey. Jim, though not yet 25, has been with me a dozen years or more, and from the first has distinguished himself for doing all light operations quicker and better than any boy of his years, and pro- bably to-day can make more cuttings, or pot more plants, in the same space of time, than any other man in Amer- ica. It ‘is very good average work for one man to pot off in 2’|,-inch pots 2,000 cuttings in ten hours. Jim potted off one day of ten hours, this spring, 10,000, while his average work of this kind is 5,000 a day. Of course, such ability commands its price, and Jim is paid quite twice that of most of his fellows, and is much valued by me as an example well worthy of imitation, 50 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. CHAPTER VIIL COLD FRAMES.—WINTER PROTECTION. Many of the plants used for the decoration of the flower- borders in summer may: be kept through the winter in what are termed cold-frames, or sunken pits. These are formed by excavating the earth about 2 feet deep and of a width to suit the usual 6-foot sash, and of such length as may be required. The sides of the pit are boarded up, on the front or south side, to a height of 8 or 10 inches, and at the back or north side, some 6 inches higher, to give the necessary slope to carry off the water from the sashes and to better catch the sun’s rays. Thus formed, the frame will measure about 3 feet deep from the sash in front and about 34 feet at the back. Or, if the work is desired to be permanent, the sides may be built of brick instead of boards. Above all other considerations, the place where the pit is built must be free from standing water, and if not naturally dry, must be drained so as to carry off the water. When- ever practicable, the situation should be warm and well sheltered, as such a position will save a great deal in winter covering. In such a pit tender Roses can be kept in the best possible condition, better, in our opinion, than in any green-house. If kept in pots, (which is the best way to keep them) the pots should be plunged to the rim in sawdust, leaves, tan bark, or some such light material. Besides Roses, the plants embraced in the following list may be wintered over with safety, provided that care is taken to admit light and air, whenever the weather will permit. The pits must be thoroughly covered up at night with mats and shutters; this, if well done, will keep COLD FRAMES-—WINTER PROTECTION, 51 the plants from freezing injuriously in any district where the thermometer does not fall more than 15° below zero. Azaleas, Pentstemons, Antirrhinums, Verbenas, Carnations (Monthly), Stock Gilliflowers. Camellias, Wallflowers. Fuchsias, Roses of all kinds. Geraniums, Pinks, (Florists’.) Plants to be kept over in frames should be potted at least a month previous to the setting in of cold weather ; all had better be well established in the pots before the middle of November, and until that time the plants should be fully exposed to the light and air, by the entire removal of the sashes, unless on unusually harsh and cold days. From the middle of November tothe middle of March but little watering will be required. In cases of severe snow- storms, the pit may remain covered up, if the weather is cold, for a week at a time, without exposing the plants to the light, and Roses, Camellias, or Azaleas, in a dormant state, may remain even a month; but, as before said, whenever practicable, admit light and air. For out-door protection of Roses, see chapter devoted to them. To amateurs we would say that many plants may be saved in a dry, cool cellar much better than they can be kept in most sitting-rooms. The plants that can be best kept during winter in the cellar are Carnations, Fuchsias, Geraniums, Roses, Lemon Verbenas, and Dahlia roots. If the plants are to be lifted from the ground, cut away all strong-growing shoots; in the case of Geraniums or Fuchsias, cut them well in, and plant them in shallow (9-inch deep) boxes of soil, keeping them exposed to the open air as late as the weather will permit. This can best be done by taking them into some shelter at night and exposing them to light and air through the day; this will harden them to endure their winter quarters in the cellar, Once placed in the cellar, if cool and moist, as cellars 52 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. usually are, no water should be given until they are again moved out to the light in May. Remember that thus im- mersed in the dark cellar in their dormant state, water or moisture would injure them beyond recovery, unless they have become unusually dry. CHAPTER IX. CONSTRUCTION OF HOT-BEDS. The most economical way of making hot-beds is to place the manure in pits made in the way described for Cold Frames, except that they may be made a foot or so deeper, so as to admit at least 18 inches of manure. The heating material for hot-beds is usually horse-manure, but refuse hops, leaves from the woods, or tan bark, will answer nearly as well when one is more readily attainable than another. Whatever material is employed, it should be thrown into a heap of sufficient size to generate heat, and repeatedly turned until the rank heat has been expelled, which will usually be done by turning twice. The mass will be in the proper condition to be put into the pit in eight or ten days from the time of starting with the raw material. In spreading it in the pit it should be firmly trodden down to the depth of 18 inches, so that the heat may be longer retained. If the hot-bed is to be used to receive plants in pots, a covering of 4 to 6 inches of sawdust, in which to place or plunge the pots, should be put over the heating material. If the bed is to be used for the sowing of annual or other seeds, a covering of 6 inches,of light soil should be put over the manure. Before placing plants or sowing seeds in the hot-bed, plunge a thermometer in the bed, and when the heat begins to decline from 100° CONSTRUCTION OF HOT-BEDS. 53 then operations may be begun with safety. But for what: ever purpose a hot-bed is used, in all such latitudes as New York, the bed should never be made before the first week in March ; great risk isrun if it is made much sooner with but little advantage in earliness. Greater caution is necessary in airing than with the cold frame, for with the hot-bed the heat from the manure, together with the sun’s rays, will often run the temperature in an hour so high as to destroy its whole contents, if airing at the proper time has been neglected. Many a merchant doing business in the city has gone home in the evening to his country residence to find that his hot-bed, that had been his pride in the morning, had become a scorched brown mass at night for want of attention to the safety-valve of “airing.” In such cases, when no competent person is In charge, the safest way is to tilt the sashes a few inches, even before the necessity arises, rather than run the risk of the sun coming out strong and destroying the whole. In a southern exposure, in a sheltered place, there is rarely danger in admitting air in most days in March or April from 9 to 4 o’clock. But, of course, judgment must be used in extreme cases. The greater heat in the hot-bed necessitates watering freely whenever the surface of the soil appears dry, which, in dry weather, if the heat is strong, will usually be every other day. OO ee CHAPTER X. GREEN-HOUSE STRUCTURES. I have a peculiar pleasure in beginning to describe our present modes of constructing green-houses, well knowing that hundreds of my readers will turn with interest to this page, in the hope that they may be enlightened on a subject on whick doubtless many of them have seriously 54 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. blundered. I have no reason to complain of success in business, but I feel well assured that for the first ten years of my time many thousands of dollars were sacri- ficed in the blunders made in my endeavor to get on the right track. There was no fixed system; all was confusion, hardly two of us building alike, and, in my humble opinion, most of us building wrong. The style of green-house to be built must be governed by the purpose for which it is wanted. If for the growing of a general assortment of green-house or bedding plants, four years’ working of those on the ridge and furrow system, on the extensive scale in use by us, makes us con- fident in the belief that that system is all we have previ- ously claimed for it, as being the most economical of space, most economical of heat, and most economical in cost of construction. Figure 12 represents the end section and ground plan of the style of house referred to, which may be used for the purpose of growing flowers for winter—Roses, ereen-house, or bedding plants, or anything requiring protection in winter. The green-houses represented in this plan are 100 feet in length, and each 11 feet wide inside. The heating of the whole (that is, the three measuring from the outside walls 836x100 feet) is done by one of Hitching’s Combination Boilers (C), heating about 1200 feet of 4-inch pipe (D). The glass roof (E) is formed of portable sashes, each 6 feet by 3 feet; each alternate sash 1s screwed down, the others being movable, go that a full supply of air can be given when necessary. The movable sash is elevated by an iron bar 15 inches long, attached to the sash by a staple; in this bar three holes are punched, at distances of 3 inches; by means of these holes the bar can be hooked upon an iron pin placed in the ridge pole, and thus hold the sash more or less open, to graduate the admission of air. When the sash 55 GREEN-HOUSE STRUCTURES. ey Ma mi Fig. 12.—GREEN-HOUSE HEATED BY HOT WATER PIPES. 56 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. is shut down, the bar is hooked on to a pin that secures it in place, so that the sash cannot be moved by wind. I am particular to describe this method of airing, as it is, as far as our experience has gone, the best method we have ever seen used. The ridge-poles are cut out exactly as is shown at J, and the sash lays on the shoulder, braced by the angle shown in the cut. The interior arrangements are shown by the end section. G shows the bench, or table, as it is completed. The space beneath the bench, if bottom heat is required for propagating or other pur- poses, should be boarded up below the bottom of the pipes, the lower board being hinged, so that, in cold nights, additional heat can be given to the atmosphere of the house, if required. But for the general uses of growing plants, the benches must be left open below, so that the heat given out by the pipes will pass freely to all parts of the house. If one house is wanted at a higher tempera- ture than the others, it will be necessary to board up along the posts from the ground to the top of the posts, and by wholly or partially shutting the valves in the pipes of the other houses, throw a greater heat into the one in which the high temperature is wanted. The walks through the house (K) are 2 feet wide, which leaves 44 feet on each side for bench room, These widths we find to be the most convenient for the working of the plants; if narrower, too much space would be lost; if wider, the further side of the benches could not be reached easily. The width of walk, however, must be determined by what the green-houses are designed for: if for workmen merely, 2 feet, or even less room, will do for the walk; but if visitors are to be accommodated, it should be at least 24 feet in width. A brick shed (A) covers the boiler pit (F), and is attached to the north end of the pits, the back wall being about 12 feet high, the front 8 fect, width 16 feet ; besides breaking off the north wind from the green-honses, o@ L344 0 GREEN-HOUSE STRUCTURES. Fig. 13,—GREEN-HOUSE HEATED BY FLUES. 57 58 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. we find this shed indispensable as a potting and packing shed. It will be understood that these green-houses have their ends north and south; consequently one side is ex- posed to the east in the morning, the other to the west in the afternoon, while at noonday the rays of the sun strike directly upon the apex of the roof. There is nothing arbitrary in having the green-houses end north and south; a point to the east or west would not make any material difference, but, if circumstances will admit, we prefer them to end direct north and south, At present prices, built in a plain, substantial manner, with the outer walls of brick or stone, and heated with hot water, they will cost about $10 per running foot, or $3,000 for the three connected; if put up singly, the cost would be at least 10 per cent more. The smoke flues, as shown in figure 13, can be put up at much less cost—perhaps $6 per running foot, in most places; but when the heating is done by smoke-flues, the houses should not be, on an average, longer than 50 feet, varying, of course, with the locality; where the ther- mometer falls 10 or 15 degrees below zero, not more than 40 feet should be risked; while where the thermometer marks its lowest point at the same figures above zero, the houses may be extended to 70 feet. It will be seen by this sketch that two fires only are used for the three green-houses; the flues from each, passing under the benches on the outside houses, are carried along the end and returned through the middle house. This equalizes the temperature in all three, for, although the outside houses get only one run of flues each, these be- ing nearest to the furnace give out just about the same amount of heat to the outside houses as the two returning flues give out in the middle one, as these, being at a greater distance from the fire, contain much less heat. This style of ridge and furrow building of green-houses is especially adapted for florists; hundreds of establishments have GREEN-HOUSE STRUCTURES. 59 —PLAN OF HOUSE HEATED BY BOTH FLUE AND PIPES. Fig. 14. 60 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. been erected on this plan in all parts of the country, and I have been amply repaid by receiving scores of letters of acknowledgment from those who have adopted it, and whose attention was first called to the plan by some of the papers written by me on the subject four years ago. Another plan in use is shown by figure 14, combining the flue and boiler, from the same furnace. This is the most economical plan in which hot water can be used. As shown in the engraving, there are two houses joined together, each 11 feet wide by 70 feet in length. For Fig, 15.—END VIEW OF FIGURE 14. colder sections of the country than the vicinity of New York, from 50 to 60 feet in length would probably be suf- ficient, but much depends on exposure, and the manner in which the building is constructed. One of the houses is heated by the flue, /’; the other by the pipes, P. The boiler, 6, shown in the end view of the same house, figure 15, is what is termed a “ saddle” boiler, which an- swers at the same time the double purpose of an arch for the furnace and a boiler. The fire in this furnace does nearly the same amount of heating as two such fires, if used in heating by flues only. Thus, by this combination of flue and pipes, the construction of the heating arrange- ments costs about 50 per cent less than if the house were heated entirely by hot water. The probable cost of two GREEN-HOUSE STRUCTURES. 61 houses of this kind, each 70x11 feet, so heated, and otherwise complete, would be about $1200. In erecting all houses on the ridge and furrow plan, the site should, whenever prac- ticable, be such as will admit of extension by future erec- tions, to meet the increase of business. A good plan in beginning is to erect three houses, as shown in fig. 13, Fig. 16.—END VIEW OF FORCING HOUSE. page 54, 50 feet in length, so situated, that as business in- creases, and with more means in hand, the south ends can be taken out, the walls extended 25 or 50 feet further, the flues thrown out, and the heating done by hot water. For, whenever it can be afforded, the heating by hot water will be found to be much the best; not that there is any particular saving in fuel over heating by flues, for in this matter there is but little to choose, but it is more durable, entirely free from danger from fire, or the escaping of G2 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. gases, so troublesome with flues ; besides, it is an immense saving of labor, more particularly if the green-houses are extensive. In our establishment, covering over an acre with glass, but nine boilers are used, involving the work of only nine fires. If we heated by flues, not less than forty fires would be necessary, and at least three times more labor would be required. Fig. 16 is the end view and fig. 17 the ground plan of a Hot-house, or Forcing House, erected by us last season, mainly for the purpose of forcing flowers in winter. This house has given us the highest satisfaction, and for the pur- pose of a conservatory for winter blooming plants, we be- lieve it will be found to be most suitable. So satisfied were we of the practicability of this style of house for this pur- pose, that we erected it of mammoth proportions, 300 feet in length by 20 wide inside. It will be understood by the sketch, that the roof is stationary, the whole slope front- ing south, 15 feet in length, being one unbroken sheet of glass. The back slope to the north, 8 feet in length, is also fixed, but in that there are movable sashes 3 feet square every 9 feet, for the purpose of ventilation, or about one-sixth of the whole roof facing north. The movable sashes are hinged at the top, and are lifted by an iron bar fixed to the lower edge, in which holes are punched: every 4 inches, so that the ventilation may be graduated to suit the weather. This amount of space for ventilation on the roof would be entirely inadequate alone, and it is one of the most common errors in building fixed roof ereen-houses or graperies, to have insufficient means for the escape of the excessive heat generated by the sun’s rays in May or June. But this difficulty is easily and cheaply overcome by admitting air from sliding shutters made in the front wall. The size and width apart of these must depend upon the dimensions of the green-house. In the house above re- ferred to, we have them made 18x24 inches, placed in the GREEN:-HOUSE STRUCTURES. Fig. 17.—GROUND PLAN OF FORCING HOUSE. 64 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. front wall 9 feet apart. The proper position of these sliding shutters is of importance. It has long been a common practice to ventilate by front sashes, both in graperies and plant houses which opened directly on the plants. The consequence is, that in cold days, while the sun is shining, the house gets heated up, but the lower sashes cannot be opened, for the outside air is often so cold that it would be likely to chill or freeze the plants. But by placing the sliding ventilators on the front or south wall, at such a height that they will be below the front bench, but above the flue or pipes, the air thus ad- mitted to cool down the house’ is modified in its passage across the pipes or flue, so that the temperature of the house is lowered without chilling the plants. The sliding ventilators run upon rollers, and by at- taching a continuots rod to each, 25 or 30 of them can be moved from one end by a slight =\ pull, thus obviating the necessity of getting under the benches to open each one separately. The front or south wall of the building referred to is built of brick-work 8 inches thick. But the back or north wall is built hollow, 10 inches thick; that is, of two he bricks placed flat, with an air space of 2 inches, “ tied in” by headers of cast-iron, like that shown in figure 18, placed at intervals of 2 feet apart, both in the height and in the length of the wall. A 10-inch hollow wall built in this way costs about the same as a 12-inch solid wall, but is greatly better in all respects. The air space, of course, acting as a non-conductor, keeps the house much warmer than a solid wall would; and besides, a wall like this is much more durable for such a purpose. The experience of most of us who have built solid 8-inch brick walls for green-houses is, that on the north or west side they stand GREEN-HOUSE STRUCTURES. G4 badly, owing to the freezing and thawing caused by the great difference between the temperature of the green-house and that of the open air in winter. The difficulty experi- enced in this way has forced us to the conclusion that it is better to construct the walls of posts and boards, lining with brick inside, rather than to use the ordinary solid 8- inch brick wall; but the best wall for a north or western exposure, when the expense can be afforded, is unquestion- ably the 10-inch hollow wall. Figure 19 will show the inside arrangement of the benches, each being exactly 4 feet in width, with a 2-foot space for walks. It will be observed that the back walk is a Sa 1 © a 1 © © OF ee Sale Tae OF FORCING HOUSE. elevated, so that the plants on the benches can be conven- iently reached, to arrange plants, water, etc. If for private use, or for visitors, the walks should be widened at least 6 inches. The water is supplied by tanks under the mid- dle bench, 8 feet wide by 4 deep, and half as long as the house. These are arranged in sections, and at con- venient distances are placed two of West’s Force Pumps, Fig. 11, to which a length of 125 feet of 14-inch hose is artached: One man or two boys work the pump, while another hand regulates the water over the plants by the sprinkler, so that the plants contained in this building, 66 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. measuring about 7,000 square feet of glass, are copiously drenched with water in one hour. If watered in the usual way by watering-pots, the same number of hands would not do the work as well in six hours. Of all labor-saving apparatuses yet introduced into our gardens, this force pump is the most valued. As a green-house of this description is built for the pur- pose of growing winter flowers, ample provision is made for heating ; eight 4-inch pipes run its entire length, which is about one square foot of heating surface to three square feet of glass, or, in other words, one foot of 4-inch pipe to tliree square feet of glass. This is the necessary quantity when a night temperatare of 60 degrees is required in sec- tions where the thermometer runs down to 10° or 15° be- low zero. When a temperature of 40° or 45° only is necessary at night, one foot of heating surface to four feet of glass is the rule. But, of course, much depends on ex- posure, style of green-house, etc., so that no infallible rule can be applied. CHAPTER XI. GREEN-HOUSES ATTACHED TO DWELLINGS. Every now and then the inquiry is made: “ How can I best attach a green-house to my dwelling?” Nothing is more simple, as far as the mere shell of the green-house is concerned, but the difficulty is to heat it. Many may not know that a green-house, even withont any artificial means of heating, can be made very useful in the early spring months in this latitude, and in those Southern States where the thermometer does not fall lower than 20° or 25°. It may be used all through the winter. ? 5 re ee ae < “< ¢, eee. oe Poe Se Ee ie ee err a GREENHOUSES ATTACHED TO DWELLINGS, OF In the diagram of an end section of a simple house, figure 20, the sashes (2 and () are 3 feet wide by 6 long ; the top one is so placed that it can be let down over the lower one by weights and pulleys, and thus secure ventilation. The front wall and ends are best built by using 4 x 6-inch locust or cedar posts. Upon the out- side of the posts rough planking is nailed; against that a S SS MG SA ~ = DS. 3 aoe) Ri: Sie a SS Oo li TEs. G i> AC ut ii K GV l - Sy | i @ 2 = 7 f/ Fig. 20.—SECTION OF A CHEAP GREENHOUSE. layer of tarred paper; and against the tarred paper the weather boarding is nailed, either overlapping or tongued and grooved, as may be desired. The outer walls of all green-houses built of wood are now thus made with us, and it is found to be far preferable to the old and objec- tionable mode of filling in between the boards with saw- dust or shavings. The tarred paper is a good non-conductor, and we find walls so constructed are equally as good a protection against frost as a nine-inch brick wall, which would cost 68 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. twice as much. A green-house of this kind, 25 feet long by 11 wide, should not cost more than $100 complete, if plainly built; that is, without heating. Heating is a difficult matter in green-houses so attached to dwellings, unless in cases where there is a surplus heat at night from furnaces or stoves in the rooms adjoining. In such cases, the windows or doors, if low enough, could be opened, and enough heat be supplied from the rooms of the dwell- ing; or, better yet, if it were so arranged that a register from the furnace opened into the floor of the green-house. But when this supply of artificial heat can not be ob- tained, the green-house as it is will be sufficient to protect plants against any frost that is likely to occur in this lati- tude after April 1st, particularly if light wooden shutters are put over the lower tier of sashes. I have recom- mended this style of green-house to many dealers and retail florists in the different States. Those who are simply dealers in plants experience great difficulty and loss in keeping what they purchase for sale in stores or dwelling-rooms; for if not sold at once, they quickly get injured. But this cheap and simple style of green-house not only by its appearance advertises their business as dealers in flowers, but it enables them to buy from the wholesale florists at an earlier season. Besides this, they can purchase in March and April at less than half what the same plants would cost in May, and it gives them time to repot into larger pots. Placing them in the green-house where they have sufficient space to grow, the plants that are bought for $12 per 100 in March, with but little trouble in potting, airing, and watering, will freely retail for 50 cents each in May. These green-houses are also economical and useful to the amateur who purchases for his flower-garden in spring. Bedding-plants, as they are called, can not be safely planted out in the Northern States until the middle of May, and if the amateur buys from the florist then, he generally pays quite double the GREENHOUSES ATTACHED TO DWELLINGS. 