72 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JUNE 22, ISM. 



while the narcissi do better in a 

 si iff, loamy ground. 



With all these requirements fully 

 met there only remains one important 

 factor to complete the success of this 

 industry and that is time. It takes 

 from three to five years to bring a 

 crop from the bulblets as first plant- 

 ed to marketable size; each year's 

 growth of offsets forming the bulb- 

 lets to be planted for the 

 succeeding year. Thus the sec- 

 ond year's bulblets planted form 

 the marketable crop for the fourth or 

 sixth year, as the case may be. This 

 manner of production is, of course, 

 constantly renewing and furnishing 

 each succeeding year's supply to be 

 planted. 



In the series of years that these 

 plantings have been carried on out 

 there it has been found that the bulbs 

 under ordinary conditions increase- 

 fully fifty per cent more annually over 

 what is claimed for them in Holland, 

 and with all these advantages and the 

 whole United States as a market, with 

 nominal freight and mail charges, 

 there seems to be no reason why we 

 cannot build up a business in western 

 Washington that will not need to fear 

 any competition from Holland grow- 

 ers, even with their advantage of be- 

 ing in the field already and in an old 

 established business. The low wages 

 paid in Holland are offset by the 

 cheapness of land suitable for bulb 

 growing near Bellingham Bay and in 

 part also by the duty of twenty-five 

 per cent imposed upon bulbs by our 

 government; while the Dutch bulb 

 growers have to pay as high as $30 

 and $40 rent per acre, good land can 

 be bought in Whatcom county, Wash- 

 ington, outright for half this amount 

 and for less. 



PANSY SEED. 



Would pansy seed from last sum- 

 mer (1898) grow this fall? I have 

 heard that it was good for only one 

 year. What should it be worth per 

 pound? What should this year's seed 

 be purchased for at wholesale? 



A SUBSCRIBER. 



If the seed was saved by yourself 

 and you are sure it is only two years 

 old, I should sow it with the great- 

 est confidence, but if you bought it 

 you don't know how old it is. If 

 pansy seed is kept in a cool, dry place 

 it will be good at least two years. 

 Since they have discovered that the 

 barley that was found with the body 

 of the wife of Pharaoh the 17th, 

 which was mummified 7,000 years ago, 

 would germinate freely, there is no 

 telling how long the vitality of seed 

 is retained. The brassica family is 

 certainly good for four or five years, 

 and it used to be a fad with old En- 

 glish gardeners to carry the seed of 

 some favorite melon or cucumber for 

 ten years in their vest pocket, with 

 the belief that when sown the plants 

 would bear fruit earlier. 



The value of pansy seed is depen- 



dent entirely upon quality. We have 

 frequently given $8.00 an ounce for a 

 choice strain; that is at the rate of 

 $128.00 a pound, and it would not be 

 dear for a very fine strain. Then 

 again, a pound of seed from a very 

 common lot saved promiscuously 

 would not be worth more than a 

 pound of turnip seed. I would say that a 

 pound of seed of a good strain, saved 

 from the best flowers, should be worth 

 at wholesale $30.00 to $40.00 a pound. 

 WM. SCOTT. 



ASTILBE JAPONICA. 



LFrom advance sheets of the Florists' Manual, hy 

 William Scott. J 



This plant was known for years as 

 Spiraea japonica, and by the commer- 

 cial florist is still almost universally 

 called spiraea. It is a perfectly hardy 

 herbaceous plant, and there are few 

 plants so hardy or that will stand 

 more rough usage than this astilbe. 

 On dry sunny borders the feathery 

 spikes are far less beautiful than those 

 we grow under glass, but I have seen 

 some very fine spikes this spring on 

 plants that were in deep, moist soil and 

 partially shaded by trees. It is, how- 

 ever, as a pot plant or for cut flowers 

 in early spring that we are most con- 

 cerned with the astilbe. At Easter, 

 though by no means so profitable as 

 many other plants we grow, they seem 

 almost indispensable, and again on 

 Memorial Day they are in good de- 

 mand. When used for cutting we find 

 the flower is not the only useful part 

 of the plant, the foliage is always 

 cleanly used up in cheap bunches of 

 flowers. 