69 price that he could purchase the same plants for in March or April, for the florist always wants room in his green- houses, and can better afford to sell a dozen Geraniums in March for $1.50 than for $3 in May. Besides, the plants if purchased in March, and shifted into larger pots, and allowed plenty of room to grow, would be far better than could be purchased at any price from the over- crowded tables of the florists in May. The care of such plants in the green-house is very simple. The board benches or tables Hand G should be covered with two inches of sand, upon which to stand the pots; place them so far apart that the leaves will not touch; water thor- oughly whenever the surface of the soil in the pot ap- pears dry, which will be every day in hot weather. Ventilate by letting down the sashes, more or less, as the day is warm or cold, whenever the thermometer indicates 75° or 80°; in other words, keep the temperature in the day-time as near as may be to 60° or 65°, as marked by a thermometer placed in the green-house where the sun will not strike it. Burn half a pound of damp tobacco stems on the floor of the green-house twice a week, to destroy the aphis. One dealer in Maine informed me that from a green-house so constructed, 30 feet long by 11 feet wide, placed against the south side of a high board fence, he sold last spring, in_six weeks, sufficient bedding-plants that he had purchased, and vegetable plants that he had raised from seed, to afford him a profit of $200, or nearly double the cost of his green-house. | These green-houses can also be used for all the purposes of a hot-bed, thus: Soil placed to the thickness of four inches on the benches will grow fine plants of all varieties of vegetables if the proper time in sowing the different _ kinds is attended to—presuming that the green-house has no artificial heat other than that produced by the sun’s rays which pass through the glass. In this latitude, cab- bage, cauliflower, and lettuce had better be sown about 70 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE., middle of March. By attention to ventilating and water- ing, fine plants may be had in five or six weeks from time of sowing, which will bring them just into the proper season for planting in open ground. Tomatoes, pepper, and ege-plant, and the tenderer kinds of flower seeds, should not be sown much sooner than the end of April. ‘True, they would not be as early as if sown a month sooner in a hot-bed, and replanted into the green-house bench in May. But if no hot-bed is at hand, the protection of the green- house over these tender plants in May will give satisfac- tory results if earliness is not particularly wanted. I have so many inquiries about the heating and general construction of cheap green-houses that I am compelled to give instructions which are known now to nearly every one in and around our large cities. Yet, simple though the matter may be to us who see so much of it, it is evi- dently perplexing enough, when they come to construct, for those who have nothing to copy from. Those of us * who write on such subjects too often take for granted that those for whom we write know something about the matter, when for the most part they really know nothing. The cheapest kind of construction is the lean-to just described, that is, where there is anything to lean it against, such as the gable of house or barn. But if the green-house has to be constructed entirely new, I think the span-roof is best—see end-section fig. 13, p.57. The walls are four feet high, formed of locust or cedar posts, and made with tarred paper between the boarding and weath- er-boarding as described on page 67. This makes really a better wall for green-house purposes than an 8-inch one of brick, as we find that the extremes of temperature of the ereen-house—inside at 50°, and perhaps 10° below zero out- side—very soon destroy an 8-inch solid brick wall, particu- larly if exposed to the north or west. A wall of wood con- structed as above will last for twenty years, and be as good a protection as one of 8-inch brick. So much for MODES OF HEATING. FY the construction of the frame. The roof is formed by the ordinary sashes, six feet in length by three feet in width, which can be bought ready made, or easily be made by a carpenter or any one handy with tools. Such a house, if cheapness is an object, should be heated with a flue. It should not be more than 60 and not less than 30 feet in length; if more, the flue would not heat it enough, and if less it would be likely to get too much heat. About 50 feet by 11 is we think the best size of a green-house to heat with a flue. The flue should run all around the house—that is, it should start along under one bench, cross the end, and return under the other bench to the end where it begins, making the length of flue in a green-house of 50 feet about 110 feet long. It should have a “rise” in this length from the furnace to the chimney of at least 18 inches, to secure a free draft. For the first 25 feet of flue nearest the furnace it should be of brick, with an air-space inside of about 7 by 7 inches. From this point cement drain-pipe, 7 or 8 inches diameter, may be used. The drain-pipe is now almost exclusively employed here wherever flues are used; it is both cheaper and radiates more rapidly than brick. The cost of such a green-house, complete, in this section, is about $6 per run- ning foot—that is, one 50 feet long by 11 feet wide costs about $300 complete. CHAPTER XII. MODES OF HEATING. Although I have alluded to the different modes of heat- ing elsewhere, the matter is one of so much importance, that I will again refer to it more directly. Where but one building is erected, with not more than 1,000 square feet of glass surface, or where the beginner is limited in means and must practice economy, a smoke-flue T2 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. may be used to a very good purpose. Any mason will be able to build a smoke flue, by having the following instruc- tions. Let the bars of the grate be from 20 to 30 inches in length, making a width of yrate from 10 to 15 inches, accord- ing to the size of the house to be heated ; say the smallest size for a surface of glass of 300 feet, the latter for 600. Where the furnace pit can be drained, if there is danger of water standing in winter, it is always best to place the furnace so deep that the furnace bars will be say 3 feet from the top of the flue where it first starts along the house; at all events, the bars should never be less than one foot below the bottom of the flue. After setting the grate bars in the usual way, by resting them on an iron plate let into the brick-work at front and back, the sides of the fur- nace should be built with fire brick and fire clay, (if at all procurable), to the height of 10 or 15 inches, according to size. From that point an arch is turned over to cover the furnace, the “neck ” of the furnace rising at a sharp angle for about 2 feet, until it runs into the flue. The flue should be raised from the ground by means of bricks, either one upon edge or two laid flatwise. This costs perhaps one-third more in building, but it exposes a greater heating surface, besides keeping the flue always dry, and permitting it to “ draw ” better at all times. The cheapestand simplest form of flue is made as follows: After the bottom is formed, the flue is built up by placing two bricks on edge, the top being covered by a brick laid flat. This may be varied, how- ever, for larger houses, by placing 3 bricks on edge and covering by tiles. The larger the furnace, of course the greater the necessity for a larger flue. A flue had better never exceed 120 feet in length, and this length should be secured by running the flue along one side of the house, crossing the end, and returning along the other side to the place of beginning, where it connects with the chim- ney. Ifthe flue can have a gradual rise of 14 or 2 feet in its entire Jength, so much the better. Whenever it is made MODES OF HEATING. v3 to return, a greater amount of heat will be got from the same quantity of coal, than if it merely ran straight along one side, and turned round the end to connect with the chimney. Too great caution cannot be used in keeping wood- work away from the flue and chimney, at the furnace end; and for 15 feet of the hot end of the flue, wood should never be placed nearer than one foot. Do not listen to what your builders may say, as few of them have had experience in such matters, and whatever they may pretend, not one in a dozen knows any thing more about what is dangerous from fire than you do your- self. On one occasion I had in use two houses heated with flues each about 100 feet in length. The chimneys had been made of wood, and they had been safely used for three winters, but on the occasion of a severe storm in winter, when our fires were going at full blast, both of them took fire within an hour of each other, though fully 100 feet from the furnace. Fortunately the chimneys had been attached to the outside of the house, and were knocked off without material injury being done. On another occasion, a house containing upwards of 10,000 plants took fire by a workman placing kindling wood on the flue near the furnace. The result was great injury to the green-house, and total destruction of its contents. I mention these cases, to show the necessity of the utmost caution. Every winter there are hundreds of fires origin- ating in green-houses by the woodwork taking fire from flues. In this particular, if in no other, the heating of green- houses by hot water has an immense advantage over flues, for with this there is danger neither from fire, smoke, nor the gases that often escape from badly built flues. Still, in some particulars I do not believe in the advantages claimed for hot water heating by its advocates. I have never yet seen a boiler able to heat a given surface of glass G4 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. with less fuel than would be used by flues. Nor is the heat given out by iron pipes, filled with heated water, any ‘ess dry than that given out by a flue which has been heat- ed to the same temperature as the water. ‘The advantage in favor of the water is, however, that its temperature is nearly the same at one end of a house as at the other, while with the flue the furnace end may be heated to a tempera- ture of 300°, but where it enters the chimney, it may not be more than 100°; hence at the furnace end we get a dry heat, simply for the reason that our heating medium (the bricks) is unavoidably heated to too high a temperature, and to counteract the dryness occasioned thereby, pans of water should be placed upon the flue while firmg hard. The saddle boiler is the simplest form of boiler, and may be used in connection with a flue, as shown in figure 15, on page 5d. The great point to be aimed at in the construction of a boiler, is to get the greatest amount of heating surface, directly exposed to and near to a given grate surface. Scores of boilers are in use, all claimed by their respect- ive makers to be nearest to this condition, yet many of them are comparatively worthless, as our experience has rather expensively taught us, as we have thrown out two of them as useless, at great trouble and expense. Without desiring to show a preference to any particular maker, we can only say that an investigation of the subject has led us to use, as the most effective, one of recent introduction, known as “ Hitching’s Corrugated,” figure 20. We have now ten of them in use, which together heat 15,000 feet of 4-inch pipe, and heat a glass surface of 35,000 square feet, to 60 degrees in the coldest weather. It will be seen by the engraving that the portion exposed to the fire is rib- bed or corrugated, so as to expose a larger surface than if plain. This part of the boiler differs but little from the ordinary saddle boiler, but, as the figure shows, the heat passes around and over the boiler to a smoke pipe -in MODES OF HEATING. 4 : WS MWK S S : WINTER WG aS WARNE iH] WOE KC vy ‘A.—Elevation of Boiler. i = SS S WN NS AANA S ~ YU; YY Vy Y q, a. UYU, | Ml ] a > 7) 1 Wy, ] UA i; 7 L 7 u Wy Y/ LY LY I/7/ D Wa ] YY > /, B—Lon gitudinal Section of Boiler. Fig, 21.—HITCHINGS & CO.’S PATENT BOILER. 76 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. front. This heat, after it leaves the direct action of the fire, when passing again to the front of the boiler, is called “secondary,” and though its power is comparatively slight compared with the direct heat from the fuel to the inner surface, yet it otherwise indirectly benefits, by check- ing the rapid escape of heat out at the chimney, which would be the case to a great extent if this back draft was not used. We believe that by using this second heating surface, a saving of one-third in fuel is made. At present prices, a boiler and pipes to heat 1,000 square feet of glass by hot water will cost in this district about $500. Brick flues, to heat the same area, would cost about $100. Heating by tanks of hot water was much in use a few years ago, when the grape vine fever was at its height, and is still used by some for propagating purposes ; but our experience, as well as that of many others who have had them in extensive use, is that they are an un- profitable means of heating. Made in the usual way, of wood, we have never known them to be in use over two winters without seriously leaking. If made by lining with zinc, or by having them made of cast-iron, they then cost as much as the regular 4-inch pipe, and are not so durable, and for the heating for any purpose they have no advantage in any respect over them; four years ago-[ threw out over 2,000 square feet of wooden tanking, that had leaked so as to become unserviceable in three years, and replaced it by 4-inch pipe. Almost all who have used them have had the same experience. BASE-BURNING WATER-HEATER. tt CHAPTER XIII. BASE-BURNING WATER-HEATER. For many years a great want has been felt for a better means of heating green-houses, or rather conservatories, attached to dwellings. The space to be heated is usually ee ape ee SS aaa eo = = =— = Fig. 2.2. —BASE-BURNER. Fig. 23.—SECTION. so small, that the ordinary hot-water boilers in use for large operations have been found by amateurs too compli- cated, and to require too much attention. Then when the common smoke-flue was tried corresponding difficulties 78 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. arose, it requiring nearly the same attention as the more expensive boiler. Occasionally these conservatories are heated by registers from the furnace heater, just as the ordinary rooms of the dwelling; but I have rarely seen any so heated wherein the plants looked well, it being difficult to get the register so placed as to diffuse the heat MMA I evenly. A new base-burning water-heater has been invented by Hitchings & Co., the well known green- house-heating firm. There is nothing new in the princi- ple, nothing to patent, I believe. It is simply making the ordinary base-burning stove heat water so that it will circulate in iron pipes and warm a small green-house or BASE-BURNING WATER-HEATER. 79 conservatory attached to a dwelling or otherwise, exactly as our larger boilers do, which are not usually made on the base-burning principle. The patterns they have thus far made (shown in figure 22 and in section in figure 23) are 42 inches high and 21 inches at base, and are powerful enough to heat a green-house 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, or about 400 square feet of glass surface, taking into account the front and ends. The complete cost of heating, including boiler, pipes, and fitting up, will range from $150 to $200. The care necessary in the management of this base-burning water-heater is exactly the same as that~ required for an ordinary base-burning stove, and it may be safely left twelve hours without attention, keeping a temperature in the house of from 50° to 60° at night, which is about what is required for a general collection of plants. Figure 24 shows the boi'er placed alongside the kitchen range, being in a basement and one story lower than the conservatory. It can either be used in this way, or placed in the conservatory itself if so desired. It must be borne in mind though, in constructing a con- servatory, that it must be placed where a chimney can be used, as of course an outlet must be had for smoke ex- actly as in any ordinary room where a stove of any kind is used. CHAPTER XIV. PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY SEEDS. The propagation of plants of all kinds by seeds is a matter in whichinstructions can be given only to a certain extent. Long experience only can give the necessary knowledge for the full understanding of the proper tem- 80 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. perature and humidity essential for the successful ger- mination of the different varieties. It may be laid down as a safe rule, however, that for the hardier varieties, a low or medium temperature is required, say from 45° to 60°, and for the tender species, a temperature from 75° to 90°. If Pansy seed is sown in July or August, where the temperature in the shade averages 80°, no matter how moist the soil is kept, if germination takes place at all it will be of so feeble a kind that the seedlings will not con- tinue a healthy existence; but if the same seed were sown in September or October, with an average tempera- ture of say 60° in the shade, a quick and healthy germina- tion would be the result. The same rule applies to Cinerarias, Calceolarias, Auriculas, Primulas, and all other plants of this half-hardy nature. English, Scotch, and Trish gardeners, before they have had time for experience in this country, are apt to fall into the common error of sowing all these seeds too soon. Though it is proper to sow these seeds in July and August in England, with us, in this section, it must be delayed to September or October, and in warm latitudes still later, or failure is almost certain to follow. On the other hand, if we at- tempt to germinate Portulacas, Balsams, Amaranths, Zinnias, or other plants of tropical origin, in the medium temperature of 50°, they will either remain dormant until a higher temperature occurs, or perish. Ignorance of, or inattention to, these conditions, is far oftener the cause of failure than want of vitality in seeds. Whether seeds are sown in the open border, in the window garden of the parlor, in the hot-bed, or green- house, the same conditions should be observed, as far as practicable. In the open border there is not always a choice of soil, but if soil is to be prepared, let it be of a light nature; leaf-mould from the woods, and well- pulverized muck from the swamps, are excellent to sift on a, Ge ee ee eee ee PROPAGATING PLANTS FROM SEED. 81 as a covering; or, where it is obtainable, the mould formed by decayed refuse hops is of great value as a covering for seeds. We have employed this exclusively as a covering for seeds of all kinds for many years, with results which have been vastly superior to those we had wheiu we did not use it. It must be borne in mind, that at first seeds do not so much need a fertile soil as they do one having the necessary mechanical condition; this is found exactly in the light, moisture-retaining nature of hop-mould. We can give no better rule than the old one of covering seeds to about their own depth with mould, although something depends on the weight of the material with which they are covered. One-fourth of an inch in depth of hop- mould or leaf-mould would be no more than equivalent to half that depth of ordinary loam; hence the advantage in using it, as it gives the seed a moist, springy covering, through which the tiny germ can freely push. We know it is a practice very common with amateurs, and many gardeners, when starting seeds in hot-bed or green-house, to use flower-pots in this operation; they are generally two-thirds filled with potsherds, overlaying which is an inch or two of soil, and on this the seed is sown. Any continuation of dry weather necessitates almost daily watering of the flower-pots; this bakes or hardens the surface, while a day’s inattention to them dries the soil, while it is in this condition, so as to injure the vitality of the seeds; hence very unsatisfactory results too often follow this practice. For many years we have entirely discarded the use of earthen flower-pots or pans for the purpose of sowing seeds, and use shallow boxes instead. These we prepare by cutting the common-sized soap-box in three pieces, each one of a depth of about two inches. These boxes are filled with the prepared soil to the depth of 1°], inch, which is gently and evenly pressed, so as to give an en- 82 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. tirely level surface; the seeds are then sown, and a light covering, from *|,, to *|, part of an inch thick, according to size or strength of seed, is sifted over them, through a sieve having a mesh only ’|,, part of an inch in diameter. The covering is gently pressed, to prevent the air pene- trating the loose soil and drying up the seeds; watering, which it is well to avoid as much as possible, is thus ren- dered less necessary. Be careful, however, not to let them suffer for moisture, as in the weak condition of seed- lings most plants are quickly injured by neglect of this kind, and, even with all possible care, we experience serious losses. Many varieties will ‘‘damp off,” as we term it, just as the first rough leaves are being formed ; this, however, is not the result of excessive moisture, as it occurs just as quickly in a dry temperature as a moist one. It is evidently caused by the same insidious spider- web-like substance that is known among gardeners as the “fungus of the cutting bench,” and is evidently one of the minute fungi-of which we have so many representa- tives. The best preventive of this disease, as it is some- times called, is, just as soon as the seedling plants can be handled, to take them from the seed-boxes, and prick them out in boxes of similar mould, from ‘|, to 2 inches apart, according to the variety. This is.a much better method than potting them off in flower-pots, as it not only saves time and room, but they always do better. In the flower-pots they are liable to be dried up, and the tender roots of the seedling plant quickly destroyed. We use these shallow boxes largely for pricking off cuttings from our propagating benches, instead of potting them off, particularly such plants as are wanted for stock » to be planted out in the open ground, as, after being rooted in the cutting-bench, and planted ort in these shallow boxes, they can there remain, occupying less space, and in every respegt growing as well as if in pots. Carnations and Roses we work largely in this way. | VARIETIES FROM SEED. 83 CHAPTER XV. WHAT VARIETIES COME TRUE FROM SEED? An intelligent correspondent asks the question given ‘above. He queries still farther, and says: ‘ An apple-seed produces an apple-tree, but a Baldwin apple-seed will not produce a Baldwin apple-tree. Wheat of any variety produces the same; seed of a scarlet variety of Verbena will not always produce its like. Why this anomaly ?” The “why” of the matter can not be told, but a few general rules may be useful. Seeds of plants in the wild state, in their native habitats, almost invariably produce a ‘progeny nearly identical with the parent; and many species, even after they have been subjected to long years of cultivation, never appear to change seemingly in the slightest degree. Other species under cultivation quickly develop varieties entirely different from the original, and become what is technically termed “broken.” Thus the original species of our well-known Verbena is indigenous to South America, having a comparatively small scarlet flower. From this, and probably some other species hybridized with it, we have the gorgeous and varied col- oring of the variety of to-day. But it took many years to produce these, for we can well remember in our early gardening days there was no white, and the furor that took place in the floricultural world when Verbena teucrisides, the first white, appeared. It was far from being an attractive plant, but the color was novel, and single plants were sold by the florists of that time at a price that would now buy a hundred. The Verbena, then, is one genus whose species have given us innumerable varieties. The Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Fuchsia, Ger- aniun, Pansy, Petunia, the Rose, and many others, are also familiar examples where the original species has 84 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. “broken” from what may be termed its primary condi- tion into everchanging variety. Thus changed, it is pro- bable that their seeds will never produce two individual plants exactly alike,.any more than two identical human faces or forms are produced. It is probable that all species of animals and vegetables, under long years of domesti- cation and cultivation, would ultimately “break” from the original type, though we know that in some species this tendency sooner develops than in others. It is not to be wondered at that amateur horticulturists, like my friend, are puzzled at what looks like inconsistency in nature—why she refuses to produce always again his Baldwin apple, or his Rareripe peach, his Striped Petunia, or his Double Carnation, yet gives him back seemingly identical with the parent his corn or his wheat, his tomato or his cabbage, or in flowers his Mignonette or Alyssum, I say seemingly, for it may be doubted if they are identical, only that the variation is so slightly marked that it escapes notice. Many whose experience in such matters should have taught them better, are always con- founding plants raised from cuttings or slips with those raised from seeds, and can not see why the plant raised from the slip or root of a White Dahlia, or the tree raised from the graft of a Baldwin apple, should be always iden- tical with the plant or tree from which they are taken, while the seeds taken from either would not produce the same. Any cutting from a root or a branch, whether rooted itself or engrafted on another stock (except in rare cases of sports), will be identical with that of the original form from which it was taken; in fact, it is only a separated part of the same plant, while the plant raised from seed is a distinct individual. Very few not engaged in the cultivation of flowers as a business, know that many of the most beautiful ones used to decorate flower-beds in summer, and the hot-house or parlor in winter, can be raised fromseed. The price of Peet i Pe Le TE, Geind bia’ Sees (ee GS a oS ey io pe ard uy Seti VIEL AEN Te LH RRA Ie BUTE SH eR eT Lee beg PS TP ap VARIETIES FROM SEED. 85 seeds, as compared with plants, is very low; a package of seed costing twenty-five cents will usually raise as many plants as could be bought from the florists for $25. It is true that care and labor are necessary in starting them, but the pleasure derived from the opera- tion alone, well repays that, independently of economic considerations. April is the best month for sowing most of the seeds of tropical plants, and it is best done, where there is the convenience, in a hot-bed. The hot-bed is made in the usual manner. The soil used should be, if possible, of a light, sandy nature, mixed with at least one-third of leaf-mould from the woods; if the leaf-mould is not procurable, pulverized muck, or stable manure rotted to the condition of mould, will do nearly as well. This is spread over the manure of the depth of about six inches. The sashes of the hot-bed should fit close, and there should be some material ready for covering the sash at night; either straw-mats or shutters. We, ourselves, use shut- ters made out of *|,-inch stuff, and exactly the size of the sash. All these preparations being made, insert a ther- mometer in the soil covering the hot-bed, and when it indicates a declining temperature of 75°, the seeds may be sown. Most of the flower-seeds may be sown in a hot- bed just as we sow egg-plants or tomatoes, which is best done for private use by sowing in rows from a quarter of an inch to an inch in depth, according to the size of the seed, the distance between the rows being two or three inches. Let me here repeat a caution that I have often given in connection with seed-sowing: Be sure that the soil used for covering the seed is light; nothing is better than leaf-mould, but if it can not be got, use the other substitutes before named. One half of the loss in seeds is in consequence of their being covered with a heavy, clayey soil. The vital force of different plants in this respect is widely different. Thus, while the seeds of tomato will germinate in almost any soil, the egg-plant— 86 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. a a vegetable of the same class—requires the utmost care. As soon as the seeds have grown so as to attain the first true leaves—that is, the first leaves that show after the’ seed-leaves—they must be replanted carefully in soft, light soil, at from one to three inches apart, according to the kind. This will not only prevent them from damping off, as many of them are very apt to do, but they will be much stronger and suffer less when replanted to the open ground. We prefer to replant the seedlings in the shallow boxes already described. They are more portable thus than if planted again in the soil of the hot-bed, though, of course, after planting in the boxes these are put again in the hot-bed. After the seedlings have been planted in these boxes lightly water them and shade for two or three days. As the season advances, attend to venti- lation, watering, and covering up at night. To such as have not the convenience of a hot-bed, the flower-seeds may be sown in the shallow boxes above mentioned, and placed in the window of a south or east room, where the thermometer does not average less than 70°. Success would be more complete, however, if panes of glass were placed over the seeds, resting on the edge of the box an inch or so from the soil. This would pre- vent evaporation, and render watering, which has the ef- fect of caking the surface of the soil and preventing ger- mination, ee necessary. WY. e will name the varieties of flowers most suitable for amateurs to sow: = Canna Indica, or Indian Shot, grown mainty | for the beauty of its foliage. Sown in hot-bed in April, and planted out in the open ground in June, will, by August, attain a height of six or eight feet. In addition to the rich, tropical-looking foliage, the flowers of some sorts: are handsome—colors yellow, scarlet, orange, etc. Antirrhinum, or Snap-Dragon.—A_ beautiful “ summer . a Pa : i " * ‘ P| 3 ‘s ¥ > z Fs ‘- =r, oe 4 doshas colene Read Fa othe ees ~ae Lond TER Ae lee Sans ae ¥ s VARIETIES FROM SEED. ~ 87 flowering plant, presenting a great diversity of coloring, is easily raised from seed in the hot-bed. The Antirrhin- ums may be planted out in this latitude in May, and flower from middle of June throughout the summer. Cobzea Scandens.—A climbing plant, which will attain, from seed, a growth of twenty or thirty feet in one season. The flowers are bell-shaped; purple; 3 inches in length by 1'|,-inch in breadth. The seeds are thin and flat, and should be placed on edge when sown. Coleus.—This famous ornamental-leaved plant is easily raised from seed, and breaks into endless varieties. It is exceedingly tender, however, and had better not be sown before May, nor planted out before June. Zonal Geraniums are, perhaps, the most valuable of all plants for summer-blooming in our climate. They are easily raised from seed, and will well reward the amateur by the endless variety produced. A few years ago the only colors of these were scarlet and pink. Now we have them of every shade, from white to crimson, with endless .tints of scarlet and rose. The Zonal Geraniums may be lifted and potted in the fall, and if well pruned in when lifted will bloom finely in winter. Lantana is another plant easily raised from seed; the flower resembles somewhat the Verbena, but has, besides many of the colors found in the Verbena, orange and yellow, which are not found in that flower. Lobelias.—Dwarf plants, well-suited for hanging- baskets, or for ribbon-lming. The flowers range from white to blue. The blue of the Lobelia is often of the richest azure, unsurpassed by that of any other plant. Pansy, or Heart’s-ease.—The usual mode with the flor- ists is to sow the seeds of Pansy in the fall, so that the plants may be large enough to be in bloom when he sells in May. In this condition it will flower, perhaps only to the middle of June, for by thus being prematurely forced 88 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. into flower it becomes exhausted and stops blooming, and often dies outright; but when sown in February or March, in green-house or hot-bed, the growth is uncheck- ed, and it will grow and flower from June to November. Petunias, being of rapid growth, will flower the first season, even if sown in the open ground, but usually not before July or August. If sown in the hot-bed in April, they will bloom in June and make larger and finer plants. Dianthus.—The Pinks are numerous and varied, many of them having arich, clove fragrance. They present an endless variety in color and style of flower. Salvia Splendens, or Scarlet Sage.—Seeds of this sown in April will flower by July or August, and continue throughout the season. This, perhaps, is the most gorgeous plant of our gardens; single plants often attain a height of six feet, and nesxly as much in diameter, having a hundred scarlet, plume-like flower-spikes. The color is so intense when seen against 1 green background, that it is often visible at the distance of half a mile. Verbenas.—The most popular plant of the day is easily raised from seed, and no other plant that we know of will so well reward the trouble. The number of varieties now attained is something wonderful, even to us in the trade. Kvery year develops some new strain. Every color seem- ingly is obtained but yellow or orange; these we never expect to have, as there seems to be a natural law of the floral kingdom that blue, yellow, and scarlet are never found in varieties of the same species. Thus we have in Dahlias and Roses yellow and scarlet colors but no blue, just as we have in Verbenas blue and scarlet -but no yellow. My readers will do well to remember this, and be saved, as they occasionally are, from investing in “blue” Roses or Dahlias, and “yellow” Verbenas, and know that the seller must either be ignorant of his trade or dishonest, sear Pr eer PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 89 Double Zinnias.—These, like Petunias or Balsams, can be raised to flower by August if sown in the open ground, but if sown under glass in April will flower in June and throughout the entire season, making larger and finer plants. There are few plants that have im- proved so much as the Zinnia, and we have now dazzling, scarlets, yellow, orange, lilac, rose, white, and crimson- rivaling the Dahlia in symmetry of form. CHAPTER XVI. PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. Of all the operations of the florist, the one above all others in importance is the propagation of plants by cut- tings. It is the fount from which the supply must come, and becomes inexhaustible in the hands of a careful operator. I say a careful operator, rather than a skillful one, for, in my estimation, a great amount of knowledge is not so necessary to success as that a never-flagging, careful application of that knowledge should be made. A careful man, who has had the run of a propagating establishment for one year, and who has kept his eyes and ears open, will have acquired a theoretical and practical knowledge of the business sufficient to enable him to operate with success, provided he is of fair intelligence and studious habits. On the other hand, we find hundreds who have spent the best part of their lives in the trade, whose careless character renders useless the knowledge possessed, when this branch of horticulture is placed in their charge. I have long held the opinion that the necessary knowl- edge to successfully propagate plants by cuttings is very 90 | PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. simple, and may easily be imparted by writing, even to — one having no acquaintance whatever with the operation. I will first state the system practised by commercial florists, following with that suited for amateurs or private gar- deners. When the operations are such as require a house ‘set apart exclusively for propagating, the best style, in our Opinion, is that shown by the diagram on page 50. We have used this style for the past three years, and, thus far, cannot see how it can be further improved upon; it works perfectly, and if the simple conditions which we lay down for our guidance are strictly followed, failure is an impossibility. It will be seen by the diagram that the heating is done by hot water pipes, two of which (4 inches in diameter) run under each bench; but it must not be supposed that it is indispensable that the heating of a propagating house should be done with hot water, to insure success. The common smoke-flue, run under the bench in the same position as shown 2S the pipes, will give bottom heat, if carefully regulated, just as well as the hot water pipes; only in all cases where the first cost is not an object, we advise heating by hot water in pref- erence to flues. The bottom of the bench is best formed of slate or thin flagging-stone, as they are better con- ductors of heat than wood. When it is not convenient to obtain these, common rough boarding will answer. The scale applied to the diagram will give the measure- ments. We are in the habit of placing 3 or 4 inches of well- rotted refuse hops, tan bark, or some such material, well beaten down, over the tae or flagging; over this we place about 2 inches of ae Our reason for using the first-named materials, passing the heat through them before it reaches the sand in which the cuttings are placed is, that it becomes modified and approaches to the moist and genial heat of the hot-bed. This practice is by no SBR Ka cs AROS Sa NEE rn Sie BLO bese PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 91 means indispensable to adopt, as sand alone, placed on the boards or flagging, to the depth of 3 inches, will answer the purpose very well; but when the materials can be procured conveniently, we believe it to be preferable. Some gardeners give preference to particular colors or textures of sand, but I think that these have little or nothing to do with the rooting of cuttings. In our ex- periments, we have tried sands of all colors and of nearly all textures, together with charcoal-dust, brick-dust, cocoa- nut fibre, rotted refuse hops, and many other materials; cuttings root in all in nearly the same time and with the same success, satisfying us, beyond all doubt, that the material in which the cutting is placed acts merely asa medium to hold the moisture. We use sand because it is a clean and convenient material to work with, and is generally easily attainable. In my earlier experience, I was a victim to the popular notion that it was necessary to use silver sand in the propagation of particular plants, and was for years at much trouble and expense to obtain it. But this even did not save us; we were in those days working at hap-hazard, failing quite as often as suc- ceeding, until further experience taught us what were the canses of failure and the conditions of success. With exceptions so few, and those of so little import- ance that it is hardly worth while to allude to them, cut- tmegs of all kinds root freely from slips taken from the voung wood—that is, the succulent or unripened growth that a plant has made. The proper condition of the slip at the time that it is inserted in the sand of the cutting- bench is of great importance,—a condition which it is ‘astonishing to believe is so little understood among gar- deners. Somehow the idea has become current that every cutting must be made by cutting just below a joint or just at one. The practice of this system leads undoubt- ey to many cases of failure; not that the mere cutting at or below a joint either assists or hinders the forma: 92 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. tion of roots, but from the fact that when a slip is cut ata joint the shoot has often become too hard at that point, while half an inch higher up, or above the joint, the proper condition would be found. The safest rule for the novice to adopt in propagating all kinds of Fig. 25.—PROPER AND IMPROPER CONDITIONS OF CUTTING. soft-wooded plants is to bend the cutting on the shoot; if it breaks or snaps, as in the upper part of figure 21, it is in the right condition, but if it can be bent without snapping, as shown in the lower part of the same figure, it is then too hard. We know it will root even in this hard condition, but it will root more slowly, and the roots emitted will be hard and slender, and, as a consequence, will not be likely to produce a plant of the same vigor as PROPAGATION: OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 93 that made from one in the proper state. In propagating woody plants, such as Roses, Azaleas, Daphnes, etc., this est of breaking or snapping does not apply, although all these will root, if taken in the same way; yet we find it enfeebles their growth more than if the cutting is allowed to get harder. What this degree of hardness is, it is difficult to describe; in Roses it assumes the proper de- gree of hardness when the shoot develops the flower-bud. But, although we do not take Rose cuttings in the same succulent condition as we would a Fuchsia or a Verbena, it must not be imagined that it is necessary to make the cutting at a joint. The doing away with this custom in propagating Roses en- ables us to increase the product of a plant at least twice as much as if we practised _ under this dogma, for the cut- ting will root just as well, and become quite J) as good a plant, if made ' witha single eye, (figure 2b) as if cut at a joint having two or three eyes, (figure 23). Although we have said that cuttings can be as easily rooted without being cut at a joint as otherwise, yet there are, in some plants, other considerations that necessitate that they should never be cut except at a joint; for example, a Dahlia cutting will root quite as freely, make as fine a flowering plant in fall, and the tuberous root increase to its full size; but it will not be able to start again in spring, because the Dahlia pushes only from the crown of the root, and if the crown has not been formed from a cutting cut close Fig. 26.—ROSE WITH SINGLE EYE. 94 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. below a joint, as in figure 24, it is worthless, as the tubers and crown formed without an eye possess no. latent or dormant buds; hence the importance of always making Dahlia cuttings by cutting immediately be‘ow an cye, 7f the roots are wanted for future use. In cases where it is desired to make the most of new p-ants, we sometiines split the cuttings, as shown in figure 25, This method, however, is not generally desir- able, and we question if, except In cases of Calceolarias, and a few other plants of like character, it is ever worthy of practice. If a plant is perpet- uated by cuttings with difficulty, we usually find it is freely increas- ed in some other way ; thus the Cyclamen, Myrsiphylium, some varieties of Cleroden- tee es) YES Fic. 27.—ROSE WITH as EYES. dron, etc., are slow to increase by division or cuttings, but are abundantly multi- plied by seeds. Again, the Bouvardias, Anemone Japoni- ea, Pyrus Japonica, Calycanthus, ete., are slowly increased by cuttings or shoots, while by cuttings of the roots they are propagated with the greatest ease and rapidity. The roots of such plants are thickly studded with latent, or, as they are termed, adventitious buds. ‘These are cut into pieces of half an inch or so in Jength, as in figure 26, strewn thickly ou the propagating bench, and covered over with an eighth of an inch of sand, mixed with some . bh, 3 f, ’ PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 95 light material, such as finely sifted rotten refuse hops or leaf mould. These are treated exactly in the way of cut- tings of the shoots, except that there is no necessity ever to shade root cuttings; water should be sparingly given until they have freely started through their covering. One of the most important plants to propagate by root cuttings is the Bouvar- dia, and it requires to be placed in a high temperature. It is bet- ter not to put the roots in to start before the season is_ sufliciently advanced to keep the temperature — steadily high, say «bout the 15th of March, or Ist of April. The Bouvardia is also increased by cuttings of the young shoots, but it requires more’ care, the plants so made are not so fine, and the ease and cer- ~y Se tainty with which they Fig. 28.—DAHLIA CUTTING. make good plants by cutting up the roots render any other mode useless. Ihave said that if the simple conditions that.we lay down for our guidance in the propagation of plants are strictly followed, failure is an impossibility. These con- ditions, together with the state of the cutting, are tempera- tureand moisture. It is very easy to give arule for these, yet it requires unremitting attention to keep to that rule through all the deviations of the seasons, and it is hardly possible to follow it, whenever the outside temperature exceeds the limit given. Hence we find that the propa- 96 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. gation of most plants in this section of the country is at- tended with great difficulty, and with but little suecess in the months of. June, J uly and August, and for this reason some of the best European propagators fail, when attempt- Fig. 29—SPLIT CUTTING. ing the operation here in July, with the thermom- eter in the shade at 90°, while in London success may attend these efforts at the same date ; but then the thermome- ter there only marks 70°. This twenty de- grees just imakes the difference. I have dwelt thus long on the subject of temperature, to fix in° the mind of the reader what I believe to be of great importance, and to prepare him to under- stand, if failure occurs, where to place the cause, for without much doubt every case of failure is traceable either to the unsuitable condition of the cutting, irregular- ity of moisture, or tem- perature. The most proper condition of temperature, to root cut- tings of the great majority of green-house and bedding plants, is 65 degrees of bottom heat, indicated by a ther- mometer plunged in the sand of the bench, and an atmos- pheric temperature of 15 degrees less. A range of 10 de- grees may be allowed, that is, 5° lower, or 5° higher, but Ge Pe EPR ee eee OREN PS Te we fe ewe patergits) aera i “~ ne Ode — we Ritter es: Aavet fsa ss, PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 97 the nearer the heat of the sand can be kept to 65°, and that of the rest of the house to 50°, the more perfect the success will be. From the time the cuttings are inserted in the sand un- til they are rooted, they should never be allowed to get dry; in fact, our practice is to keep the sand soaked with water, the cutting bench being watered copiously every morning, and often, when the atmosphere is dry, again in the evening. Kept thus saturated, there is less chance of the cutting getting wilted, either by heat from the sun’s rays, or from fire heat; for be it remembered that if a cut- ting once gets wilted, its juices are expended, and it becomes in the condition of a hard cutting, in the condition in which, when bent, it will not snap nor break, which we have shown to be the proper state at Fig. 30.—RooT CUTTING. figure 21. To avoid this wilting or flagging of the cutting, every means that will suggest itself to the propagator isto be used. Our prac- tice is to shade and give air in the propagating house just as soon in the forenoon as the action of the sun’s rays on the glass raises the temperature of the house to 65° or 70°. This practice of giving air in a propagating house is, I am aware, not in very common use; many contending that the house should at all times be kept close. We have tried both methods long enough and extensively enough to satisfy us beyond all question, that ventilating 98 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE, and propagating at a low temperature is capable of producing a larger quantity of stock during the season than at a high temperature and in a close atmosphere. There need be no failures, and it has the important advantage of producing a healthy stock, which the close or high temperature system would fail to do in the case of many plants. We have often heard propagators vauntingly tell of taking out two crops of cuttings in 10 days. We are well aware that this may be done, but we are also aware that it is often done in damp and cloudy weather at the risk of the whole crop, and it must be done at a high temperature, which, at all times, causes the plants to draw up slender, and thus impairs their vigor. I am of the opinion that permitting a moderate circula- tion of air in the propagating house tends to prevent the germination of that peculiar spider-web-like substance, which, for want of a better term, is known among garden- ers as the “fungus of the cutting bench.” Hvery one who has had any experience in propagating knows the baneful effects of this; how that, in one night, it will often sweep off thousands of cuttings that a few hours before were in healthful vigor. But this insidious enemy of the propagator requires, like vegetation of higher grades, con- ditions suitable to its development, which evidently are a calm atmosphere and a temperature above 55 or 60 de- grees. Hence, to avoid this pest, we make every effort by shading, airing, and regulation of fire heat, to keep the at- mosphere of the house so that it shall not exceed 60°, This, of course, is not practicable when the outside tem- perature in the shade is above 60°, but the tempera- ture can be reduced considerably by dashing water on the pathways and other parts of the house. It is rarely, however, that the outside temperature ever exceeds 60 degrees for any length of time in this district before the middle of May, and all propagating should be finished previous to that time, unless of tropical plants, or plants PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS, 99 that will stand and require a hot-house temperature ir their growth, such as Poinsettias, Bouvardias, Coleus, Cler- odendrons, etc. These propagate more freely in a tem- perature 20 degrees higher than that laid down for general guidance. The shading of the glass, to prevent the temperature from rising in the house, is done in various ways, some using canvas, or bast-matting, or painting the glass with lime or whitewash. We find the cheapest and most con- venient shading to be that formed by screens made of common lath nailed an inch apart to a frame the size of the sash, (8x6). This gives an ever-varying, modified shade, sufficiently cooling to the house, yet not darkening the cutting enough to impair its vigor. These are not put on in the morning until the temperature inside indi- cates it to be necessary, and are taken off in the after. noon as soon as the sun ceases to shine on the glass, for it is of the utmost importance that the cuttings receive as much light as they will bear without becoming wilted. Cuttings rooted in too much shade, and at a high temper- ature, are drawn up spindling, and take months to recover from the injury done by this injudicious treatment. The time required by cuttings to root varies from 5 to 20 days, according to the variety, condition of the cutting, and temperature. Verbenas, Fuchsias, or Heliotropes, put in in proper condition, and kept without ever being allowed to wilt, will root in an average bottom heat of 65°, in 8 days, while Roses, Pelargoniums, or Petunias, will take at least double that time under the same conditions. Another point of importance, and one too often neglect- ed, is to pot off the cuttings at once when rooted, no mat- ter how small the roots may be; half an inch is a much better length for them to be when potted than two inches, and the operation is much more quickly performed when the roots are short than when long. But the main evils of delaying the potting off of cuttings are, that when 160 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. left too long the cuttings grow up weak for want of room, the roots, which become hard and woody, do not strike freely into the soil, greater care is required in shading and watering after potting, and the plant usually loses its lower leaves, weakening its vitality, and subjecting it to a greater chance of disease. With but few exceptions, cuttings should never be potted into pots exceeding 2% inches in diameter ; the infant plant in its transition state has as yet but limited vitality, and should not be gorged with food. The soil used should be sifted fine, through a sieve with meshes something less than 4 of an none in diam- eter; thus fine, it is more congenial to the roots, delicate as yet, and besides, it is more easily and quickly used in the operation of potting. After potting they should be set on a bench covered with an inch or two of sand, and freely watered with a fine rose watering-pot, and for two or three days treated exactly, in shading and watering, as if they were yet in the propagating bed. If at this stage they are allowed to wilt from drying, or excess of heat, feeble and sickly plants will be the result. The preceding method is that in use in most of the large florists’ establishments in the vicinity of New York, and is applicable wherever there are regular propagating and plant houses; but as there are hundreds of amateur florists having, perhaps, only one green-house, and thou- sands who have no green-house at all, who would gladly know how to increase their plants, to these we can detail a simple method, yet one equally effective and safe. This method has already been described by me in several of our horticultural periodicals, and I can now offer nothing new on the subject. It is called the “SAUCER SYSTEM” OF PROPAGATING, because saucers or plates are used to hold the sand in which the cuttings are placed. This sand is put in to the depth of an inch or so, and the cuttings inserted in it close 4* PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS, 101 enough to touch each other; the sand is then watered un- til it becomes in the condition of mud, and placed on the shelf of the green-house, or in the window-sill of the sit- ting-room or parlor, fully exposed to the sun, and never shaded. But one condition is essential to success,—until the cuttings become rooted the sand must be kept con- tinually saturated, and kept in the condition of mud ; if once allowed to dry up, exposed to the sun as they are, the cuttings will quickly wilt, and the whole operation will be defeated. The rules previously laid down for the proper condition of the cuttings are the same in this case, and those for the temperature nearly so; although, by the saucer system, a higher temperature can be maintained without injury, as the cuttings are in reality placed in water and will not droop at the same temperature as if the sand was kept in the regular condition of moisture maintained in the propagating bench. Still the detached slip, until rooted, will not endure a continuation of exces- sive heat, so that we advise, as we do in the regular meth- od of propagating, that the attempt should not be made to root cuttings in this way, in this latitude, in the months of June, July, or August, unless with plants of a tropical nature. When the cuttings are rooted, they should be potted in small pots, and treated carefully by shading and watering for a few days, as previously directed. In many of the operations in floriculture as in vegeta- ble gardening, success or failure depends upon their being done at the proper time, and though it may seem like a needless repetition, Ican not too strongly enforce upon the novice the importance of observing the dates that the experience of our best cultivators has shown to be best under our peculiar climate. Whoever in this matter fol- lows the directions of an English work upon horticulture will be sure to fall into difficulties, although its teach- ings may be exactly suited to the English climate. I would here refer to the evils arising from the too common 102 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. practice of many of our agricultural and horticultural journals, of selecting from English papers articles that often seriously mislead. Tor example, a Boston maga- zine a year or two ago copied a long article from the English Journal of Horienieme, telfing us in a very patronizing way how to propagate the golden tricolor- leaved geraniums. © The writer laid great stress on having a sharp knife and cutting the slip in a particular manner, then to insert it in silver sand, and a lot of other non- sense that any boy of six months’ practice here would have known was absurd ; but, above all, the operation was to be performed in July/ He might have got the sharpest knife that was ever made, and the purest silver sand that ever lay on the seashore, but he would have ut- terly failed in our climate, if he attempted the work in July. This is only one of scores of such absurd selec- tions as we see yearly in some of our horticultural jour- nals. If the conductors of such have not original matter to fill up with, better far that they leave their pages blank than to show their utter ignorance of what is suitable to our climate. CHAPTER XVII. HOW PLANTS AND FLOWERS ARE GROWN. Many of my readers live so remote from our great cities and towns, that “ Flower manufacturing,” as it may be termed, is something by them unseen and even un- heard of. 'To such the accompanying sketches, taken in the middle of the month of December, from our establish- ment in Jersey City, N. J., may be indendatines as well as instructive. Figure 31 represents an inside section of a propagating house. This has a propagating bench or table on each side, having a ledge to it, and is covered with about three HOW FLOWERS ARE GROWN. 103 Ny Ue Ny Wii I t 1 th rad OAT stant ANN BRIN UAC MTN Zaassignn Ly ns OMEN WN yl , Ny SAN Fig. 31.—FIRST STAGE.—CUTTINGS OF VERBENAS. tf al f i mn uh | Il Fig. 32.—SECOND STAGE.—VERBENAS IN POTS. IVE , =< i | | ve AA Ait della hi | 104 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. inches of clesn sand. The engraving shows the cuttings — as they are inserted in rows in the sand. The space shown is about 9 square feet, in which are set about 1,000 Verbena cuttings. These are taken in the green state from the old plants, cut into lengths of about 2 inches, and inserted about half their length in the sand. They are shaded when the sun is hot, and freely watered every day until they take root, which will be in about 8 days from the time they are planted in the sand. The proper temperature for the sand is 60°, and that of the atmos- phere of the green-house should be 10° lower. The sand on the bench in which the cuttings are placed is raised to a higher temperature than the air of the green-house, either by a smoke-flue passing under the bench or by pipes containing hot water. As soon as the cuttings are rooted they are planted in pots 2’|, inches in diameter by 2'|, in depth, and again freely watered by a fine rose watering-pot. Figure 32 shows an inside section of a green-house, with the plants in this the second stage of growth. These operations are continued during the season, from Novem- ber to May. In May the plants are ready to be set out in the open ground. Some conception of the vast numbers grown of this plant—the Verbena—may be formed when we say that 300,000 were sent out from this establishment during the months of March, April, and May of 1878; and when it is known that there are many hundreds, great and small, of florists’ establishments in the suburbs of New York, all growing more or less of this popular summer flowering plant, it may be easily conceived that many millions are planted annually. We can well note the in- crease of taste in the culture of flowers from this single plant alone. Twenty years ago, when we grew 5,000 Verbenas one year, we thought we would overstock the market; but we did not, and the vast increase that has been steadily made tends to no such result. And it must ' F : , HOW FLOWERS ARE GROWN, 105 not be forgotten that this is only one species of flower among many hundreds grown. Next in numbers to the Verbena comes the Rose; of these perhaps half the num- ber is sold, but as the plant is more valuable, a far larger amount in money is realized. Twenty years ago, 50,000 roses would have supplied all the demand for New York market; it must now require millions. Figure 33 shows another phase of green-house culture— the growing of plants to produce cut flowers in winter. <= —i TS 1 Fig. 33.