The clumps of roots that we force 

 are all imported from the rich, fat 

 lands of Holland, and so long as the 

 Holland growers can supply them so 

 cheaply it will never pay us to bother 

 with their cultivation. They usually 

 arrive about the middle of November 

 and should be unpacked and placed in 

 flats or boxes with an inch or so of 

 soil or litter over them. Then give 

 them a good soaking and place the 

 boxes outside, anywhere. 



The astilbe can be forced into flower 

 in eight weeks by giving it great heat, 

 but I much prefer giving them twelve 

 weeks, and the first three weeks they 

 can be under the bench. If not pre- 

 viously done, when potting them give 

 the roots a good soaking; there is 

 such a thick mass of roots that the 

 ordinary watering does not thoroughly 

 wet them. They are the simplest of 

 all plants to force. Pot them into 5, 

 or 7-inch pots, or whatever size will 

 hold the roots. A temperature of 55 

 to 60 degrees at night will suit them 

 better than a higher one. Water is 

 the great essential, for by the flower- 

 ing time the little soil that you give 

 them is one mass of living, hungry 

 roots. It is labor saved and far more 

 satisfactory all around to stand each 

 pot in a 7 or 8-inch saucer, in which 

 keep a constant supply of water, and 

 if this is weak liquid manure your 

 plants and plumes of flowers will be 

 much finer. 



The astilbe is not troubled by aphis, 

 spider, thrips, or any other of our 

 pests, but when the growth is young 

 and not matured they are easily burnt 

 by tobacco smoke and that must be 

 avoided, either by covering the as- 

 tilbe, or giving them a good syring- 

 ing, before you fumigate, or best of all 

 don't have them in a house that must 

 be fumigated. 



There is a variety known as com- 

 pacta, which requires two weeks more 

 time to force. Also A. japonica varie- 

 gata, which has the leaves prettily 

 variegated with yellow, and bearing 

 dense panicles, like compacta. But 

 the original species, japonica, is the 

 best of all for commercial purposes, 

 and has the most graceful panicles of 

 flowers. 



Those wanted for Decoration Day 

 we keep out of doors till April 1st; 

 they come into flower easily in two 

 months thus late in the season. When 

 sold to a regular customer you will 

 do well to either sell or give with 

 them a 7-inch saucer with instructions 

 to place under the pot and keep water 

 in it. If this is done the astible will 

 be satisfactory, otherwise they will 

 shrivel up. 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NUR- 

 SERYMEN. 



The ideal center chosen for the 

 Nurserymen's Convention this year— 

 the Chicago Beach Hotel— had much 

 to do with its success and added 

 greatly to the comfort of those who 

 attended. That the meeting in 1900 

 should be held at the same cool and 

 restful resort was decided without a 

 dissenting voice. That this peaceful 

 haven becomes the permanent "meet- 

 ing house" of these disciples of nature 

 is more than probable, though an ex- 

 ception may be made in favor of Buf- 

 falo in the Pan-American year, when 

 all roads and all conventions will tend 

 towards "Great Scott's" great city by 

 the lake. 



Ten times out of twenty-four have 

 the nurserymen convened in Chicago. 

 From its first meeting, when its first 

 president, our own Edgar Sanders, 

 presided, until now, its growth and 

 harmony have been marked and en- 

 couraging. Its membership is seldom 

 less than 400, and as an aristocracy of 

 real wealth it may well be called 

 "the 400" of the horticultural world. 

 Two hundred of its best representa- 

 tives were there. The west excels in 

 numbers, and Illinois leads the states. 

 Chicago is the natural center of hor- 

 ticultural America. The new officers 

 are: 



President, Wilson J. Peters, Troy, 

 Ohio. 



Vice-president, D. S. Lake, Shenan- 

 doah, Iowa. 



Secretary, George C. Seager, Roches- 

 ter, N. Y. 



Treasurer, C. L. Yates, Rochester, 

 N. Y. 



The principal topics of discussion 

 were: "The Nurseryman and the En- 

 tomologist," by Prof. S. J. Hunter, 