—POINSETTIA PULCHERRIMA. This section shows a mass Poinsettia pulcherrima, as planted in one of the green-houses. Each of these tropical-looking growths is about one foot in diameter, and of the brightest scarlet that it is possible to conceive ; these are not, however, exactly flowers, but are bracts of outer leaves of the flower. They are in perfection just at the holidays, and conduce more than any other flower to give the tables of our hospitable New Yorkers on New Year’s Day a look of gorgeous elegance. In our green- 156 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. houses a space of 3,000 square feet is devoted to this plant, and in bright sunshine is presently a blaze of scarlet that is perfectly dazzling. ‘ Figure 34 is a section of a Rose House, where the Tea Roses are being forced for their buds in winter. A space of 6,000 square feet of glass is devoted to this depart- ment, producing about a thousand buds daily. The varieties grown are very few, as we find only six or eight SS Sp WN XX“: Fig. 54.—ROSES IN POTS. sorts are suitable for forcing. We name the kinds in order of excellence as we find them—NSaffrano, Isabella Sprunt, Bon Silene, Duchess d’Brabant, Agrippina, La Phenix. These embrace safiron, yellow, straw, pink, car- mine, crimson, and rose colors. To foree Roses in winter, the plants must be grown in pots during the previous sum- ner and fall. It is useless to lift a Rose plant from the ground in the fall and expect it to flower well durmg win- £cr, Figure 85 represents a section of the house in which is ae “7, J ; ' 7 ae oe 107 RS ARE GROWN, (he 4 FLOW! HOW This is White Chinese Prinrose. lific of rown the Double g The ants. pl ull winter-flowering ‘ a the most pro 5.—DOUBLE PRIMROSES. Fig. 3 oO o ,000 bout a se has about 1] the grow e in which w green-house 1e8 a SS SS Sse <> Each plant occup Y| CAM | a —CARNATIONS, ces not less than 500 In fact the whole green nd produ square foot of space a flowers on each plant. s is -house 108 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. one continued sheet of snowy whiteness from November to May. It is perhaps the most profitable of all winter flowering plants grown by the florist. Figure 36 is a section of Carnations (or Pinks, as they are sometimes called) growing, planted out on one of the green-house benches. Of late years this has become one of our most popular winter flowers, and perhaps more space is devoted to it than to any other flower. Its cul- tivation is easy and simple, and for that reason it is less profitable here perhaps than anything else grown. The cuttings are treated exactly as the Verbenas, already described. As the plant is quite hardy, it is plant- ed out from the green-houses early in spring, (at the sea- son we plant cabbages), in the open ground, at about one foot each way. The flowers are not allowed to develop during the summer, but the buds are cut off as they appear —the flowering resources being husbanded for winter. In October they are lifted and planted on the benches. Many of these plants produce over a hundred flowers. The sorts grown are very few, mainly carmine and pure white. The Carnation, however, comprises many hun- dred varieties ; but we find comparatively few flower suffi- ciently freely in winter to warrant their growth; though for private collections a score of sorts might be grown to represent the different colors and markings. CHAPTER XVII. PROPAGATION OF LILIES. The increasing interest taken in the Japan and other Lilies renders their rapid increase a matter of much inter- est, not only to the commercial florist, but to the amateur cultivator, who may wish to increase his stock of some PROPAGATION OF LILIES. 109: rare or valuable variety, and finds the ordinary mode too slow. In most species they do not increase by division, the usual method, more than at the rate of doubling an- nually. There are two rapid modes of propagation, both simple enough to be practised by any one, even without the aid of green-house or frames, although in the mode to which we will first allude, the aid of glass will save some time in the operation. On examination of the bulb of any of the lilies, it will be seen to be made up of a number of seales, varying in number from twenty to nearly a hund- red, according to the size of the bulb; from five to twen- ty of these may be broken off from the outer circle of scales without injury to the bulb, Now at the base of each scale is a latent bud, which under certain conditions develops itself as a small bulb. The conditions are simply to press the scale down up- right in some light, sandy compost, so that its upper part is level with, or a little below the surface of the compost; give it then a slight watering, and in from one to two months bulblets will be formed, as shown in figure 27. The best way is to use shallow boxes for the purpose, and be- gin the operation about the first of Febru- Fig. 37,~scate oF ary. Keep the boxes ina temperature of eet from 50° to 60°, either in the green-house or dwelling- house, for there is no occasion for direct light, and the bulb- lets will be formed so that the boxes may be set out in the open garden in May. It is best to plunge the boxes in the soil, undisturbed, level with the surface, so that they will have greater uniformity of moisture, Treated thus, the scales will make bulbs of the size of crocus by fall. It is better not to disturb the bulbs in the fall, but merely cover the boxes, on the approach of severe weather, with three or four inches of rough litter or leaves, allowing 110 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. them to remain thus covered until spring. In spring, if too thick, they may be planted separately, and by fall of the second year will make flowering bulbs. There is another method of increasing the Lily, which is simpler and equally expeditious. On lifting up in the fall an old plant that has bloomed, it will be observed that the large bulbs are formed below the roots that are thrown out from the stem at the surface of the ground; after detaching this mass of roots from the bulb, an examination will show that, imbed- ded among the roots of every plant, there are from six to twelve small bulbs, about the size of hazel-nuts, as in figure 28, in which fewer bulbs are shown than are usu- ally produced. Allow these to remain attached to the roots, and plant the whole closely packed together in rows or beds, as desirable, covering up on the approach of winter, as directed for the scales. In spring, on remoy- ing the covering, the young bulbs will be starting up with great vigor, some of them being of sufficient strength to flower the first season, and by fall making bulbs, nearly all of which will be of sufficient size to flower. ‘This method of increasing the Lily is practised by our cultivators, but Iam of the opinion that it cannot Fig. 88.—LILY BULB WITH BULBLETS. PROPAGATION OF LILIES. 111 be in use in Europe, else there would be no necessity of keeping the bulbs ‘of the Japan Lilies at the rates they have been held for the past ten years, as by this method they can be as profitably grown as Tuberoses, Hyacinths, or Tulips, and sold at the same rates, The subjoined is a list of Lilies in the collection of an amateur, P. Hanson, Esq., Brooklyn, L. 1, who has, per- haps, the largest collection possessed by any one in the United States. The names of only the most striking vari- eties are given, although the collection numbers over 150 sorts, if the sub-varieties are included. Lilium auratum. Lilium lancifolium nanum. “« splendidum. s punctatum. ‘© Brownii. - cid roseum. “« bulbiferum, <5 3 rubrum. se os hativum. “ ~ longiflorum. ‘“ Busehianum. < bs foliis variegatis, *« Camschatcense. u ee Lin-kin. + 5 Sarana. s¢ Martagon. ‘« Canadense. ss ‘¢ album, *~ robrim, " ds ‘* punctatum “« candidum. eS ue elegans. 6 ue punctatum. Be xe purpureum. . ps speciosum. ee ee - flore plene. x r spicatum. ae =< 6 striatum. “* . Catesbeei. | be ‘¢ superbum. “ Carniolicum. | ‘¢ monadelphum. * Chaleedonicum. “ Neilgheriense. “ ecolchicum (Szowitzianum). ‘* — Pennsylvanicum. es eon ee lor. ‘© pendulum. * eordifolium. ‘* peregrinum. ‘« ~ Coridion. ‘* Philadelphicum. ‘¢ corruscans. ‘* pomponium. *). $CrOcenam. ‘* pubescens. ‘* auratiacum major. ‘* pulchellum. $ POR ‘¢ pumilum. “ eximium verum. “ puniceum. “~~ formosum, Versch. “ -pyrenaicum, “ fulgens atrosanguineum, ‘¢ sinicum. S es incomparable. ‘« spectabile. * - giganteum. “ staminosum. “ Tancifolium album. «superbum. «2 ‘« Meipomene. “ Carolinianas, 112 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. Lilium superbum luteum. Lilium umbellatum cruentum. 3 = pyramidale. oe ‘* Groom’s Hybrid. be rubrum. ae ‘¢ Hendersonii. a os splendidum. . “* maculatum. “ Sibiricum splendens. ie “ Princess of Wales “ -Thompsonianum. = ‘* ‘splendidum. “« Thunbergianum. sid “ -Thorburnii. ‘* aureum. “ tigrinum. oe “ pictum. xt “ angustifolium. 7. ‘“ variegatum. “erecium: “« Loddigesianum. Fee “¢ foliis variegatis. ‘¢ —latifolium. e * fl. pleno. “ pinifolium. e 2 Japonicum. “« sanguineum, “ Ss laciniatum. *< ‘venustum. ae “ preecox. | -bicolor: “ “yolubile. ‘¢ umbellatum. ‘¢ ~~ Wallichianum. oe “* citrinum. ‘“¢ Thunbergianum cupreum. CHAPTER XV. CULTURE OF THE ROSE. In the limited space that can be afforded to Roses in the present work, the account must of necessity be condensed. Those who wish fuller details are referred to works especial- ly devoted to Rose culture. Amongst the writers on the Rose, are Buist, Parsons, and Parkman, practical horti- culturists, all of whom have treated the subject in a clear and comprehensive manner. A botanical classification of varieties would be useless for our present purpose, but we will endeavor to make our readers comprehend the lead- ing features of the Garden Classification of the Rose. Roses may be classified under three general heads: Lirst.—Those that bloom only once in the season, em- bracing the Hybrid China, Provence, Sweet and Austrian CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 1138 Briers, most of the Mosses, and all climbing varieties that are hardy in the latitude of New York. Second.—The Hybrid Perpetuals, or Remontants. This class is of comparatively recent origin, and was obtained by hybridizing the Provence and Damask varicties with the Ever-blooming or China. They possess the rough foli. age and spiny stems of the former, with, to some extent, the intermittent blooming qualities of the latter. This is by far the most interesting class of Roses, and embraces many hundred varieties, ranging through all the interme- _ diate shadings from purest white to darkest crimson. They combine the hardy, robust habit of the Provence with its unsurpassed odor, but unfortunately they do not possess the ever-blooming qualities of the China. The term “‘ perpetual,” therefore, is a complete misnomer, for un- less the flowers are cut off as they develop, and the plant kept growing freely, but little bloom is ever given, except in the regular season of Rose flowering, (here in June), and again to some extent inthe fall, They, like the pre- ceding class, are all hardy in the vicinity of New York. Third.—The Monthly or Ever-blooming class, which is clearly distinguished from both the preceding by its more delicate and shining leaves and stems. It comprises at least four sub-classes, namely, the Noisette, Tea, Bengal, and Bourbon. The Noisettes are all of rampant growth, usually flowering in clusters, and in the Southern States, where they are uninjured by winter, are, perhaps, the most valuable of all Roses; a good type of this class is seen in the Lamarque (white.) he Tea varieties are characterized by slender growth, great delicacy of color- ing, and the rich tea fragrance from which the class derives its name. Safrano (orange yellow) may be taken as a type of these. The Bengal class is not quite 80 numerous or varied in color, but is now so inter. mixed with the Bourbon and Tea, that it is difficult 114 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. to tell where to place many of its varieties; a true type of this class is the well-known Agrippina, (crimson). The Bourbon class is an extensive one, coming nearer to the Hybrid Perpetual in its large and double flowers and more rugged growth, and to the Bengal in the absence of all yellow or orange shade of color in its flawers. An old and unsurpassed type of this class is the well-known Souvenir de la Malmaison, (blush). All of this class are tender, and unless in situations partic- ularly favored by a dry soil, and well sheltered, are either killed outright, or cut down to the roots by the frosts in winter almost everywhere in the Northern States. Every now and then we hear of new varieties of this class, which are represented to be hardy, but I would say to amateur readers, and to gardeners whose experience in such things has not been sufficient to guide them, that in all such cases the vender either is ignorant of what he says, or knows that his representations are false. There is no more likelihood of our getting a Noisette, Tea, Ben- gal, or Bourbon Rose to prove generally hardy in lati- tudes where the thermometer runs down below zero, than there is to have hardy Camellias or Chinese Azaleas. A few years ago, a Western firm had the impudence to get up a stock of the old Noisette Rose, Solfaterre, named it ‘‘ Augusta,” and representing it as a “ Yellow Ever- blooming, hardy” variety, sold some thousands of it at $5 each. They seem to have sold their reputaticn at the same time, however, for after perpetrating the swindle, they were not afterwards heard of. It is with hesitation that we give a list of a few varieties of each class, as to name only one out of every score of varieties seems to be unfair and invidious towards those not given, which, perhaps, have claims surpassing those we thus distinguish. But to describe the different colors and characteristics of each class it becomes necessary. CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 115 * CLASS I. (Embracing Provence (P.), Hybrid China (H. C.), and Damask (D.) Name. Sub Class. Color. 0 eee H. C. |Dove color, shaded crimson. Alphonse Maille....... Ee Reddish crimson, extra fine. OO a ee P; Deep blush. MMU ess os dye auano a Deep pink, cut leaved. maron Cuvier.......... H. C. |Dark purple, very full. MICRO Toei c cc aes cee s P Purple, speckled crimson. mamMcChHeHenr....... 0.4. H. C. |White, finely cupped form. MMMM ED ecto e « Deep yellow, very double. Climbing Roses. Baltimore Belle..............-.blush white, blooming in large clusters, — Eval (CORIMC eds sos cies visie 0s wae aie Deep blush, very double. Gem of the Prairies (Burgess’).Large, full; carmine, blotched white. Lauta Devoust.o\ss ss es < cb ove Deep rose, immense truss. Mis: EOVEys ..).0s~.s SAGE French white, large and fine. Madanmanl) Arblay.:. = sie craic m «bare Creamy white, splendid. MS LL MEL rare 2.cia ool are. aetareistahayeiateisis Pale pink, full and vigorous grower. PIG tistelateta wiaesisie ele eee eee Blush, exceedingly fragrant. PUUSS CLIO cs 50a ata 'e wyeedele ee aon ie Crimson, shading to pink. Queen of the Prairies......... Deep rose, striped white. SMPSGUA. soc vee eater Shaerstesaee iach Flesh color, clusters immense. UnenGaeiad «55 o:..0' sa celeidines eis Blush, shading to white. CLASS IIl.—_Hybrid Perpetual or Remontant Roses. Pee MACs «acres sie sialatefavers Pale shade of rose, full and cup-shaped. BArOUMe A TEVOSbie side's <0 4 avers Bright rose, very double, extra fine. Baronne De Maynard......... Pure white. PpEEWC Me mV LDC Uric sun scaiale so Pure white, delicate grower. Beauty of Waltham.........!. Crimson scarlet. Caroline de Sansal............ Blush pink centre,free,summer oT hoe Cardinal PatrizZiec ews ce sees s Brilliant crimson. Clementine Duval. ..c a ss tate cease es + Deep yellow, very tender. Caroline Marniesse............ Blush white, immense clusters. Bete Ce DOM. ccise ae ne cee Blush white, buff centre. serbemont’s Cluster.......... Deep carmine, semi-double. MHMIGS PTO ee vicie sec accccce ce Deep crimson. {extra. BOVE AT UGQINGS. ales arclets «e's said: 6.0.05 0 Large, double; white, yellowish centre, BEML OGLO Vor autse nc di se destces cae Light crimson, very double, large clusters. Madame Deslongchamps...... Pure white. PMCS IA NICL Sina eltunie sian, s'e sit Large and full, deep yellow, extra, DUE Poke seis ac Age acs oa Reo Salmon, shaded orange; distinct. MGCL. wc cade vigecscscvseeessn¥orange, shaded pink ;- dwarf... [thers. Rosamond....... ER QO Eee ie Bright crimson, semi-double, yellow an: i siaratadare a etiwva's Pure yellow, slender grower. NID aia oataris “sigcie'e'os cles oe Yellowish white, strong grower. Souvenir d’Anseleme.......... Deep carmine, vigorous grower. POMRETUE OSE coo ois a'e'd'eis sind «oss Flesh color, large, full, very fine. Bolfilaterre.......... giesaiatet oar Deep straw color, large, extra fine. Bre aiber SCOb.. wsec scenes Dark purple, strong grower. Setina..........20.eceeee0++-sClear pink, large and full, 118 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. A ....Pure white, semi-double, large clusterm Te PINS sa obo ac aa cee Large, double rose, vigorous. Well’s Pink..................Rich full clusters of carmine rose. 4» Zobede........e000.00--225---Crimson and purple shaded. Bourbon. Bosanquet.....<. 3s aoe ss on teens Light rose, one of the most popular. epi Rosy purple, fine form, extra. SP Ve en Fe Rich shade of crimson violet. Leveson GOwEr;. «5 « Deep yellow, delicate. 0) 2 eer ae Canary yellow. Melville ..... Se getteinateterusiae as Pinkish lilac. eens Ce AN: Foca cers cess owas Rich blush. Madame Maurin... 5. eccce esos Pure white. Penraeeane BYavy..5.s...0ee0 cess Globular, white. Pemwcaime Walcot... ..6s.sesces- Orange yellow, very free. MMM en ci card valse vas ute Large; pinkish violet. Olympe Fraguip..... oeeee.ee- Sulphur yellow. Pauline Labonté..............Light blush. OG ES eae ere Yellowish blush. Souvenir d’un Ami....... .-.--Light lilac. ooo! 2 ee French white. Safrano...... Wee sa gas oan ae Orange yellow. Ce ado ckecsccscewcsae Bengal, PEOOMMUC ls osc sescccoccee sss. upped carmine, BREMNER oe go s'e'slb 0 o's os sd qeines Bright crimson. Bourbon Queen..... ve satee aoa clelele blush. Beau Carmine....... ence tere Light crimson. Hesmnauet.: .5..06... occice cess RUS White. Comte Bopinsky..i ...\ sess: Rich carmine. 2 a Purplish red. Cramoise Superior............ Purplish crimson. MIEN cu cwshs cctise cee ecece Rich violet. PIS PRIN? sks soe c's Light crimson. Leondis...... ae iempeeetaiide ss 5etbOSY, TEU. Madame Morel... 3......5... ..-Cream color, centre pink. Madame Rohan...... Stewie eio's.0 Pure white. Napoleon. .......... set cass ess DIUSh, extra-large: BOMCO Ge oS occcce ds tee seoea Wigs ve Dark reddish-crimson. Bully.....<:. eee caste seein ce nia Pale rose, tinted salmon. PP APSIMMIOS ood tecers« oesee.eeeh0se and crimson. US SE ne Bete oa es Brilliant crimson. PROPAGATION AND CULTURE. The soil best suited to the Rose is a rather stiff loawi, although it is by no means particular about soils, and 1s often seen growing in nearly eyual luxuriance in those widely different; in stiff clayey loam, however, flowers 120 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. of more substance and depth of coloring will be produced than in that of a light or sandy character. The propagation of the Rose is a matter of much interest, not only to the professional florist but to the amateur who wishes to increase his plants. The method in use by florists in this country is usually by cuttings, directions for which will be found among the general in- structions given under the head of “ Propagation of Plants by Cuttings.” Roses from ripened or hard wood may be propagated, the operation being performed at any time from October to January. The cuttings are usually made with three or four eyes, just after the wood is ripened enough to show the development of the buds at the axil of the leaf. The method we have most successfully practiced is to place cuttings in cold frames, such as are formed on the surface of the ground, and are used for wintering cabbage, and . cauliflower, planting the cuttings exactly as we would do those plants, and subjecting them to the same winter treat- ment of airing, yet keeping them as free from severe freezing as can be done during winter. Rose cuttings placed in such frames about the end of October will be rooted and fit to pot in March. Those not having the convenience of frames may do it equally well with the protection of the ordinary garden hand glass. In either case it is necessary that the soil be thoroughly drained so that no water stand on it in winter. If the soil in which they are placed is not naturally sandy, it had better be prepared in about equal proportions of sand, leaf mould, and loam, well mixed together. The cuttings should be inserted quite thickly, say from *|, to 1 inch apart, and at distances of about 3 inches between the rows. This space is sufficient to allow the soil to be firmly pressed about the cuttings, as the process of placing them goes on. One thorough watering, when put in to settle the soil closely around them, will usually be all that is necessary CULTURE OF THE ROSE, 121 until they begin to root in spring. Cuttings planted m this manner in October or November, and kept merely from freezing during winter, will be rooted in March, pre- senting the appearance shown in figure 29. The success much depends on ‘the varieties and fit con- dition of the cuttings, for we find that in a collection of 50 sorts, every cutting of some varieties will root, while in others we fail to get more than 5 per cent. But if properly treated it may be safe to ex- pect 50 per cent of rooted cuttings as an average. As soon as, or even before, they show the extent of root in- dicated in the engrav- ing, they should be pot- ted in two-inch pots, shaded and watered for a few days and gradu- ally hardened off by ex- Fig. 89.—CUTTING OF OLD WOOD. posing them tothe air, when they will be sufficiently rooted to plant in the open ground in April or May. Some propagators plant them at once from the cutting bed to the open ground, but this is attended with risk, for unless the weather is continuously favorable for two or three days one-half of them may be lost. We have always found that placing them in pots and keeping them under the protection of sashes for a few weeks well repaid the extra labor. Nearly all deciduous shrubs may be propa- gated in this manner, most of them even more successfully than the Rose. (122 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE, The method best suited to the amateur or to those who have no propagating structures, is by layering. This is done as shown in figure 30, It will be observed that the cut is made on the upper part of the shoot; the advantage of this is, that when the layer is detached from the parent plant, the tongue of the layer, or the part from which the roots are emitted, is less likely to be broken off than if the cut is made under or on the side. Layers of Roses may be made at any time from the middle of June to the middle of September, always using shoots of the young Fig. 40.—LAYERING THE ROSE. growth—that is, a growth of 3 or 4 weeks old, or such as are not so much ripened as to drop the leaves; or, in other words, the cut should always be made at that part of the shoot where there are as green and healthy leaves below as above the cut. This condition of the shoot is very im- portant, in order to produce a well-rooted layer. By cut- ting lower down in the harder-ripened wood, roots will be produced, but the layers will be very inferior to those cut at about the point named. The same rule applies to the layering of shrubs of all kinds. Another mode of layering not in general use is, to place the layer where the incision is made, in a 8 or 4-inch pot, sinking the pot in the ground to the level of the rim; all the roots being confined in the pot, when the layer is lifted no check is given, as there is no injury done to the small fibers. Layers so made may be planted out in the fall, and if a little mulching is given around the roots, not one plant in a hundred will fail; while if the layering is done CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 123 in the usual way, without pots, a heavy percentage is almost certain to be lost during the winter. To the florist without proper means of propagation, this method of layering Roses in pots will be found very advantageous, as every layer so made will make an excellent flowering- plant by spring, if kept in a green-house or frame during the winter, and will prove nearly as vaiuable to the purchaser as large one-year-old plants would. Roses are also prop- agated by budding in the usual way. Budding, like layer- ing, may be performed on the Rose at any time during the season from June to September, although it is best to per- form it either so early, say before the middle of July, that the buds will start and the shoots get time to ripen before frost, or so late, from the end of August to the Ist of Oc- tober, that the buds will remain dormant until spring. That the operation may be successful, it is essential that the stock be in thrifty growth, so that the bark will freely part from the stem, and, also, that the bud to be inserted be taken from a healthy-growing plant, the eye or bud at.the axil of the leaf being well developed. There is quite a diversity of opinion among different operators whether the thin piece of wood should be re- moved from the bud before insertion. We have experi- mented extensively in both ways, and found but little difference in our success, and have finally settled down to the practice that if the bud is young and unripened, the wood be allowed to remain; if well ripened, it is taken out. In tying, we prefer the soft cotton used for lamp- wick in preference to any other material, as it expands with the growth of the shoot, doing away with the neces- sity of slacking the tie to prevent it from cutting the bark. % MONTHLY ROSES—HOW TO PRESERVE PURING WINTER. The question is asked me many hundred times every season, “ What kind of Roses shall I plant?” I invaria- bly recommend the “ Monthly,” rather than the so-called 124 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. “Perpetual” varieties, which, with very few exceptions, sustain their “ Perpetual” character by only once flower- ing freely, in June, with occasionally a few scattering flowers throughout the summer and fall. While with the monthly varieties, we have not only a monthly, but an almost daily supply of flowers, embracing far more vari- ety of color, from June till November. There is no plant sold, which, for the first season, at least, is so unsatisfac- tory to the buyer as the Perpetual Rose; the purchaser in good faith believes that its name indicates a perpetual flowering character, and is woefully disappointed to find that the flowers or flower buds which are on it when pur- chased are nearly the last that are seen on it for that sea- son. True, its entirely hardy nature, sustaining it un- scathed through the winter, compensates for the first year’s disappointment by a gorgeous bloom in June, but this is all; for the remainder of the season there is little ornamental about it. On the other hand, the Monthly Rose, the original types of which are natives of China, are evergreen and ever-blooming, if not arrested by severe frosts, for in the milder latitudes of our South- ern States, they grow and bloom without cessation the entire season, unless, perhaps, for a month or two in ex- tremely dry and hot weather in summer. But now comes the question, Are these Monthly Roses hardy in our Northern States? . They are certainly not so with ordinary treatment, but I will briefly describe a very simple proc- ess by which they can be preserved in as good condition during winter as the hardiest Perpetual or Prairie Rose. The success of the plan, however, depends greatly on the condition of the soil in which they are growing. If it is naturally dry, having a gravelly or sandy subsoil, it is certain to succeed; but if wet and undrained, they can- not be saved by this or any other process. The operation is to remove three or four inches of soil from one side of the plant close up to the roots, and of a length and width ere CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 125 proportioned to the size of the bush, as represented by figure 31. The plant is next Fig. 41.—pDIGGING THE TRENCH. bent down into the excava- tion, and held in place by a few pegs, as shown in figure 82. It is then covered’ en- tirely, root and branches, by sods, placed grassy side up- wards, and presents, when finished, a little hillock, in appearance like figure 33. There is one very important condition to success, which is, the time at which it is done. Few of our rose ama- teurs have any idea of the amount of freezing that the most tender Tea Rose even, will sustain without injury, and would, in consequence, beapt to hurry to put their plants under their winter covering on the appearance is of the first slight frost in October. This would most certainly prove fatal, by Fig. 42.—PEGGED DOWN. causing them to rot during the still warm autumn weather. We usually have frost in this part of the coun- try in October to injure most green-house plants that are exposed. Yet I have never \ vy ' i) NS : . SUSAN Die MNO RSS 47 Sot OER Aaa up BAe ad \vet 1 deci re Hy ) ‘ NN WA, Fig. 43.—covERED FOR WINTER. seen it severe enough to in- jure Roses of any kind be- fore the middle of December, to which time the covering up should be delayed. Cov- , ering the ground, however, around the bushes with three or four inches of straw or leaves, to prevent the earth from being frozen, should be done a month earlier ; this little precaution will allow of excavation at the time of covering with the sod. The time here given for the operation (the ” 126 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. middle of December) is that best suited for the latitude of: New York; sections to the north or south must be varied accordingly. Perhaps the best rule that can be given is, to delay the operation until the ground can no longer be plowed or dug with the spade. The covering of sod may be removed as soon as vegetation fairly starts in spring—for this section, say the middle of April—and the plants raised to the upright position and closcly pruned. It will be un- derstood that in the process of bending down, the roots are only disturbed slightly on the side that has been ex- cavated; consequently they have nearly the full vigor of undisturbed roots, and the plants will grow in a way that will amply repay the little labor bestowed upon them, Ev- ery plant thus saved over has a value four-fold that of any thing which can be planted in spring, for the obvious reason that it has not had its roots disturbed by removal. This plan is a great improvement on that sometimes practised of digging them up and burying them in the fall, to be, unearthed and again replanted in spring, for this cannot be done without mutilation of the root, and consequently diminished growth the next season. Plants of different kinds vary much in their ability to recuperate after plant- ing, and few suffer more than the Rose; hence the necessity of practising the method recommended, in preference to that of digging them up. But a still worse plan is, for amateurs in gardening to lift their Rose plants and pot ‘them in fall, and attempt to keep them in the house or cellar in winter; in nine cases out of ten they never live till spring, and if they do, only linger out a miserable and diseased existence. Roses are often expensive, and always valued plants, and we can well imagine how natural it is on the approach of cold weather to lift and pot them, and place them in the window of a warm sitting-room or parlor; but this kindness is killing to them, for they are not a kind of plant that desires heat at this season, or in this condition of their growth. It is still more delusive to eA Pie See ee Sep ee eee - i 7. eee HS } CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 127 think that they can be lifted from the ground in fall and potted so that they will bloom during winter; perhaps by such treatment as can be.given in a cool green-house or frame, they may be got to bloom by February or March, * but they should never be forced into bloom earlier, unless they have been grown in pots during the summer pre- vious. The above is described as applied to a single plant, but a whole bed may be covered in the same manner, ROSES IN POTS. As millions of Roses are now sold in pots in spring, we will briefly state the method we have most successfully adopted in growing large numbers annually for the past dozen years. The plants used are those struck from cut- tings in March and April, and planted out in the open ground in May; these make plants averaging 18 inches in height, with proportionate breadth, by the first of No- vember. Although, as before stated, we make no special preparation of soil for any particular class of plants, we are always more careful that the soil used for Roses be fresh. While our regular mixture of decomposed sods and manure suits very well for plants generally when it is two or three years old, we prefer that for Roses to be but . a few months cut from the field before it is used. In lifting up the plants from the ground, all possible care is taken to save the fibres from injury, and they are, on no consideration, ever allowed to be exposed to drying winds or to wilt in any way, being sprinkled at intervals while laying in the heaps in the potting shed. We prefer to prune (which we do with scissors) before potting; it is not only done twice as quickly, but it also relieves the plant at once from surplus shoots, and being, when pruned, more compact to handle, it can be potted in half the time. The pots used are from 4 to 8 inches in diameter, in propor- 128 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. tion to the size of the plants. The potting is done rather firmer than in most plants, the Rose preferring a stiff soil. When potted, they are freely watered; shaded, if sunny, and kept close for 8 or 10 days. Now comes the most important point, the place in which they are to be kept during winter. This must be where they will not be excited into growth; an ordinary green-house tempera- ture, suited for Geraniums or Fuchsias, would be destruc: tive to Roses in their dormant state, when they are with- out “ working roots.” If kept in a green-house at all, its temperature should never exceed 40° at night, with fire- heat, and if it falls down to 32°, now and then, it will do no harm. But this kind of temperature can be best ob- tained in a cold pit or frame, where there is no flue or pipes, or other means of heating. These pits should be sunk from 18 inches to 2 feet below the level of the ground, in some sheltered spot, facing south, and, above all, so situated that no water will stand in the bottom of the pit; if not naturally dry, it must be made so by thorough draining. The Roses placed in the pit should be plunged to the rim of the pots in tan bark, sawdust, coal ashes, or some such material. Air should be given at all times when the weather will permit, and the sashes covered sufliciently at night to prevent the plants being frozen much; a slight frost may not injure, but they will be safer and better if never frozen at all. In severe snow- storms, the plants being in a dormant state, there is no occasion to uncover for two or three weeks, unless to take precautions against the inroads of mice or rats, which are often destructive. We allow the Roses, when placed in frames, to remain in them until the middle of February, by which time they have formed young root- iets, and will then stand the higher temperature of the green-house, to which they are then brought to get them in shape to force into bloom, so as ‘o be in salable con- dition in April and May. CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 129 ROSES FOR WINTER BLOOMING. Roses for winter blooming require a different treatment, as one essential condition of forcing for flower is that the plant has abundance of active, or, as we term them, “working roots.” For this reason, Roses required for winter blooming are either planted out in prepared bord- ers in the green-house in spring or early summer, or else grown in pots throughout the summer, so that by fall the plant is supplied with an abundance of “ working roots.” Plants are started for this purpose either by cuttings struck in March, or else the year-old plants are used; but in either case, care must be taken that shiftings are made sufficiently often during the season to prevent the roots becoming what is termed pot-bound. In this condition, there is a matting of hard roots formed around the ball of soil, and touching the sides of the pot. Whenever the fibres begin to lose their whiteness and become hard and woody, their power of absorption, to a great extent, ceases, and, in consequence, we at once have a loss of vigor in the plant. For this same reason, every care must be taken to have the plants supplied with moisture during the hot, dry days of summer, for, if once allowed to wilt, you have dried up the white, working roots, and before the plant can regain its impaired vigor, new ones must be formed. We find that when we dig up a Rose plant in November, and pot it with all the care possible, we can- not get it to regain its vigor, unless it is kept at the low. temperature previously recommended until nature has re- paired the destruction of the feeding roots, which occurred in digging itup. By attempting to force it into flower, by placing it in a high temperature in this condition, you will either kill it outright, or else cause it to produce a few fee- ble and abortive shoots and flowers. But the case is very different if the plant has been so treated as to have an abund- ance of active roots; its system is in full vigor, and it wil! 180. PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE, continue to produce shoots and flowers .in profusion during any part of fall or winter, at the will of the operator, proper judgment being used to prune in the plants previous to the desired time of flowering. Thus, if Rose-buds are wanted at the first of January, it will be necessary to prune off or shorten the shoots about Novem- ber 1st; they may then be put into a temperature ranging from 50° to 60°, at night, with 15° higher during the day, plentifully syrmeged, but sparingly supplied with water at the roots until they begin to grow freely. In the summer treatment, I have omitted to state that the plants should be at all times fully exposed to the sun, but, to counteract the drying up from this exposure, the pots should be plunged to the rim in sawdust, refuse hops, tan bark, sand, or some such material, as is most convenient. Another plan that may be adopted when it is not convenient to carry the Roses through the summer in pots, is to lift up and pot those planted out early in the fall, say by the middle of September, or, at latest, the first of October; if carefully lifted thus early, and kept from wilting, they will have filled the pots with working roots by November, and will make plants nearly as good for forcing as those grown throughout the entire summer in pots. For this purpose, two-year-old plants are much bet- ter than those only one year old, as, having more fibres, they more quickly form the essential ‘ working”’ roots. In 1870 we built a green-house for roses, 300 feet long and 21 feet in width, of which figure 44 is an end sec- tion. It differs from that figured on page 65 in being one foot wider and having the back and middle bench on the same level, which we find to be of convenience in work- ing, besides giving the roses a better chance to grow higher. The question of the walls for such a structure as this is a very important one. We find-that if brick is to be used for the north or back wall, it must be made hollow, as a solid wall of even one foot in thickness will CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 131 not stand the extremes of temperature between the out- side and inside; but as a hollow wall is an expensive matter, 1 would recommend to those with whom economy is an object to construct the walls thus: Get strong locust, chestnut, or cedar posts, of length sufficient to allow them to set 3 feet in the ground; place these 6 feet apart; outside of these nail hemlock or other rough boards; against this tack a layer of asphalt or tarred paper, and then against the paper nail the weather- boarding, finishing at the top with a hollowed-out timber, Beneh 9 feet Wide Bench4-ft Wide | Front Wall feet Fig. 44.—END SECTION OF ROSE-HOUSE. 6 or 8 inches wide, for a gutter. A green-house of this kind, heating apparatus, and all complete, will cost at present prices from $20 to $25 per running foot; with hollow brick walls, it would cost about $30 per running foot. The use of tarred paper for green-house walls is only a recent one; formerly we used to fill in with brick, or use double boarding, leaving a space of two or three inches, which was filled in with charcoal, sawdust, or some other non-conducting material; but the tarred paper is by far the cheaper and better. The rose-house we erected last year contains about 5,000 plants, grown in 10 and 12- inch pots, occupying about a square foot of space for each 132 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. plant. No plants could possibly be in better health and vigor; and the amount of rose-buds gathered from Oc- tober to May, 30 weeks, averaged about 2,000 buds per week. At New York rates, which are very low—say $6 per 100—this would give about $3,600 for the crop. The varieties grown I will name in the order of their value here: Safrano (orange yellow), Zsabella Sprunt (canary yellow), Bon Silene (carmine purple), and Bella (white). These are all Tea-roses, and the varieties most valued for forcing ; Bon Silene is the favorite, and is largely grown about Boston. One florist there sent last New Year’s Day, 1872, to the bouquet-makers of New York 1,200, for which he received $300, or $25 per 100. This variety, from its delicious odor and rare and bright shade of color,, is generally of twice the value of any other; but against this advantage is the fact that it is less prolific of bloom, scarcely yielding half the number of flowers in a given space as any of the others named. The method of sum- mer preparation for forcing is to secure good healthy young plants that have been propagated in March or April; these, when first taken from the cutting-bench, are placed in 2 or 38-inch pots; if rooted in March, they will have filled the small pots with roots by the middle of April; if in April, by middle of May. In either case they should be shifted into larger pots as soon as the ball of soil has been filled with white roots; if left too long unshifted, the roots become brown in color, and of a hard, woody nature; if in this condition they become checked in growth, they never afterward make so fine plants. Of course, until the middle of May, these shiftings of the young plants must be done under glass, but after that time they should be placed in beds of convenient width, say 4 or 5 feet, in some free and airy situation. When first shifted from a smaller to a larger pot, the plants © should be placed close together, the rims of the pots touching; but as they begin to grow freely the pots CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 1338 should be drawn apart, so that the rims stand an inch or so clear of each other. This is very important, in order to admit free circulation of air around the sides of the pots, and develop strong and healthy roots. Until the middle of June we stand the pots on the surface of the ground; but about that time it is necessary to plunge the pots to the rim in sand, coal-ashes, waste tan-bark, or some such dry and light material. If this is not done they can hardly be kept damp enough; and the intense heat of the sun beating down on the sides of the pots dries up the young rootlets. It is necessary that the beds wherein the Roses are plunged should be so arranged that no water will lodge at the roots, as that would be quickly fatal. Last fall we found it necessary, after a heavy rain- storm, to lift the pots out of the sand in which they had been plunged, to allow them to dry. Forty-eight hours of heavy rain would have killed the young roots. It is also essential to watch that the roots do not get through the bottom of the pot; to prevent this, they should be turned around at least every ten days, to break off any roots that may have run through. It will be understood that continued shiftings into larger pots are necessary during intervals of four or five weeks during the summer, until September, by which time, if well grown, they will be of sufficient size to require pots of 10 or 12 inches in diameter. If it is preferred that the roses be planted out for winter flowering, it should be done in August, and in solid beds in the green-house not on board benches. We never shift them after middle of September, as the roots they have then made are sufficient to carry them through the winter and spring, stimulated, however, by water drained from the manure heap, which we use twice a week, from January on to May, diluted to the color of strong tea. The expenses attendant on the cultivation, and the interest on the investment of this rose-house the past season, were about as follows: 184 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. ; First cost of stock, if it had to be bought, 5,000 roses at 10 cts.. $500. interest. on $6,000, at 12. per cents. .% J. aen ns sania ee ia eerie eee 720 Labor of one man Lor the Wear..icmtee eve. see sem cee aceite ores ee 500 S0:tons-coalpat $6 2. (a)... to. ces each ste Wce re ies inte steele eee 480 $2,200 Receipts for the Yearsc sc. fess on etes «cles wieicin ease alae ee 3,600 Pr@titel 35 Kise sides Sottom and sides, so that the water may be held and prevented from washing through. To have the plants bloom freely, they should be hung where .they will be exposed to the sun at least two or three hours each day, and in dry weather copiously watered daily. If the surface of the basket between the plants is covered with moss, it will prevent the earth PARLOR OR WINDOW GARDENING. 192 from drying out so soon, and will give a neater appear- -ance to the basket. The soil used to plant in may be that suitable for potting ordinary plants, as described under the head of soils. CHAPTER XXIX. PARLOR OR WINDOW GARDENING. To be successful in growing plants in the window of the parlor or sitting-room, it is of the first importance to begin with plants that are in a healthy state. Florists, with all their appliances for successful culture, often fail to bring health to a sickly subject. How, then, can our amateur friends hope to recuperate the weakened energies of some petted plant in the less congenial atmos- phere of an ordinary dwelling-house? I well know the usual practice of our lady friends in this matter. In pur- chasing their supply of bedding plants from the florist in May, all are taken from the pots and planted in flower beds, to decorate the borders for the summer months. By the first appearance of frost in October, the plants of Bou- vardias, Carnations, Fuchsias, Geraniums, Heliotropes, Roses, &c., &c., that were such tiny slips when planted out in May, are now, many of them, large plants, and in all their glory of bloom; but Jack Frost shall not have them, they shall be saved. Pots are sent for, soil of the most approved brand is procured from some florist high in the art. the plants are lifted up with all care and placed in the pots. Our amateur friend is in raptures; as yet they look just as green and flourishing as when growing in the garden. But a day passes, and although they have been shaded and watered with all care, the plants some 200 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. how begin to show symptoms of collapse. The Geranium leaves, that looked so green and well, are now soft and flabby. The Rose-buds, that held up their heads with pride, now look abashed and hang down. This state of affairs continues: from the leaves being simply wilted they begin to get yellow and shrivel up; by ten days, many of the plants have died outright, and the remainder are in asad looking condition, that is dis- heartening to the owner. No other result than this will ever be obtained with plants treated in this manner. When florists wish to lift plants of this nature in fall, two-thirds of the shoots are usually cut off, and the plants put through a course of treat- ment to induce them to strike new roots, that it is hardly ever in the power of the amateur to apply; but even though we succeed in saving the plants, it is almost always at the expense of the bloom, for few ,plants can be lifted in bloom in October from the open ground and continue to blossom throughout the winter. Now, having pointed out the errors, I will show the way to succeed in obtain- ing healthy plants that will grow and bloom freely in winter, provided they are supplied with the necessary moisture and heat. All plants that are intended for house plants in winter, when set out in May, should be first placed in pots, 6 or 7 inches in diameter. These pots should be planted, or, as we term it, “plunged” to the rim, or level with the surface; thus they are almost in the same condition as if they had been planted without the pot, only the roots are confined inside of the pot, so that when the plant is lifted in fall there is no mutilation of the roots, as must always of necessity be the case when the plant is put in the open ground, as the roots ramify in all directions. One caution, however, is necessary: the hole in the bottom of the pot must be effectually stopped up so that the roots cannot strike through, or the pot should be turned around two or three times during the .- oe PARLOR OR WINDOW GARDENING. 201 course of the summer, so as to break off the roots as they strike through the bottom. If this is not done, nearly the same difficulty will be experienced as if they had not been potted inspring. Butif preper attention has been given to this, plants of every description that are suitable for win- ter will be in fine state by the time of taking up—in this district, the lst of October — as by this time there is danger of frost. The following list comprises those plants most suitable for window culture, and such as are most easily managed and least expensive. Calla, (Richardia,) Carnations—monthly sorts, Cyclamens, Chrysanthemums, Chinese Primroses, Fuchsias. Hyacinths and other Bulbs, Geraniums, Variegated, Zonale, Scented, and Ivy-leaved. Heliotropes, Pelargoniums, Roses—Tea, Bourbon, and Bengal, Camellias and Azaleas. All of these will flower and grow freely in a green-house temperature, or at an average of not more than 50 degrees at night, with 15 or 20 degrees higher during the day. We add another list of plants requiring a higher tem- perature, some of them being in other respects more ditii- cult of culture, besides being more expensive : _ Bouvardias of sorts, Begonias, Cissus discolor, Euphorbias, Stephanotis, Poinsettias, Tuberoses, Orchids, Ferns, Lycopodiums. All of the above will luxuriate best in a humid atmos- phere, at an average of not less than 60° at night, with 202 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 15 or 20 degrees higher during the day. The best aspect for growing plants from October to April is due south. For the intermediate season, east is preferable. Watering is a very important operation, but a little experience with plants, and ordinary care in observing, will soon show when this is required. A good deal depends on the condi- tion of the plant; if in vigorous growth there is but little danger of giving it too much. On the other hand, if the plant has been cut back or lost its leaves, water should be given sparingly. For example, you may take a vigorous growing apple or pear tree, and saw off its limbs to the trunk in midsummer; if its roots are kept saturated with moisture it will die, but if kept dry it will shortly again develop branches and leaves. This example teaches us a lesson in more artificial culture, that in proportion to the vigor of the subject should its food be supplied. The practice of placing the pots in saucers filled with water is destructive to the health of the plants, as, of course, as long as the water remains in the saucers the soil is absorbing it and the roots of the plant are saturated; it is well enough to use the saucers to prevent the soil from washing through, but the water should be applied at the surface of the pot, and what little will pass through into the saucer will do no harm. Another source of an- noyance to those growing plants in rooms is the various in- sects that attack them. The most common and inju- rious of these is the Aphis or Green Fly. In our green- houses we keep this little pest in check by continued fumigation with tobacco, but as this would not be practi- cable in rooms, recourse must be had to immersing the plant in tobacco water, made to a strength having about the color of strong tea. By dipping the plant in this once in two weeks, or, when the plants are large, syringing them with it, they will never be seen. The Red Spider and thrip are not so easily got rid of, but fortunately they are not so common or injurious, unless in a very high temper- ~ 7 WINDOW GARDENING. 203 ature and dry atmosphere. The only way of arresting them is by syringing or immersing as for Green Fly. There are no special soils necessary for the amateur to trouble himself about in cultivating parlor flowers. For our opinions on this head, sce chapter on soils. Neither should he tamper with guano or other fertilizers; equalization of temperature and moisture will secure the end desired. WINDOW-GARDENING IN LONDON—COTTAGE GARDENS. One of the most refreshing sights to an American ar- riving in London during the summer months is the won- derful diversity and beauty of the flowers cultivated in the windows and balconies of the houses. In some of the best streets hardly a house can be seen that is not so adorned, and even the most squalid abodes of vice and poverty are often relieved by a miniature flower-garden on the window-sill. The most common style is the window- box, made to fit the window, usually from four to five feet long, and about six to eight inches wide and deep. It is made of every conceivable pattern, of terra-cotta, cork, and rustic design in endless variety. The plants used are not very numerous in variety, being selected of kinds suited to keep in bloom or to sustain their brightness of foliage. Now and then the ribbon-line planting is adopted on the balconies; a very handsome box in this style had first a row of Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia), which formed a drooping curtain of four feet in length ; half-way down on it drooped blue Lobelia; then upon the Lobelia fell a bright yellow Sedum (Stone-crop); then against the Sedum, for the top-line or background, a dwarf Zonale Geranium, a perfect blaze of scarlet. Hardly two of these window decorations were alike in the best streets, and varied from a simple box of Mig- nonette or Sweet Alyssum to cases filled with the rarest ferns or orchids. The effect as a whole is most pleasing, and one that can not fail to strike the most indifferent ob- > 204 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. server as an agreeable change from the seemingly never- ending brick and stone of the city: "The window-garden- ing is not confined to private dwellings, but all the leading hotels are so decorated. In the dining-room of the Lang- ham Hotel (said to be the largest in England), some hundreds of well-grown speciments of plants are placed in the windows, and kept in perfect order during the entire summer. The selection of plants is made regard- less of expense, and in looking around the dining-hall it is with some difficulty that you decide if you are not dining in the midst of a vast conservatory, so redolent is the air with the perfume of flowers. The same taste for window-gardening is displayed, more or less, in all the English towns and villages, and even the humblest thatched cottage of the peasant by the wayside is given a look of quiet happiness by the bower of flowers in the window. How different the look of these humble homes, where the occupant is receiving barely $4 per week, to the squalid shanties.in the suburbs of our great cities in America, where the “naturalized” American citizen is earning three times that amount! Here let me deviate from my text, but to a kindred subject, and tell how the English cottager works his gar- den in some of the old towns, such as Colchester. To each cottage, renting for about $50 per year, is attached a garden of something more than an eighth part of an acre in extent. In this little spot the tenant contrives to grow four to six kinds of vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbage, peas, turnips, etc., and of fruits, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries. Every foot is made to pro- duce something, and rarely a weed was seen in some scores that we saw ranged side by side. The heavy work is done by the man of the house, “ before or after hours,” in his own time: In the weeding ‘and hoeing he is assisted by wife or children. There is great rivalry among the different owners of these cottage gardens, and WARDIAN CASES AND FERNERIES. 205 in many places liberal prizes are given by the horticul- tural societies to those that are best cultivated. Prize§ are also offered for the best window-grown plants, and in Hull and some other towns, plants are distributed and printed instructions given for culture to encourage the taste. CHAPTER XXX. WARDIAN CASES, FERNERIES, &c. The Wardian Case is usually made with black walnut base lined with zinc, in depth about 6 inches, and about 2 feet square on the sides; but it is made of various sizes. The covering is a glass case, made usually 18 inches high ; the top or lid, also of glass, is made movable, so that ventilation is provided, and undue moisture allowed to escape. The plants grown in Wardian Cases are such as are peculiar for beauty of foliage rather than flower— plants whose natural habitat is shady woods; such as Ferns, Lycopodiums, Caladiums, Marantas, &e., &c. The soil used in sucha case may be light peat or leaf- mould; nothing of a stiff or heavy nature of a soil should be used. The case may be kept in any ordinary sitting- room, near the window, but not exposed to the direct sunlight. There is no trouble whatever in management ; one moderate watering when the case is filled will keep it without further attention for six weeks, except an oc- - casional ventilation when moisture lies heavy on the glass. In winter the temperature of the room may run from 50° to 65° at night. The culture of Ferns or Lycopods re- quires somewhat similar conditions as are found in the Wardian Case; they can not be successfully grown unless 206 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. in partial shade in a close, moist atmosphere. Hence it is useless to attempt the cultivation of such unless they are inclosed in cases in the dry atmosphere of an ordinary sitting-room. The florist can easily adapt his green-house to the proper conditions when required, but the amateur must secure these by means of a closed case of some kind. For single specimens or a few ferns and the like a glass shale with a proper base of metal or earthenware is frequently used, and is very ornamental. Ferneries of this kind are sold at the principal horticultural and seed stores. —- +e —=- CHAPTER XXXI. FORMATION OF ROCK-WORK. This feature of pleasure ground decoration is generally necessitated by circumstances; if the ground which has to be chosen for that purpose is naturally stony, it often be- comes the cheapest way to get rid of the stones, grouping them so that they become ornamental. They may often thus be used to advantage in forming breaks or screens, to * hide the flower garden from the vegetable or fruit garden ; in this way they are laid up in rugged walls, the inter- stices filled with soil and covered with hardy perennial plants. Locations where rocks exist in their natural con- dition can often be made highly interesting and ornament- al by setting out plants of a drooping or trailing habit to overhang among them. Among those suitable for such purpose are: Achilleas, of creeping growth, Linnea borealis, Campanulas, of creeping growth, Lychnis grandiflora, Crucianella stylosa, Lysimachia nummularia, Ccerastium tomentosum, Orobus vernus, FORMATION OF ROCK-WORK. 207 Phloxes, of creeping growth, Soldanella alpina, Polemonium reptans, Vinca major variegata, . Saxifragas, Thymus vulgaris variegata, Scdums, of all kinds, Violas of sorts. Sempervivums, of all kinds, Artificial rock-works are often formed. The shape and dimensions of the work being determined on, the clinkers from furnaces are collected, and dipped in hot lime wash, which gives a coloring of pure white to their fantastic shapes. With these the “rock-work ” mound is formed of the height and shape desired, leaving at suitable dis- tances cavities of 6 or 8 inches deep, to be filled with soil in which to place the creeping plants. For this kind of rock-work a different class of plants is more appropriate, —such as are of bright colors and will contrast with the ground-work of white.—Scarlet or other high-colored Verbenas, Coleus, Gazanias, Scarlet Geraniums, Blue Lobelias, Lysimachia, or Golden Moneywort, may be used with excellent effect. By the use of hydraulic cement instead of lime, the rock-work can be made of a pleasing drab color. A rockery so formed and planted, without having any pretensions to being “natural,” is always an interesting and attractive object on a well-kept lawn. CHAPTER XXXII. INSECTS. There is no subject referred to in this volume, that lL feel so incompetent to discuss as that of insects. Not that our experience with the pests has not been ample enough, but all the knowledge obtained from that expe- rience leaves us at times utterly helpless to prevent their ravages, particularly on plants grown out of doors. Un- 208 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. der glass we may say that they are entirely under control, and [have always considered that no better evidence of the incompetency of the person in charge of a green-house could be had, than to see the plants covered with insects. The most annoying of all insects of the flower garden, is the Rose Slug, Selandria Rose, a light green, translucent little fellow, varying from 1-16 of an cao to nearly an inch in length. here are evidently two species or varieties, one of which confines its ravages to the lower side of the leaf; the other eats it entire. The first is by far the most destructive here. In afew days after the plants are at- tacked they appear as if they had been burned. The only remedy we have found is a preventive one, which, in fact, ought to be used against all insect life. Be- fore the leaves of the roses appear, just as soon as the buds begin to develop, apply whale oil soap, in the pro- portion of one lb. to eight gallons of water; this, stead- ily applied for ten days, witha syringe or garden engine, has, in my experience, entirely prevented the attacks of the insect. But once let it get a foothold and it can hardly be driven off by this application, unless it be made strong enough to injure the foliage, making the remedy worse than the disease. The species of Rose Slug that eats the entire leaf seems to confine its depredations more to young plants, and later in the season. We have found it quite troublesome in June and July among our young roses, which had been planted out in May and June, and as these were young and tender plants, the whale oil soap remedy could not safely be applied; so we have often had acres of young roses covered by myriads of these slugs, before they were observed, and nothing could be done ex- cept to shake the plants, and kill the insects when they fell to the ground. In the summer of 1866, we had some ~ nine or ten boys shaking the plants and killing the slugs, for upwards of a week, and by this means saved our crop eS INSECTS. 209 of roses. Last season (1868), we had a whole army of volunteer exterminators, in the thousands of English Sparrows that have recently favored us with their pres- ence, and which we feed and house with the greatest care during winter. We observed immense flocks of them actively engaged for days in picking up something in our rose beds, and had imagined it to be seeds obtained from the refuse hops, that we had used as a mulching. At times we felt inclined to believe that they would pick the tender leaves of the rose, to use by way of a salad, having always believed them to be strictly “ vegetarians,” or seed eaters. Finding, however, that we were less troubled with the Rose Slug that season than usual, it occurred to me that perhaps we were indebted to our noisy, feathered friends for the immunity. To test the matter, a victim was nec- essary ; accordingly a plethoric looking fellow was shot, when, sure enough, his well-stuffed crop revealed seeds, Rose Slugs, and Aphis, or Green Fly, in great abundance, demonstrating beyond all question the great value of these birds as insect destroyers. The Rose Bug (Macrodactylis subspinosus), or Rose Chafer, as it is sometimes called, is so named from its at- tacking the buds or blossoms of the rose, in preference to anything else, although it is destructive to many other plants, particularly to the Dahlia, the flower of which it devours rapidly. All the ordinary remedies seem to fall harmlessly on the Rose Bug, and if not destroyed by hand its ravages cannot be stopped, unless our feather- ed friends come to the rescue; whether they will be equally efficacious in destroying the Rose Bug, I am un- able to say, although I am inclined to think they will We have never yet been much troubled with them here, and so far have not had the opportunity of knowing whether the Sparrows feed on them or not. The Ground or Blue Aphis.—This is one of the most subtle and most dangerous of all the pests with which wa 210 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. have to contend in the cultivation of flowers. Hundreds of my amateur friends come to me year after year, with sor- rowful tales of their verbenas, asters, &c., which were pic- tures of health and beauty, but now are one after an- other sickening and dying, apparently without cause. But there was a cause, and one cause only. The Aphis was at work on the roots. But the remedy? Alas! almost hoype- less at this stage of the disease. Still, as a physician must prescribe in all cases, we say that the only chance is an application of tobacco water, about the color of strong tea, applied copiously and persistently to the roots, for at least a week. ; We have occasionally saved all our stock by this reme- dy, when used at once, as soon as they were seen to be af- fected. Many species of plants are attacked by this insect. Asters, particularly, are much injured by it. In fact, when in excess, there is hardly a species of plant exempt from its attacks. We have often seen this Aphis clustering by thousands on the roots of melons and cucumbers, to the very points of the roots, a foot below the surface. The Green Fly, or Plant Louse, is not so hurtful in the open air as many other insects, and is easily got rid of either by syringing with whale oil soap or tobacco water, in the degrees of strength before named. The Red Spider is rarely seen in the open ground, ex- cept ina hot and dry atmosphere, when it is often very destructive in dry, sheltered gardens, during the months of July and August. Frequent syringings of whale oil soap will hold it in check. Ants.—Although these are not generally to be feared in the green-house or flower-garden, yet we have occasional- ly suffered by them and have found the simplest way to destroy them to be to lay fresh bones around their haunts. They will leave everything else and attack these ; when thus accumulated, they can easily be destroyed by dipping in hot water. INSECTS. 211 We now come to the insects which are troublesome under glass; here we have the means within our control to entirely prevent the two leading insects, Green Fly and Red Spider. In both cases, I have always contended that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” There is no neglect of the gardener or foreman in charge of green-houses which is so little excusable as allowing insects to injure his plants. Green Fly (Aphis) is prevented, (for I contend that it should never be seen, so that it need be destroyed), by fumigating with tobacco smoke, not less than twice each week. We do it in a manner much more simple and agreeable to the operator than is often practiced. Two or three times each week during the entire season at which our green-houses are filled with plants, we use a small handful of shavings, on top of which we place about half a pound of tobacco stems, previously made damp. The shavings are lighted, and the fire being on the brick flooring, is left to take care of itself. We use this quanti- ty of tobacco to every 500 square feet of glass ; we burn thus five to six tons of tobacco stems every season, but we rarely seea green fly. We have occasionally seen this insect in- crease to such an extent in its different conditions, that fu- migation was powerless to destroy it, or rather it would have required it to be applied so strong, to dislodge the vast number of the enemy, that the plants would have been in- jured. The safer way to treat a desperate case of this kind is to brush the insect off by hand, or with a soft brush; this isa slow process, but an effectual one. This condition of the plants can only be the result of utter neg- lect. The green fly-sometimes injures plants which stand too near together, so that the leaves get matted so closely that the fumes of the tobacco cannot penetrate. This is a condition, where recourse must be had to brushing the insects from the leaves, and, if possible, spreading the plants, so that the air can pass freely among them. 212 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. The Red Spider is rather a more insidious enemy than the green fly, and far more tenacious of life, and often does much mischief before its presence has become known. The experienced gardener, of course, should not only be able to detect its presence, but also to discover the at- mosphere favorable to its production. A dry and hot at- mosphere, so dry that few plants can long continue in health in it,-!s such an one as this pest delights to revel in, Such an atmosphere in hot-house or green-house is thus doubly hurtful to plant life, and therefore should never be allowed. The remedies are simple; if there is not time for syringing, let water be thrown copiously on the paths, under and on the benches, place pans filled with water on the flue or pipes, or use any other means that may suggest itself, to counteract the aridity of the air, due to heavy firing in winter, or hot, dry days in spring or summer. Therefore, as in the case of the green fly, if proper preventives are used, the red spider need never be, seen In the green-house. The red spider is an exceedingly minute insect, so small that it is a mere speck when seen by the naked eye, but when closely examined, may be seen moving with great rapidity. ‘Though minute in themselves the presence of these insects may be quickly detected, by the upper side of the leaves becoming browned, though, as a general thing, their ravages are confined to the under side of the leaf. Parlor plants are often subject to this insect, as it is not convenient to give the necessary moisture, and the only remedy in such cases, if the collection is not too numerous, is sponging the leaves. We often have woeful complaints fim our lady friends, that their plants all get brown and look sickly, and it re- quires but little thinking to divine what enemy is making the attack. The aphis, from its size, is quickly seen, and means may be used at once to destroy it, but this minute red INSECTS. ota . _ pest may be sapping the life of a plant for weeks before it is discovered. Amateur cultivators generally expect to see something more tangible in a spider, if they have heard of the red dragon at all, and are often hard to convince, that this minute insect is the cause of so much disaster. I will relate a rather ludicrous incident, to show that some even of larger experience may become possessed of that notion. | Some twelve years ago, I had in my employment an active young Irishman, who, by showing more than ordi- nary energy, quickly passed through the different grades, until he was duly installed as foreman; at that time we had been firing a Camellia house, and by neglect of keep- ing a properly moist atmosphere, the red spider had made sad inroads. John was duly instructed to syringe the plants, night and morning, to destroy it, which he did; no doubt with a double object in view, as the sequel will show. John was on all occasions rather demon- strative, but one morning he came rushing towards me, his face radiant with triumph, with his hat off, but clasped in his hands, in a careful manner, evidently having something of no common value within it. Before I had time to inquire what was the cause of his excite- ment, he yelled out “Pve got him! bedad! [ve got him at last !” “ What have you got?” I enquired, expect- ing to see something in the way of a rat or mouse. *“‘ Arrah, the big divil himself, the blaggard that has been doin’ us all the mischief, the Feed Sphider!” and opening his hat, a villainous Tarantula-looking fellow ran out, bigger than a thousand red spiders, which was quickly des- patched by John’s brogan. From that time John learn- ed to know what the red spider was, but was never anx- ious to allude to it afterwards. The Verbena Mite, another pest most disastrous in its ravages on the Verbena, Heliotrope Petunia, Pelar. 914 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. gonium, and various other plants, is so small that it cannot be seen by the naked eye; but it produces what is known as “black rust,” a disease that in many parts of the country has made the cultivation of these plants, particularly the Verbena, almost impossible. Viewed by a powerful microscope, this insect, mag- nified 400 times, appears of the size given in fig. @8; it moves with great rapidity, and can only be examined as it stops to feed. When this little pest has once got a foothold, all direct remedies to dislodge him seem to be powerless; the fumes of tobacco, so destructive to the aphis, or of sulphur, which is death to the spider, fall harmlessly on this microscopic insect. There is hardly a doubt but that the fumes of sulphur or tobacco would destroy it, if it had not the power of imbedding itself in the leaf. This is evidently the case, as on subjecting affected plants to a severe fumigation with tobacco for 30 minutes no insects could be discerned on the leaves; but after a short time they again appeared on the field of the microscope, apparently unscathed. Now, although we have no direct remedy against this in- sect, which produces the black rust, we have, I think, a preventive, by keeping the plants in that healthy condi- tion which seems to be repellant to its attack. For the means used to get that healthy condition, see article on the culture of the Verbena, which is, with slight modi- fications, equally applicable to all other plants affected by this insect. The microscope reveals that this particular species, which is so destructive to our Verbena, Heliotrope, Petu- nia, and scores of other plants cultivated in the green- house or garden, is the same or closely resembles that which gives the roughness to particular parts of the bark of cherry, plum, and peach trees, and no doubt is to be “INSECTS. 215 found on thousands of other varieties of the vegetable kingdom, whenever a lessened vitality takes place. Cor- roborative of this view, I had a lot of about 500 plants of Heliotrope growing in 2-inch pots in one of our green- houses last fall, one-half of which were, in September, shifted into 38-inch pots, to be reserved for stock plants, They were kept side by side and treated in all respects the same. Those shifted, of course, with increased food, grew vigorously and strong, while the unshifted remained comparatively stunted, and to-day, December Ist, the “black rust’ shows itself on nearly every plant, and the microscope shows on every affected leaf hundreds of these insects, feeding like sheep on a pasture field, while on the shifted plants none whatever can be found. This is only one of hundreds of cases which yearly come un- der our observation, to prove that, from whatever cause the vital action of a plant is impaired, it is placed in the con- dition which in a greater or less degree invites the attack of parasitic fungi (mildew) or insects. Mealy Bug, as it is familiarly termed, is a white, mealy, or downy-looking insect, often very troublesome in the hot-house ; it is quickly destroyed by a solution of 1 Ib. of whale oil soap to five gallons of water; but, as it often attacks plants of the most tender kinds, that are liable to be injured even by this weak mixture, it is not safe for inexperienced hands to use it before experimenting on its strength, and perhaps the safest method is simply to brush off the insects with a soft brush, made for the purpose. Brown and White Scale Insects,—These are less in- jurious and less common to plants than any of the pre- ceding, and are generally found in dark or ill-ventilated green-houses, adhering to the stems and under part of the leaves of hard-wooded plants. The best remedy is wash- ing, or brushing them off by hand; fumigating, and the 216 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. different solutions destructive to aphis, &c., falling harm- lessly on these. Thrips is an active insect,varying in size from that hard ly perceptible by the naked eye, to the size of the green fly, and varying in color from whitish-yellow to dark brown ; it 1s a jumping insect, very active in its move- ments, and when it once gets a foothold is very destruct- ive. It succumbs to tobacco smoke, but not so quickly as does the green fly. It luxuriates in shaded situations, and is generally found where plants are standing too thickly to- gether,or where the ventilation or light of the green-house has been deficient. I think it may be safe to assert that in any well-regulated green-house or hot-house no injury from insects will ever become serious, if proper attention to syringing and fumigating has been given. Syring- ing, or other means of keeping a moist atmosphere, must never be neglected for a day, and fumigating by tobacco smoke should be done, at the least, once each week. This has been our own practice for nearly twenty years, and we rarely ever see an insect in our green- houses, The “Carnation Twitter.’’—This is an insect but little known, and called in this district only by its local name of “ Carnation Twitter,” given from its rapid and nervous motion. As seen by the naked eye it is about the twen- tieth part of an inch in length, and of a thickness not more than that of a cambric needle. It is of various shades of color, from green to black; it is never very numerous on the plants, but most destructive and evidently poisonous in its attacks on all varieties of the Carnation and Pinks. Its effects on the Carnation somewhat resemble those of the red spider, except that when attacked by the “Twitter,” the leaves have a cankered and twisted ap- pearance, easily distinguishable from the browning effects of the spider. When Carnations or Pinks get INSECTS. 217 infested by this insect, all remedies to dislodge it seem futile. We have lost thousands of plants in a season by its attacks. It seems, however, to infest light or sandy soil more than heavy loam or clay, and seems, also, to be intermittent in its attacks, often not being seen for three or four years in succession, and again returning and destroying all in its path. In our light, sandy soil at Jersey City we suffered severely from it, but for five years, in our heavy, clayey soil in Bergen, it has rarely been seen, CHAPTER XXXIII. ARE PLANTS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH ? If physicians are asked if plants are injurious to health, three out of six will reply that they are. They will generally follow up the reply by a learned disquisition on horticultural chemistry ; will tell you that at night plants give out carbonic acid, which is poisonous to animal life, and consequently if we sleep in a room where plants are kept, we of necessity inhale this gas, and sickness will follow. These worthies generally suc- ceed in their specious reasoning, and the poor plants, that have bloomed gaily all summer, are often consigned to the coal cellar, for their winter’s quarters, if given quar- ters at all. No theory can be more destitute of truth ; that plants give out carbonic acid may be, but that it is given out in quantities sufficient to affect our health in the slightest degree is utter nonsense. No healthier class of men can be found than green- house operators, which makes me sometimes think that plants have a health-giving effect rather than otherwise. But doctors may tell us that our workmen are only at work in the day-time, and that it is at night that the carbonic acid 218 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. is emitted. Here we meet them by the information that in most cases the gardener in charge of green-honses often has to be up the greater part of the night in winter, and the green-house, from its warmth, is universally taken as his sitting-room, and sometimes as his bed-room; such was my own experience for three winters. I had charge of a large amount of glass, situated nearly a mile from my boarding-house, too far to go and come at midnight, with the thermometer below zero. Our means of heating were entirely inadequate, so that the fires had to be looked to every three or four hours. Disregarding all my kind- hearted employer’s admonitions, I nightly slept on the floor of the hot-house, which was rank with tropical growth. The floor was just the place toinhale the gas, if there had been much to inhale. It did not hurt me, however, and has not yet, and that is a score of years ago. That plants are injurious to health in sleeping- rooms is one of the bugbear assertions that is willingly swallowed by the gullible portion of the community, always ready to assign effects to some tangible cause, and this, as the assertion evinces some chemical lore, is one very prev- alent among those disciples of LEsculapius who are always willing to be thought learned in the science so intimately connected with their profession. CHAPTER XXXIV. NATURE’S LAW OF COLORS. It has long been a belief among students in vegetable physiology, that, in certain families of plants, particular colors prevail, and that in no single instance can we ever expect to see blue, yellow, and scarlet colors in varieties of the same species; yet, undeviating as this law seems NATURE’S LAW OF COLORS. 219 to be, it is astonishing to see the credulity that there is, even among intelligent horticulturists, some of whom believe that we will yet have exceptions to this law, which, as far as all our experience has gone, seems as unalterable as the law of gravitation. If we reflect, we will find there is nothing out of the usual order of nature in this uniformity. The coloring given to the plumage of birds is aS unvarying as that given to the petals of a flower in particular families. The most enthusiastic poultry fan- cier will look in vain for the scarlet plumage of the Fla- mingo in his Dorkings or Brahmas, or the color of the Balti- more Oriole in the occupants of his pigeon-house. What more reason, then, has the florist to expect that Nature should deviate from her fixed course, and gladden his eyes with a Rose or Dahlia of an azure hue, or that a Ver- bena or a Petunia should be produced of a golden shade ? A knowledge of this subject is much needed by our amateur horticulturists, who are imposed upon year after year by itinerant dealers, who with flaming color- ed drawings of these impossibilities in floriculture ex- tract largely from the pockets of their victims, and in addi- tion expose them to the ridicule of their less credulous or more cautious neighbors. The audacity of these scamps is truly astonishing; not a season passes but some of them have the impudence to plant themselves right in the busi- ness centres of the city of New York, and hundreds of our sharp business men have for the consideration of $8 or $10, believed themselves to be the possessors of verita- ble blue Roses. Need I say that they were no less humbug- ged than the rustic who falls into the hands of a mock auctioneer, and chuckles to think that he has become the possessor of a gold watch for a similar price? In Rand’s “ Flowers for the Parlor and Garden,” page 101, in remarking on the colors of the Verbena, he says a good yellow Verbena has not yet been produced, but goes on to say that he, “ by a curious process of water- 220 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. ing and fertilization with a white Verbena, obtained a seedling which proved on blooming to be of a light straw color; but the plant was weakly and sickly, and died be- fore cuttings could be taken.” This “ weakly” and “ sick- ly” condition was exactly why Mr. Rand obtained his straw color; had the plant been in health it, no doubt. would have been only an impure white. There are few florists of any experience who have not raised hundreds of just such “straw colors” inV erbenas from white, that have been weak and sickly, for we all know that the want of vitality in the plant imparts a jaundiced hue to white flowers. It is hardly fair in Mr. Rand to withhold from us what that “curious process of watering and fertilization ” was, by which he succeeded in bringing into existence what De Candolle, Lindley, and Loudon, have said can never be. When a man writes a book for the information of the public nothing should be held in reserve; his readers have a right to every “secret” that he may possess connected with the subject, and this reservation of Mr. Rand in so very interesting a matter is tantalizing in the extreme. Who knows but if he had given us the modus operandi of his “curious process of watering and fertilization” our Verbena beds would have long since had a golden yellow flaunting side by side with scarlet and blue, or that the same “ curious process of watering and fertiliza- tion ” applied to the Rose, would have produced a color rivalling a blue-bird in April? It is much to be regretted that Mr. Rand’s yellow Ver- bena was lost, but we trust that the “curious process ” by which it was produced is not among the lost arts. If an application of it can be made to produce a positively yellow Verbena, the gentleman will receive the honors of the whole horticultural world, and, if he chooses, can pocket some thousands of dollars. PACKING PLANTS. 221 CHAPTER XXXV. PACKING PLANTS. As commercial floriculture is now becoming a mattet of importance, it will be interesting to many of ou readers to know the modes of packing for shipment. Durmg February, March, April, and May last, (1878) it is estimated that ten tons daily were received at the different express offices in New York, of the products of the green-house only. These were to be distributed through- out the length and breadth of the land, shipments being successfully made to the most extreme points in every di- rection. The system of packing adopted for even the most distant orders is of the simplest kind, differing en- tirely from that in use by the English or French, and is a result, like many other of our operations, of the necessi- ties forced upon us by the want of labor. By our system of packing, we ship plants almost every day from January 15th to June 15th, throughout the coldest weather in winter and the sultry days of summer, with hardly a case of injury, either from freezing or by heat. For the cold season we use close boxes, placing a layer of 4 inches of soft, dry hay on the bottom ends, sides, and top of the box. Whenever the bal! of roots is sufficiently firm, the plant is taken from the pot, and each plant wrapped in paper, or rather the ball or root of the plant is wrapped, leaving most of the top uncovered. This wrapping in paper not only serves to keep the ball from breaking, but it also, to some extent, prevents the pressure of the plants upon each other. In packing the plants in the box, they are placed com- pactly in layers, alternated with an inch or two of soft hay until the box is full, The utmost care is necessary to pack the box entirely full,so that no movement can take place ir the plants should the boxes be roughly hand- led. The soil should be always rather dry than other- wise, as packed in this close manner the plants will not suffer 993 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. for want of moisture. Boxes of medium size are best; we never like to use a box of greater capacity than the ordinary flour barrel, usually prefering such as are one- third smaller than that. Ifthe box is too large, the plants may be injured by mutual pressure. This is our method of packing as long as there is danger from frost, or until the middle of March. From the mid-, dle of March to the middle of April, we use a box of a different character, open on all sides to admit air, for now the danger to be avoided is from heat and not from cold. The manner of packing is in all other respects the same, except that no more hay is used around the inside of the box than necessary to make a soft bed for the plants. If the closely packed plants have any tendency to generate heat, it will be counteracted by the admission of air through the openings in the box. Again, we gradually make a change in our style of packing to suit the advanc- ing season. For small orders, a light kind of chip basket is used, in which the plants are packed in the man- ner above described, and strapped over the top with hay. We find a basket a most convenient and satisfactory arti- cle to pack in, as its open-work sides freely admit the airz. In baskets weighing less than two pounds, we pack from 100 to 150 plants. Being annoyed at having frequently to pay for clumsy, heavy packages in which our new im- portations were received from England, I took occasion to send over to a London nurseryman some fifty plants packed in one of these baskets, the whole basket and contents weigh- ing only 15 lbs., and with two exceptions every plant was re- ceived alive. I implored the gentleman to pack the plants he was to send me in return in similar light baskets, as it would not only save freight but, what was of far more importance, save me the plants alive. He sent them in baskets, sure enough, each one weighing of itself 40 Ibs., —a shapeless, ponderous affair, that with its contents re- quired two men to lift it into awagon, This was not the PLANTS BY MAIL. 293 worst of it; three-fourths of the plants were dead—our usual experience in shipments of plants from Europe. This loss is, without doubt, in most cases occasioned by the cumbrous manner of packing. When the weather becomes settled, so that all danger of plants being chilled is over, we change our mode of packing the plants from laying them down to standing _ them upright in the baskets or boxes, beginning with the heaviest plants at the bottom of the box or basket, and placing each succeeding layer, to the depth of three or four, one ball of roots on the top of the other. After packing, the box or basket is watered freely, each plant, or at least a portion of it, is exposed to the light, and thus packed, they will remain ten or twelve days without injury. CHAPTER XXXVI. PLANTS BY MAIL. Our postal laws admit plants, seeds, and bulbs, to be sent at the cost of two cents for four ounces, provided the package does not exceed four pounds in weight. This ar- rangement has been the means of sending seeds and plants into regions where they would not for many years have been procurable with other means of conveyance, and the projector of the idea deserves the gratitude of the nation for it. A number of different contrivances have been invented for packing plants to go by mail, including boxes of various styles and dimensions ; the main difficulty with al] that we have seen is the weight. Of late years we have dispensed with boxes of all kinds, and pack in the following manner. Having selected the plants, choosing such as are small but well rooted, the soil is washed from 224 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. each plant, leaving the fibres of the roots uninjured. A layer of dry moss half an inch thick is then spread on two or three thicknesses of thick brown paper; the plants are then laid on the moss, a similar layer of moss is laid over the _ the roots, and the paper, moss, and plants, are tightly rolled up. The dry moss absorbs the water from the dripping roots, so that thus tightly enclosed, sufficient moisture is enveloped in the packages to keep the plants safe for a week, provided that the package has been firmly wrapped up. Either additional paper, sufficient to keep in the moisture, or oiled silk, should be used for the outer cover- ing. This process is so simple that any lady may transmit to another some favorite plant or cutting, a distance of 2,000 miles, if necessary, at little cost. Where moss is not pro- curable, raw cotton will answer the same purpose; the only danger to be avoided is in rolling up the package too loosely, in which case the dry air will penetrate and will be likely to shrivel up the plants. No injury will result to the plants by tight wrapping, provided cotton or moss has been placed above and below the roots in sufficient quantity. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE PROFITS OF FLORICULTURE. It is much easier to estimate the profits of the product of the soil, be it in fruits or vegetables, than to define by any certain rule what the profits of our green-house floriculture are. In fact, we can only approximate to it, be- cause the conditions in which the operations are carried on at different places, or the different articles grown, make anything like a general average for the whole country im- THE PROFITS OF FLORICULTURE. 225 possible. But, as we have heretofore done, we will confine ourselves to the district of New York, which may be taken at the present time as a fair representation of the whole country. The capital required in starting this department of hor- ticulture I consider need not be so much as in that of either nursery, vegetable, or fruit growing, and the chances of moderate success I believe, from my observa- tions, to be far greater. I say moderate success, for the chances of making a colossal fortune in this are by no means so great as in the regular nursery business, while to offset this the chances of failure are less, and the busi- ness is pleasanter and less exhaustive to follow. I have hardly ever known a man who started in the florist’s busi- ness to fail, unless he brought failure on himself by his own imprudence; while I have known scores to fail in the vegetable and nursery business, from causes entirely be- yond their control. A frugal man, with a knowledge of the business and $1,000 capital, may safely start in this vicinity, or in any vicinity where there is a town of 10,000 inhabitants of average intelligence and culture. But the difficult question with all at starting is how to make that $1,000 best available. Of course expensive erections, such as we have described in the chapter on green-house struc- tures, are beyond his means, and something cheaper must be adopted. The general principle on which these green- houses are formed is in all respects the same, and the beginner with limited means, instead of erecting three houses, need erect only one, which should not be more than ‘50 feet long and of a width of 11 feet in the clear. The ‘proportions of height, &c., will be found in the drawing on page 52. The sides may be formed of cedar or chest- nut posts planked to the required height, having a lining of tarred paper between the boards. In this way, at present prices, a structure of this kind with flue, benches and all complete need not cost more than six or eight dollars 226 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. per running foot, or $300 or $400 for a house of 50 feet. But something else will be needed besides the house, and sunken pits or cold frames should be erected parallel with the east side of the green-house and connected with it. A por- tion, say half, of these, should be excavated to the depth of 2 feet, and used as a sunken pit for Roses, &c., as de- scribed in the chapter on Roses; the cold frame portion, which is not sunken but made level with the soil, can be used to grow the hardier sorts of flowers, as Pansies, Dai- sies, Pinks, &c. J here again repeat that the Rose, unless grown to force for winter flowers, is easily injured by fire heat, which it must necessarily receive if placed in the green-house, in which are grown a variety of plants that re- quire fire heat. These pits and cold frames should be covered up care- fully, either with shutters or mats, during severe weather in winter, and care taken that all water is thoroughly drained off from them. These sunken pits and cold frames of 25 feet each will cost say $100, which, togeth- er with the purchase of stock and coal to last through the winter, would make the expenditure to this date, No- vember, $600 or $700, leaving $300 or $400 for expenses in winter, or until sales open in spring. If the plants have been handled with even average skill, the sales should by June give a profit of at least 50 per cent on the capital invested, supposing the plants to be sold at the average retail rates. I am not prepared to say what the profits on the capital invested are when business is done on a large scale, the articles grown, the manner of selling, and economy of management, being so varied that in this, as in all other occupations in life, we have all degrees of success. But the broad fact is beyond question that the profits of the business will compare favorab]7 with the general run of business in which the same capital is invested. One fact, very flattering to our florists in this country THE PROFITS OF FLORICULTURE. 227 is, that although our plants on an average are sold lower than they arein England, and our new plants at less than one-fourth of the prices obtained there, the business is more profitable here than there. Why is this? the reader may doubtingly ask. Simply that our necessities with re- gard to labor compel us to apply our common sense to the work, and we cut loose from many of the established rules with which English florists are yet stupidly trammelled. In two of the leading London establishments, having each about 50,000 feet of glass, the average number of hands employed during the year is fifty. The same quantity of glass would be worked here in a style quite equal to theirs, as far as the quality of the plants goes, with less than one-third of that number. I am informed by a gen- tleman who was for many years connected with one of these English establishments, that the profits did not ex- ceed 10 per cent of the sales. Jam afraid that the small- est operator of us all here would soon quit the work if it gave no better results. What is true of the florist’s business I believe to be equal- ly true of the nursery trade, and it is much to be doubted if that business anywhere in all Europe is so simply yet profitably carried on as it is in the great nurseries of Rochester and Geneva. CHAPTER XXXVIII. HOW TO BECOME A FLORIST. I am often asked the question if it is necessary in order to become a florist to enter some large establishment for a few years, or whether it is possible to learn from reading only. I reply, If it can be afforded, it will be best by all means to serve at least two years in 228 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. some well-conducted establishment—one that has been long enough established to have made the business a suc- cess, for the best index of ability in any business is suc- cess. I have said, if it can be afforded, as for the first two years, unless a youth prove himself unusually smart, he will not likely receive more than enough to pay his board, for he is simply an apprentice under instructions, who has come with the design of leaving when he has acquired a knowledge of the trade, and just at the time that he begins to be of use to his employe’. But to those to whom it would be inconvenient to place themselves thus under instructions, a knowledge of the business could be unquestionably obtained from books, particularly if actual practice were followed conjointly with the reading. There are upward of a hundred of my patrons (about one tenth of whom are ladies), located in nearly every State of the Union, who have worked them- selves into the florists’ business exclusively by reading and their own practice, having had no opportunity for other instruction. In not a few cases some of these have got ahead of what is known as professional gardeners, those who have had no other experience than that received in private gardens in Europe, which by no means fits them for the American style of commercial floriculture. The increase of taste for flowers for the past twenty years has been truly wonderful. A gentleman who has a turn for statistics in this particular line, informed me that he had begun to procure information from all parts of the coun- try of the numbers engaged in the trade together with the capital employed. He said that his investigations for this locality, taken in the rough, extending in a radius of ten miles from the center of New York Island, proved that the number of florists’ establishments was about five hundred, and the capital used in stock and structures upwards of $6,000,000. If the number of establishments is nearly correct—and there is no reason to doubt it—I SOFT-WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS. 229 am certain that the value is not overestimated, as we have at least half a dozen establishments where the capital . used in stock and buildings must be nearly $100,000 each. And this, too, in New York and its suburbs, where the taste is lower than it is in either Boston or Philadelphia. In those places, no doubt, their excellent horticultural societies have done much to refine the tastes of the people, and it is to be regretted that neither New York nor its adjacent cities, with probably over two millions of people, have a single horticultural or floricultural society, CHAPTER XXXIX. SHORT DESCRIPTIONS OF SOFT-WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS OF THE LEADING KINDS. Antirrhinum majus, (Snap Dragon), now comprises varieties of all shades and markings; in colors of yellow, white, crimson, scarlet-orange, rose, etc. A dwarf style does not exceed six inches in height. Grown from seed or cuttings. Bouvardia triphylla. — An orange-scarlet, summer- blooming variety. See Winter-Flowering Plants. Begonias.—See Winter-Flowering Plants. Calceolarias, Shrubby,—Plants blooming from June to October in the open ground; colors ranging from light yellow to deep crimson. Grown from seed or cuttings. Calceolarias, Herbaceous.—These are grown from seed sown in August or September, and when well grown, form plants of great beauty and interest for the green- house, in April and May. Their pocket-like flowers are finely spotted, and embrace a great range of color. Plants of the dwarf varieties do not exceed one foot in diameter, and are favorites with all lovers of flowers. Canna Indica, and_ varieties. — Plants of majestic growth, well adapted for grouping on lawns. The roots 230 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. are dug up in fall, and kept as we preserve Dahlias. Pro- pagation, division of the root or by seeds. See p. 86. Carnations, Menthly.—These, when planted out, bloom profusely from July to November. See Plants for Win- ter-F lowering. Cinerarias.—The treatment is the same as for Her- baceous Calceolarias, to which they form an excellent contrast as green-house ornaments in spring. Coleus Verschaffeltii and others are grown as bedding plants for their foliage only. There are now scores of varie- ties, all of which require a temperature in winter of not lower than 60°; with less than that there will be much dif- ficulty in keeping them. Being tender, they should not be planted out for bedding purposes until the weather has become settled and warm. Propagation by cuttings. Caladium esculentum.—A plant with enormous shield- shaped leaves, which often measure 30 by 20 inches. The plant attains a height of 5 or 6 feet, and is a striking ob- ject when planted on a lawn. There are numerous other Caladiums with beautifully shaded and spotted leaves, grown as stove plants. Chrysanthemums, Chinese.—These consist of three classes, the Large ae ao. the Pompone or Bouquet, and ike Japanese. There is no plant that we cultivate, with the exception perhaps, of the Dahlia, that assumes such an extended range of color—crimson, orange, yellow, pink, white, carmine, and purple, being blended in every conceivable shade. Cuttings planted out in May will produce, by topping, large, bushy plants that will bloom in October; they are entirely hardy in this latitude, and will stand with slight covering, which should be put on late in fall, say December 15th, in the extreme Northern States. They are often lifted and potted in fall, and form hand- some green-house or parlor plants until December. Delphiniums, or Larkspurs.—The perennial varieties of SOFT-WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS. 231 these can nearly all be used as continued summer-bloom- ing bedding plants, if the seed is sown in a hot-bed or green-house in February, and the plants put out in the open border in May. Their great value consists in their rare shades of blue, a color always scarce in flowers. Well-known varieties are D. bicolor grandiflorum, figure 50, and D. formosum, of deep mazarine blue ground, with distinct spot in the centre of each floret. All tho perennial species and varieties are hardy. Figure 50 shows reduced spikes and a single flower of the natural size. Dahlias.—The climate of the Eastern and North-west- ern States is better adapted to the early development of the flowers of the Dahlia than warmer latitudes, and thus we find that though the frosts occur here earlier in fall, yet the season of flowering is of longer duration than in districts where the fall frosts are later in coming; hence the climate of Boston or New York is better for Dahlias than that of Baltimore or Washington. The perfection that is attained, both in form and color of the Dahlia, is now wonderful. They are divided into four classes, namely : Brppinc.—Dwarf, profuse-flowering sorts, that are pruned down so that they do not exceed a foot in height. Bovaquer or Pompone.—The flowers of many of these do not exceed 14 inches in diameter, and are perfect models in form. ExuIsBiTIon or SHow.—The large-flowered, self-colored, or tipped varieties. Fancy.—The striped or speckled kinds. Dahlias are propagated by division of the tuber,-or (as done by florists) by cuttings. Piant out when all danger of frost is over, in rich soil 3 or 4 feet apart, thin out superfluous shoots, and tie to strong stakes; lift in fall when cut down by frost, and keep in adry, warm cellar, or under the stage of a green-house, only in such a position 252 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. that they will not be dried too much. Amateurs, to be safe, should first dry them well, and then pack them in boxes in dry sand. Fuchsias are the most graceful of all cultivated plants. Nothing, in our opinion, can surpass the beauty of well- grown specimens. They are of the easiest culture; plants rooted from cuttings in January can be grown with ease to 6 feet in height in June, by due attention to repotting as the plants make root. When grown as specimens, at least half the soil should be rotted cow manure or rotted refuse hops. They are also well adapted as bedding plants for the flower-garden, in cocl and partially shaded situations. The dark-flowered varieties are best fitted for bedding. There are also a few winter-flowering sorts described in chapter on Winter Flowering Plants. One of the most beautiful of the newer varieties, “ Day Dream,” is represented in figure 51. Geraniums, botanically speaking, are nearly all hardy, herbaceous plants, a short list of which will be found un- der that head; but Geraniums popularly known as such are those that are about to be described, and we believe that a large majority of our readers will agree with us in using the popular name, rather than the botanical one of Pelargonium. Geranium, Zonale.—This is perhaps the best known type of the class, so called from the leaves of many of the varieties being marked with a dark band or zone. This is the bedding plant, par excellence, of the easiest propaga- tion by cuttings, always healthy and of free growth in almost all soils and situations, blooming in summer from June to October, and, if desired, it will continue its flowering in the green-house to June again. The va- rieties are endless, ranging in every shade of white, rose, crimson, scarlet, carmine, &c., &c. At the present time there are hundreds of double varieties, comprising SOFT-\WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS, 230 all the colors; but there is little doubt that a short time will give us double sorts of all the shades we have in the single. A striped variety of L’ Incomparable was pro- duced in 1867. Figure 52, Geraniums, Variegated-leaved.—These are divided in- to five classes, namely, ‘‘ Golden margined,” “ Silver mar- gined,” “Golden tricolor,” “Silver tricolor,” and * Bronzed.” GOLDEN Mareinep.—This class, of which the variety called ‘‘ Golden Belt” is the type, has the margin of the leaf golden yellow to one-third its depth, with occasional- ly a dark zone, the part of the leaf toward the footstalk being green. The flowers of this class are usually scarlet or crimson; they are good bedders in cool soils. SiLvER Marcinep. — These are generally of strong growth, equal to the Zonale. One of the finest of this sec- tion is the Mountain of Snow, a variety having half of the leaf nearly white, with large trusses of bright scarlet flowers. GERANIUMS, GoLDEN TricoLtors.—These are grown al- most exclusively for their leaves, which in their wonderful beauty are triumphs of horticultural art. The bands of yellow, crimson, orange, and carmine, on a ground-work of green, rival, while they somewhat resemble, the tints of the rainbow. A well-known and beautiful type of this class is the variety Mrs. Pollock, fig. 53, which with us has growy vigorously in the open border for the past two seasons. GERANIUMS, SILVER Tricotors.—These are belted with white, carmine, and crimson, ona green ground, forming a beautiful contrast to the preceding. A well-known type of this class is “‘ Moonbeam.” GERANIUMS, BRoNzE-LEAVED.—An unique class, having the ground color of the leaves yellow, with a dark red or brown zone. The flowers of most of these are scarlet, and 234 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. are borne in great profusion. About the finest of this section is known as Golden Model. GrErRANIUMS, [vy-LEAVED.—Of these there are now many beautiful varieties. They are all climbing or trailing plants, some of which, Peltatum elegans, for example, have glossy green, wax-like leaves, with a black zone; others, like the Holly Wreath, have leaves margiied with white, as in the silver margined zonales. The flowers are borne ‘in large trusses of white, carmine, or lilac. All the class are well adapted for baskets or for trellis work. GERANIUMS, SCENTED-LEAVED.—These embrace plants of widely different appearance, such as ‘‘ Apple,” “‘ Lemon,” “Citron,” “Rose,” “Peppermint,” and “ Nutmeg- scented,” with many others. The rose and lemon-scented are extensively used for mixing with flowers in making bouquets, &e. Hollyhock,—For extensive grounds this is an exceed- ingly showy flower. The flower spike attains a height of six or eight feet, covered with flowers to the extent of two feet. The varieties embrace a great range of color— white, scarlet, yellow, orange, crimson, rose, maroon, &¢c.— many having these colors curiously blended. The Holly- hock seeds freely from double flowers, the colors in almost every case coming true from seeds. Seeds are to be sown when ripe in September, and the plants, if slightly pro- tected by covering with hay or leaves, will bloom profuse- ly the next season. Heliotropes.—These comprise but little range of salon being mostly shades of lilac and blue, some oes the newer’ sorts, however, being nearly white. What they want in gaudiness ef color, they well compensate for in their delicacy of fragrance. The varieties are numerous, but many of them are not very distinct. Those forming the greatest contrast are Boule de Neige (blush white), and Purpurine, (dark violet.) SOFT-\WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS. 235 Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citriodora) is largely grown for the fragrance of the leaves, which are indispensable as a “oreen”’ in summer bouquets. The plant is deciduous, (losing its leaves in winter), and may be kept under the stage of the green-house, or in the cellar during winter. The Lemon Verbena makes a highly ornamental plant when grown like a standard Rose, that is, by allowing only one shoot to grow to a height of five or six feet, then permitting it to branch out at the top. Lantanas.—These require more heat, to keep them in good condition during the winter, than do most bedding plants, and for this reason are not so common as many others less worthy of cultivation. The colors are orange, yellow, pink, scarlet, crimson, and white, blend- ing and changing to a remarkable degree. Often different flowers growing on the same plant will be entirely unlike. Plants from cuttings set out in May or June attain a diameter of four or five feet by fall, bloom- ing profusely throughout the entire summer and _ fall months. Lobelia gracilis, and its varieties, are all low-growing plants, mostly with blue and white flowers, though some of the varieties of later date are lilac or rose color. They are admirably adapted for the front lines of “ribbon bord- _ ers,” and for hanging baskets or vases; they bloom pro- fusely from June to November, and may be easily kept as parlor plants, if desired. Mimuius luteus (or Monkey Flower) comprises numer- ous varieties, with white, sulphur, and yellow grounds, beautifully spotted with crimson, scarlet, pink, &c. They luxuriate in damp, shady situations, and bloom profusely during the early summer months. A double variety, call- ed Hose-upon-hose, is a very remarkable sort. Mimulus moschatus (Musk Plant), is grown for its odor of musk, which the ieaves have in a marked degree, Flowers yellow. 236 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. Pentstemons, (Hybrids).—Plants yet comparatively lit- tle known. The plant in general appearance somewhat resembles the Antirrhinum (or Snap Dragon) but as- sumes an entirely different range of color, the flowers being carmine, violet, crimson, vermilion, and other shades of red, with a distinctly marked white throat in most of the varieties. They bloom throughout the summer months, and may be kept with half hardy plane in a cold frame in winter. Petunias, (double and single) are now so well known that a description is hardly necessary. The single varie- ties, when wanted for bedding, make finer plants if raised from seed sown in January and February than from cut- tings. The double varieties, of course, are mainly raised from cuttings, but are more used by the florists as pot plants than for bedding purposes, as they flower less pro- fusely and are generally less showy than the single sorts. The most valued of the single sorts are those with white grounds, marked with crimson blotches or stripes; those of the double, with crimson ground with white-edged pet- als. There are numerous varieties kept to name, but the majority of them are of only local interest. Pinks, Florist’s,—Hardy, evergreen, herbaceous plants, blooming in June. The prevailing colors are maroon, crim- son, rose, and white. ‘They are much used in their season for summer bouquets, the flowers keeping well, besides being all of a rich clove-scented fragrance. Pinks, Mule.—Similar in general character to the preced- ing, but having smaller flowers, entirely distinct in form and color. The varieties are few, and are known as the crimson, rose, white, and striped sorts. Pyrethrum Golden Feather.—A new plant, a “sport” from the well-known Pyrethrum Parthenium, or Fever- few, having leaves, as the name indicates, of a golden shade. For baskets during winter or spring, or fora ribbon on ae SOFT-WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS. 237 line plant, to contrast with Coleus or Achyranthes during the spring or fall monthsit is valuable. It, however, loses its rich shade of yellow during the hot weather, which rather mars its utility for bedding purposes, Pelargoniums.—If I was confined to grow but a single genus of plants for conservatory decoration, the Pelargo- nium would be chosen. Nothing can exceed the richness of coloring of the flowers; an attempt to describe it would be a failure. They are classed as “show” and “fancy ” varieties. The “show” are the strong-growing and large- flowered section; the “fancy” are those with smaller leaves, dwarfer growth, and flowers of smaller size, but having the property of flowering later in the season than the others. The colors of the Pelargonium are carmine, vermilion, orange-crimson, blackish-maroon, and white, 80 disposed in many varieties as to resemble the work of the painter, rather than the work of nature. To be grown in perfection they should be shifted into larger pots as soon as the roots begin to mat the outside of the balls, the shoots pinched back until they begin to set their flower buds in March or April, when they must be placed close to the light, and never allowed to wilt for want of water. Plants struck from cuttings in January may be grown to a diameter of 2 feet by May, but for specimens of extra size, plantsa year old are necessary. They should be kept in pots and under glass during summer, as they are very liable to injury from continued rains. Stocks, Intermediate, crimson and white. Seed of these sown in September, and potted in October, shifting as nec- essary through the winter, will make fine plants, to bloom in May. These may be planted out in the open border, and will continue in bloom until July. Ten Week’s Stocks are also effective as border plants, and may be sown in the hot-bed in March and planted out in May. The variety of these is now very large. 258 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. Salvias, (Scarlet and Blue Sage).—No plant that is used ° for the flower border holds a higher reputation amongst amateurs than these, particularly the former. Its bright scarlet, feather-like plumes are unrivalled from July to October, and in warmer latitudes continue for months later. It is best raised from seeds sown in the green-house or hot-bed in March and planted out in May. The blue sage (S. patens) seeds very sparingly, and is generally raised from cuttings. Its shade of blue is unsurpassed by any flower of the garden, but the flowers drop quickly and it never shows the density of spike of the scarlet sorts. A fine white variety was introduced last spring. Tuberose.—See special chapter. Tropzolum,. Hybrids. (Nasturtiums.)—The dwarf sorts of these are very desirable, blooming without intermission from June to October. The scarlet varieties, in particular, are exceedingly showy; when grown on poor, dry soil or among rocks they show to much better advantage, as rich soil causes them to produce leaves so abundantly as to hide the flowers. They are for this reason well adapted for vases, as they stand heat and drought well. There are some beautiful yellow varieties marked with crimson ; also some of a dark inaroon, almost black, but, as we have be- fore said, the bright scarlet sorts are most desirable. Violets.—See special chapter. Verbenas.—See special chapter. Zinnias, Double.—Although these are now common enough as annual plants, their great value as ornaments for the flower garden deserves brief notice. To have them de- velop in perfection they should be sown under glass in March or April and planted out in May. The first flowers usually do not come double, but towards the end of sum- mer, if the seed be of a good “strain,” flowers will be produced rivalling the Dahlia in symmetry, and of varied and novel shades of coloring. SOFT-WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS. 239 PROPAGATING SUCCULENT PLANTS IN SUMMER. The following, which appeared in the American Horti- cultural Annual for 1868, may be appropriately introduced here: Every one who has attempted the propagation of plants by cuttings during the high temperature we have in the months of July and August, is aware of the great difficulty experienced in doing so, no matter what system or process is resorted to. In those months plants of a succulent na- ture, such as Carnations, Geraniums, Petunias, ete., etc., grow rapidly, and the shoots formed are in consequence watery and soft, so that, when detached from the plant and used for propagation at that hot season of the year, when the thermometer will average 75° or 80° in the shade, the chances are that few will root, but will, as gardeners term it, “damp off” in a few days after being put in as cut- tings. In ordinary cases, with those having the means of propagating plants, this difficulty in rooting cuttings during the summer months is not of much importance, as florists usually reserve stock enough to enable them to produce all the cuttings they require at the proper season for propagating, namely September, October, and Novem- ber. But with amateurs, who have but a plant or two of some favorite variety and who wish safely to increase it, or to the florist wishing to make the most of some valua- ble importation, this (to us) new practice is likely to prove of some benefit. The increasing taste for the new kinds of variegated Pelargoniums induced us to import a num- ber of the tricolor section, of which the now comparatively well-known sort Mrs. Pollock is atype. These we found to grow rather slowly, and to mcrease them to the best advantage became a matter of consideration. Layering in the usual way, by bending them down to the ground, was, of course, in plants of that style of growth, all but impracticable. To have taken off cuttings would have 240 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. not only farther enfeebled already feeble plants, but the prospect of rooting these cuttings in hot weather was. nearly hopeless; so a compromise was decided on, which, for want of a better term, we call “layering in the air.” As shown in figure 54, the shoot is “tongued” in the Fig. 69.—MANNER .OF TONGUING THE GERANIUM. manner of an ordinary layer. This has the effect to arrest the upward flow of the sap at the incision, which, of course, acting to some extent as if the shoot had been taken off, induces a branching out below the “layer,” providing shoots for further operations. But the effect on the vigor of the plant is much better than if the layer or shoot had been detached; for, by the time it takes to get hardened and form a callus, the shoots branching out below the cut are fit to supply the loss of foliage sustained when the A SOFT-WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS. 241 layer or cutting is detached. The cutting or “layer” is in condition to be cut off in five or six days from the time it has been tongued, and will be found not only to be healed up, and in such a condition that it will quickly emit roots, but the whole cutting presents a well-ripened, firm condition, not easily described, but readily detected by the practical propagator. When detached, they should be treated in all respects as ordinary cuttings, duly watered, and shaded for a few days until they strike out roots, when they are potted off in small potsin the usual manner. During the unprecedently wet summer that we had in 1867, we found that many of the plants of the va- riegated Pelargoniums and variegated Rose Geranium “Lady Plymouth,” operated on in this manner, produced roots half an inch in length, as they hung in the air; but this was of no special advantage, as we found that those — that merely healed up and callused made just as fine plants as those that had formed roots before being cut off. Plants thus formed make much finer plants than regular layers, as they are to all intents and purpose cuttings, and consequently, unlike layers, are not long dependent on the parent plant for support, being indebted little or nothing to the old plant during their development. By this sys- tem of propagation we have had the satisfaction this sea- son of doubling our stock of many rare and valuable plants, which it would have been perfectly impracticable to do in the usual manner during the hot months. 242 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. CHAPTER XL. WHAT FLOWERS WILL GROW IN THE SHADE ? The question “ What flowers will grow in the shade ?” is put to me every spring by scores of city people, whose little patch which they wish to devote to flowers is so walled up by neighboring houses, that the direct rays of the sun never touch it. But few plants will develop their flowers there, and none will do it so well as if it were lighted up by sunshine a part of the day. Fuchsias, Pan- sies, Forget-me-nots, Violets, Lobelias, Lily of the Valley, Phloxes, and other herbaceous plants whose native habitat is a shady wood, will do best, but even these languish if denied all direct sunlight. The best effect in such situa- tions is produced by ornamental-leaved plants, the beauty of which is not dependent upon their flowers. Among these may be ranked the Gold and Silver Variegated- leaved Geraniums, Achyranthes, Alternantheras, Begonias, Caladiums, Centaureas, Coleuses, ete., which, if planted so as to bring the various shades in contrast, produce a pleasing effect, which continues during the entire summer months, and is not surpassed by any display of flowers. The cultivator of flowers in rooms should understand the necessity of sunlight to plants that are to flower, and endeavor to get these as close as possible to a window having an eastern or southern aspect. The higher the temperature the more plants suffer for want of light. Many plants might remain in a temperature of 40°, in a cellar for example, away from direct light, for months without material injury, while if the cellar contained a furnace keeping a temperature of 70°, they would all die; vl Oe; —a WHAT FLOWERS WILL GROW IN THE SHADE? 243 such would particularly be the case with plants of a half- hardy nature, such as monthly Roses, Carnations, Fuch- sias, etc. In our green-house culture of flowers, direct sunlight is an all important consideration; and a spell of sunless weather in midwinter is often a loss to us of hundreds of dollars by preventing the development of flowers. Hence, we use every means at command to dispose the plants to secure the greatest amount of light. The debilitating effects of want of direct light on plants are well illustrated by taking a vigorous plant in full foliage and flower, that has been growing in the direct light of our green-house benches, and placing it under the bench. If the temperature is high—say 70° in 48 hours, the sickly signs, showing want of light, will be apparent to an experienced eye; in a week its condition would be such as to indicate sickness to the most common observer, and in a month it would most likely be dead. In this respect there is some analogy between plant and animal life, and it teaches us the importance of light for our own healthy development. Certain it is that our green-house and garden operatives will compare favorably with any other class of workmen, as far as health is con- cerned. In the past twenty years I have had an average of thirty workmen daily. During that time but one has died, and two only have been seriously sick, and some three or four veterans who are growing gray in the ser- vice, have never lost an hour by sickness. I doubt if it would be easy to find the same number of workmen em- ployed out of the sunlight, who could show such health as these sunbrowned boys of ours. 244 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. CHAPTER XLI. GREEN-HOUSE AND STOVE, OR HOT-HOUSE, PLANTS. SELECT LIST OF GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS. The following list includes plants which should be kept at a night temperature ranging from 40 to 50 degrees. For a more extended list, see special green-house catalogues. Abelia floribunda. ‘¢ rupestris. Abutilon Santanta. & insigne. ee Mesapotamicum. Achyranthes Verschaffeltii. gs Gilsonii. Acacia angustifolia. “ armata, 66 pubescens, Achimenes Boothii violacea. “ coccinea superba. o elegans. of grandiflora. S pedunculata. . Wagnerii. Agapanthus umbellatus. Agave Americana. 5 4 variegata. Antirrhinum (Hybrids in var.) Alonsoa elegans. Aloysia citriodora. Ardisia crenulata. s 2 alba. serrulata, Artemisia argentea. Azalea Indica. Asclepias curassavica. Beaufortia decussata. Babiana, of sorts. Bignonia jasminoides. ‘rosea, ae alba, Bouvardia compacta. Ke Laura. ge leiantha. Se es splendens. a e floribunda. ee CS grandiflora. $6 longifiora alba. sy ae rosea, s Hogarth. ue triphylla. Brugmansia Knightii. Burchellia capensis. es speciosa. Cereus flayelliformis. “¢ grandiflorus. ‘¢ Smithii. Calla ogee ZEthiopica. a nana. Camellia Japonica (and ee, Canna discolor. ic. dies; ‘¢ Van Houttii. Centaurea candidissima. Bh compacta. Cestrum aurantiacum. ah laurifolium. Chorozema cordata elegans. os varia, Cineraria maritima. “ amelloides and Hybrids. Convolvyulus Mauritanicus. Clerodendron Japonicum. Clethra arborea. a GREEN-HOUSE AND STOVE PLANTS. 245 Clivia nobilis. Correa alba. ves “ delicata. «speciosa. Coronilla glauca re «¢ -variegata. Crowea saligna. Rochea falcata. Cyclamen Atkinsii. se Persicum. = a album. a? S rubrum. Daphne Indica. ss odora rubra. ry “¢ svariegata. Diosma alba. Diplacus puniceus. Dionza muscipula. ' Epacris Alteanii, Hs coccinea. ¢ Cunninghamii. wm delicatissima. - densiflora. «grandiflora. be rubra. ‘¢ —simpressa. ak at carnea. ep y um elegans. formosissimum. =i) speciosum. ae truncatum, 6 ~ Atkinsii. ss ¢ violaceum. Erica levis. ‘* ventricosa. “ Willmorei. ‘* gracilis. ‘¢ persoluta. “6 es alba, Erythrina Crista-galli. 2s herbacea, Eugenia myrtifolia. fucharis Amazonica, Eupatorium elegans. es fruticosum. Fabiana imbricata, Ferraria artherosa. Fuschias (Hybrids in variety). Gardenia florida. “ radicans. Gardoquia Hookerii. Geranium (Hybrids in variety). Gazania splendens (and Hybrids). Heliotropium corymbosum (and Hybrids in variety). Hydrangea Hortensia. & Japonica. ce (73 var. = deutzifolia. Indigofera decora. Inga pulcherrima, Jasminum grandiflorum. “ Sambac. Justicia carnea. Kennedya ovata. 46 oe alba $s Marryatte., Lachenalia quadricolor. a superba. “6 tricolor. ne Adolphe Haas (Hybrids). aurantiaca superba. “ne plus ultra. ‘¢ lutea carminata. ‘¢ Md. Reudatler. ‘¢ rubra lutea. ‘¢ xanthina superba. Lapageria rosea, Lechenaultia formosa. Libonia floribunda. (Figure 55.) Lobelia Erinus. e “speciosa. Linum trigynum. Lithospermum fruticosum. Lophospermum scandens. Magnolia fuscata. Mahernia glabrata odorata. Manettia bicolor. cordifolia. Mandevilla suaveolens. Maurandia Barclayana. 4c oe rosea, ce 6 alba. Metrosideros robusta. 246 Mimulus luteus vars. Myrtus communis. ce (a9 at “ variegated. Nerium Oleander. Pyrethrum Parthenium pleno. Passiflora hybrida. sy cerulea racemosa. Pelargonium (Hybrids in variety). Ruellia formosa. Rhynchospermum jasminoides. Salvia fulgens. “* gesnereflora. , (iliana. “.” ‘patens. - « Yalba. ‘* splendens. double flowered. PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. Salvia splendens Gordoni. Senecio maritima. Solanum capsicastrum. Pg . fol. var. Pseudo-capsicum. - f fol. var. Sollya heterophylla. Sparmannia Africana. Stevia serrata. (79 (79 (a9 grandiflora. compacta. Tremandra ericifolia. Veronica Andersoni. ee (a9 ce variegata. cs Lindleyana. splendida rubra. imperialis. ce ee ABRIDGED LIST OF STOVE OR HOT-HOUSE PLANTS. This list comprises plants which should be kept at night’ temperature ranging from 55 to 65 degrees. /Echmea discolor. os fulgens. AMschynanthus grandiflorus. ig speciosus. ue zebrinus. Alternanthera amoena. spathulata. “6 tricolor. . versicolor. Allamanda eathartica. : Schotii. Alocasia metallica. os argyroneura ef Bataviensis. es Lowii. be Javanicum. Anthurium grande. ts regale. Aphelandra aurantiaca. + grandis. Aralia leptophylla. Ardisia crenulata. we se alba. Begonia argyrostigma. . eoccines: Decaisneana. incarnata, fuschoides. ee s alba. Sandersoni. marmorata. ‘© =Miranda. nebulosa. Nigricans. cc hex: ‘¢ splendida. Bertolonia maculata. = guttata. Billbergia rosea, Bignonia venusta. Bonapartea juncea, Bouganvillea spectabilis. Brexia chrysophylla. Caladium amabile. argyrites. sas Belleymei. —T: ae GREEN-HOUSE AND STOVE PLANTS. QA7 Caladium bicolor. se Brongniarti. - Chantini. ee esculentum. a marmoratum. os pictum. is regale. Verschaffeltii. : Wightii. Centradenia rosea. oe ‘¢ floribunda. ‘ ‘* grandifolia. Cissus discolor. «c argentea. Clerodendron Balfouri. (Fig. 56.) es splendens. Coleus Verschaffeltii. “ Vietchii. ‘¢ atropurpureus. ‘¢ ~Blumei. EF sk laciniata. “¢ ~-marmorata. Combretum purpureum. Croton discolor. ‘¢ elegantissimum. “ pictum. *s-variegatum. Dieffenbachia Barquiniana. Draczena Cooperi. ER Draco. a ferrea. - maculata. * spectabilis. ss, terminalis. Dichorisandra mosaica. Dipladenia nutans. & picta. re urophylla. Eucharis Amazonica. Echites amabilis. i rubrovenosa. Eranthemum leuconeurum. ss rubrovenium. Euphorbia jacquiniflora. . Vernus: Polemonium reptans. Potentilla alba. “ argentea. * bicolor grandiflora. “ grandiflora coccinea. Pulmonaria Virginica. ‘s saccharata. e Siberica. Pyrethrum uliginosum and Hybrids Pyrola rotundifolia. Rudbeckia Drummondii. laciniata. Sagittaria sagittifolia. Salvia argentea. ‘* nemorosa. Sanguinaria Canadensis. Saxifraga affinis. “¢ aizoides. “ crustata. = geranioides. Scrophularia mellifera, fol. var. Scutellaria galericulata, Sedum acre. glaucum. ‘¢ grandiflorum. “ micranthum. ‘¢ - rupestre. “¢ Sieboldii. Soldanella alpina. ae montana. Solidago altissima. ‘¢ Canadensis. ns odora, Spirza digitata. *¢ filipendula plena. ‘6 Japonica. ‘* trifoliata. “ Ulmaria, fol. var. Symphytum orientale. Thalictrum alpinum. a anemonoides. ss glaucescens. as lucidum. Thymus officinalis, fol. var. Tournefortia heliotropoides. Tradescantia Virginica alba. Tricyrtis hirta. Trillium atropurpureum. a grandiflorum. Trollius Americanus. = Asiaticus. = orientalis. . Tauricus. Uvularia amplexicaulis. “grandiflora. Valeriana montana, Veratrum album. ee nigrum. Veronica amethystina, o canescens. ve elegans. «ssaxatile. 202 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE, HARDY ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. Amygdalus nana. 6é 66 alba, Azalea nudiflora. Berberis Canadensis, es Nepalensis, ‘¢ _- purpurea. Rubus Japonicus alba. Calycanthus floridus. ~ precox. Chionanthus Virginicus. Cytisus elongatus. ‘¢ capitatus. Cotoneaster microphylla. Cratzegus pyracantha. Daphne Cneorum. “ Mezereum. Deutzia crenata plena. ‘© gracilis. “ “ . -fok yar. s,s scabra. Euonymus Americanus. iy Europeus. Forsythia viridissima. Halesia tetraptera. Hibiscus Syriacus (Althea frutex), vars. Hypericum Calycinum. as Kalmianum. Hydrangea deutziefolia, es Hortensia. “ “ fol. var. eg Japonica. . Jasminum officinale (requires pro- tection in winter in Northern States). Kalmia latifolia. Kerria Japonica. od ‘¢ fol. var, Lonicera Tartarica. ee ne alba. Berberis Aquifoliium. Magnolia conspicua. s purpurea. ‘¢ Soulangeana, Philadelphus coronarius. zi nanus. Pyrus Japonica, es #s- » salbas Rhododendron Catawbiense, and Hybrids. Ribes sanguinea. Squrea, Syringa vulgaris. ee on alba. es si purpurea pleno. oy Persica. ae ae alba, Spirzea prunifolia, fl. pleno. * eallosa. ok oS sal: “* Dougilasii. “ Reevesii, fl. pleno. Viburnum Opulus. is ‘“ -plicatum Weigela rosea. ee KY SS0L Wie. alba. “ — amabilis. «¢ floribunda. ‘¢ _ hortensis. 66 66 HARDY CLIMBING SHRUBS. Akebia quinata. Ampelopsis bipinnata. ‘¢ hederacea. *. “sbricolon, Aristolochia Sipho, = tomentosa. Bignonia atrosanguinea, « segrandiflora. Bignonia radicans. Clematis Flammula. : viticella. es ot rubra. alba. [Tender. Protect in Winter ie azurea grandiflora. es ‘¢ Sophia. 66 66 GRAPE VINES UNDER GLASS. 253 Clematis lanuginosa. Lonicera Halliana. “ Jackmanii. ae Periclymeua. Hedera Canariensis. “¢ «Japonica. se. helix: “s sempervirens, ‘“* fol. variegata. Periploca Greca. ‘© Regneriana, Wistaria frutescens. “* . Taurica. “ . alba. Lonicera aurea. ae Sinensis. - Belgica. = gs alba, “« braeypoda aurea reticu- “6 magnifica, lata. CHAPTER XLIII. CULTURE OF GRAPE VINES UNDER GLASS. It is many years since I have had personal experience in the growing of grapes under glass, and this was so lim- ited that I feel incompetent to do justice to the sulject, even in the short treatise that my restricted space here will permit. For this reason I have called in the assist- ance of my life-long friend, Mr. Hugh Wilson, of Salem, Mass., whose knowledge of the subject is, perhaps, equal to that of any one in this country ; but, unfortunately, the limited space at my command gives Mr. Wilson but a mea- gre chance for giving us the full benefit of his experience. THE LOCATION OF THE VINERY. As with all glass structures, the vinery should, when- ever practicable, be in a situation sheltered from the north and west, and if the ground is gently sloping towards the south-east so much the better. THE BORDER or soil in which the vines are to be planted is an all im- portant matter. It is rarely that the natural soil is of such 254. PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE., a character as would serve the purpose, and hence in nearly every case it is necessary to prepare the materials for the “border.” The usual rule laid down is to take of the top spit (or spade’s depth), from an old pasture, as the main material of the border—say three parts; lime rubbish, charcoal, scrapings from a paved street, or oyster shells broken up one part; rotted stable manure one part, with perhaps one ton of crushed bones added to every twenty tons of this border compost. Something depends upon the soil of the pasture from which the top spit is taken ; if it is a heavy adhesive loam more in proportion of the lime rubbish or street scrapings should be added, as it is all important that when the organic substances of the manure or fibre of the sod are rotted away, that the material forming the border should not become sodden or solid, so that it would be retentive of water and im- pervious to air For this reason, when choice can be made, the pasture from which this turfy top spit is taken should be of a shaly or calcareous character. If the whole material for the border can be prepared a year before using so much the better; let it be repeatedly turned so as to mix the different ingredients thoroughly. This is not indispensable, however, as we have often used them fresh with nearly as good results. THE EXCAVATION FOR THE BORDER should be made from 20 to 24 inches deep, and of the width of the grapery itself; and if the house is a “ lean- to,” 15 or 20 feet outside. Jor a span roof make it the same distance on each side outside. Above everything it is indispensable that this excavation be thoroughly drained —it should be formed so that the bottom slopes about 1 foot in 20 to the outside of the border, and there a drain should be placed of sufficient capacity as to quickly carry . off all surplus from the rains that may fall on the border. Perhaps the safest and simplest plan to prevent the roots SS —<—_ GRAPE VINES UNDER GLASS. 255 getting through into the cold subsoil is to cement the bot- tom of this excavation. One inch in thickness of cement is enough. When this is done the border material may be thrown in, filling it up five or six inches higher than the general level to allow for settling. Be careful never to handle the materials for the border in wet weather. OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE VINERY little may be here said, as there are now architects in every large city, fully competent to give plans. I will simply say that for early forcing, or perhaps in all graperies where artificial heat is used, the lean-to or one- sided structure is preferable; while for cold graperies, or those not heated artificially, the curvilinear or span- roofed is the best. The ‘‘ lean-to” may be 18 or 20 feet wide, and of any desired length, giving a length of rafter from 20 to 24 feet. Wher the curvilinear span for cold vineries is used, the base width may be 25 feet, which will give about 15 feet of rafter on each side. PRIME OVOLS. casas 28 NediSpiders -. eta. oe 5 ene 212 Flower-Garden, Design for......... 21 Rose Bue Aeeree was eee 12322208 = & Laying out......... 12 FROBC DING 5.5. f Sateen amet. co 5s 208 287 288 Scule: Ansecis:: .22ss.geacese orcs 215 PEHIIDS. basse eaten stm enone 216 Verbena Mite. Sas apc See ET hats 213 USTAS. <2 sc: ence ieee cette aS 158 Jasminum grandiflorum........... 175 Ihachenalings te.) Jer tst oerecn. on 159 TAMERS stove to cients os Stee Se ee 87 GAPS US ee Sen cree aot cose tenes 230 Tawar Guess fer... ese Ske oo. pees 12 SP ee Os a eOlIe eee ee Se ea 11 IDSmMOM VIEL DENas ee eeeeee) «askin oa 235 UIC RIES bi Ole een chretom ce reuaci keene 111 Mines PropacawomOltrse.cotegen ee 108 Lily or the Walleye. si.5. id lease 178 Lobelia Hrinus:.<....<. Has. cre rmse sts 87 Syee PEDACHIS eerie sek an erp cioine 235 MAS: PUR sie. Ask cr, nio attenis HA 223 MAGN OMETLC Ane. ox aeee f.nl eee ees eine 176 Mildew on WROSGS:. 2 cette ceees seat 106 MAMI WS eM Sisckisa\iatickse en ce< ee 235 au MIOSCUAUUS csc cee ee - 239 Moisture and Temperature......... 35 NETS cP legl erate acetate eras iyctes ss eles eats 235 NGS GEETIUINIS S24 Neate heckled ch atemeles « 238 Nature’s Law of Colors............. 21S INCI S emits sey ame eet cies aba ee 157 Orchid Culture....... Beer N ee ia eA 150 Ornithogalum aureum.............. 158 OATS Eee er, cine kre (tel wee iateions ecto eiekut als ag PACK ANS Ao oso sd ss Genesis 221 PANICHMVATIePALUING co 2. dhe eeres 197 EBA cra COL CCE ae she oi Rei 88 Parlor. Gardening soa s. «05's ase 199 Parterre SO esiemaiOie soe <1. acs ene 20 Pelargoniums.... 200 IPEMISLEMOUSS ce eee eee. se iieee 235 PGUUIM AST paeehee seine ee. tier -.. S8=285 Pines MEV OMISISisoais mee. cio. S08 88-236 eae! (ni) (opepere Scie) et ore emma 236 eens Are they injurious to health ? 217 Beguimessctra: ...d season 229 ‘* by Mail Bees. sag Greenhouses §.)h.2..seaase eee 244 oe Hot-house or Stove..—..... 246 % Sott-iwoodeds 2 erren 7k set ek8 Plantinevor Mower Beds si -2...1.) 4 28 Potting Cuttings..... aioe, Ree Eup 99 tf Biante: 2 ess eee a Savy: 41 s DOS TOI cos: seer se seer 82 Poinsettia pulcherrima............. 1% Primrose, Double White Chincsc...170 Propagation by Cuttings............ 89 sone bySeedar es eeoess 9 pn Se PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. Propagation of Succulent Plants. ..239 Profits of Floriculture......,.... - a4 Protection in Winters. eee 50 Pyrethrum, Golden Feather......... 236 JROMGE | 55s Nibane hawk ne neem eee 20 Rock-work, Formation of........... 206 RooCuttings.. 3252s eee 94 Rose, Culture Of. -—. ae 112 Roses,-House. for Horeinese nee 131 “in Pots... oc sano: sne eee 127 es List of -‘Select...2 33 115 ‘© Preserving Monthly in Win- |=) MP IPRSR DAS er ct 123-169 ** SJBrgna oe abion, 22. as eee 119 “Winter Flowering... .... 129-169 MALVIAS 4s ode eee ee 88-238 Saucer System of Propagating...... 100 Shade, lowers fors..i5 ose ee eee 242 Shading... 2.4 wee See eee 99 Shrubs, Ornamental. 2.2 ee eacenee 252 *- ~ Climbing. 243s. eee 252 Snip Dragon: oc .35.- cee 285 Solt-wooded: Plants]. oe se.seee eee 229 Soil for Garden ;.ci242 sees eee 9 \ FOT POttin ss 3.0. area . 82 SPaLAXIS «s\... sec acer eee ee 15 Split Cuttings........... o: ses eee 94 SleViSs, 2.5 Sven seca a Sra 173 Stocks, Intermediates7 saa. seaeeee 237 Succulent Plants, Propagation in Summer..... 4 ae eee eee aioe Berea 37 Window Gardenine.. Sonss-ee eee 199 i er in ond ons ae. 208 Winter Flowering Plants........... 161 Winter Protection.) eee 50 Wire Designs for Cut Flowers...... 194 Wreaths. 00... 0. os secon eee 193 Zinnias, Doubles {.: 3:4-eane eee 88-238 2 eagle of F * e * , i P " \ ‘ ' ‘ ° * > A ‘ - h i Hl ( : , \s ‘ ; i 1 ? . 4 ue d ‘. A nalalaiae A A i aie fa\ nnn ARR A A Af ey IRA ; Valea 6, , 4 a eaeNy how Tat Aalanalala’ A A a VALYVAAA Al A A A A las A A AY Y AR WANA ag) | ala aa al 2 Bs a! 4 J PP NP Wo 2 r YY 42} as M Wy Yr tee! WV aa | rN A af VE} ) AIPA AMAIA a EMM SWAN AWAY NN ie Pe r AN af \/ \/ al QUAN ae I “Sa Yen? r fa , WA Ws pAR. PA a ~~ oe | ren) Ps AVF UPS OW UNG Ae { ¥ | an! i | s) rN a) a em Lem i A A al — — = cf Cae