98 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



June 20, 1901. 



from whence come all the rubellum bulbs 

 which are exported. Needless to say the 

 climate there is much cooler than here in 

 Yokohama, and therefore these lilies 

 are particularly well adapted for our 

 home climate. Mr. Peter Barr, the fa- 

 mous narcissus cultivator of London, 

 who, during his stay in Japan made a 

 special study of the same, in a letter to 

 me says: 



"When in New York, 1898, I saw 'The 

 Garden' plate of this lily and thought it 

 a form of Lilium Krameri, but since see- 

 ing Lilium rubellum flowering in Japan 

 I consider it a good species and am sure 

 it will be extensively cultivated when 

 better known and its culture understood. 

 I cannot conceive of anything more beau- 

 tiful than a 5-inch pot with three plants 

 of this lovely lily in flower in the month 

 of April or early in May. It is one of 

 the earliest lilies, flowering a month ear- 

 lier than Lilium Krameri. It grows 

 about one foot high, compact and ele- 

 gant, the color of the flower is more 

 or less that of Lilium Krameri but the 

 height is about one-third and the leaves 

 shorter and paler green. 



"I feel, therefore, no hesitation in 

 recommending that Lilium rubellum in 

 pots should be grown in poor, stony, 

 sandy loam with at least two inches of 

 drainage, and very judiciously watered 

 from the time of potting. The soil must 

 be kept moist but never wet and suc- 

 cess will be sure to follow. Out of doors 

 I would recommend a northern or east- 

 ern aspect and failing this, plant under 

 deciduous bushes where the roots in win- 

 ter will keep the bulbs comparatively 

 dry and shade the plants from the hot 

 sunshine in April and May. 



"I tWnk you should caution your 

 clients against exposing the bulb to a 

 dry atmosphere; the scales are thin and 

 soon shrivel, therefore if they cannot 

 be potted up or planted out at once, they 

 should be buried in dry soil or placed 

 out of doors in a northern aspect where 

 they will take no injury from the weath- 

 er and the bulb kept plump." 



Alfred Unger. 



Y'okohama, .Japan. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Cultivating. 



I have had occasion several times to 

 speak of cultivating the carnations in 

 the field, but now that the weather is 

 quite hot and we are likely to have a 

 long dry spell at any time I want to 

 remind you of the importance of keeping 

 the cultivator going. Cultivate after 

 every rain just as soon as the soil is 

 fit to work and if it does not rain for 

 a week or more go through them again 

 at least one* each week. 



Don't get the idea into your head 

 that the soil will not bake e.xcept after 

 a rain if it is not cultivated. You need 

 only examine the soil to see your mis- 

 take ; you will notice a hard dry crust all 

 over the surface after several hot days 

 after you cultivated them and especially 

 is this true if you worked the soil when 

 it was just a trifle wet, but even if 

 the soil was in good condition a week 

 of hot sunshine will take all the moisture 

 out of the top inch or so and a crust 

 is formed, though not as hard as if the 

 soil had been wet. This crust must be 

 kept broken up, the oftener tlie better. 

 Keeping the surface loose allows the 

 moisture to come up from the bottom 



and to rise up in the air to keep the 

 atmosphere in a good growing state. 



I'lanls need moisture in the air; they 

 lirciitlic just as well as they do in the 

 soil around the roots. Have you never 

 noticcil liow nuich cooler it seemed in the 

 field just after you finished cultivating 

 and how much fresher the plants looked ? 

 A good cultivating is as beneficial as a 

 good watering. Go over first with the 

 hoe several times in a season and hoe 

 out the weeds from between the plants 

 and loosen the soil right in the row 

 where the cultivator can't reach. Be 

 careful not to throw the soil up around 

 the plants as it will cause stem rot. 



Look after the pinching closely so 

 none of the plants are allowed to grow 

 straggly. Some varieties will not need 

 topping any more, while others will need 

 it for some time yet. You must study 

 your varieties and stop topping the late 

 bloomers soon, as late topping will cause 

 them to come into crop late in the fall, 

 but keep all blooming shoots off' of them 

 until vou house them in the fall. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



SHIPPING PLANTS. 



There are lots of people all over the 

 country in the wholesale florist business 

 who at times have to send out plants 

 to fill the many orders they receive. 

 Wouldn't it be rather a wise thing on 

 their part to send them in light boxes, 

 strong enough to be safe, but not built 

 of old flooring boards, 2x4 scantlings 

 and spikes? Express companies in their 

 requirements that the plants shall be 

 properly boxed and crated don't say that 

 you shall build bull-proof fences around 

 the plants to insure the 20 per cent dis- 

 count, so that cannot be used as an ex- 

 cuse for the extraordinary packing that 

 is done, not by small concerns, but some 

 of the largest concerns in the country. 

 Any old box will do to ship in provided 

 the party ordering has sent the money 

 with his order and has no recourse 

 against the shipper except to write a 

 letter to him, and if the shipper feels 

 like answering it at some future date, 

 he does so, but in the majority of cases 

 the letter goes into the waste basket, 

 with the remark that "that fellow is 

 either a crank or a kicker." 



When express charges run up in the 

 neighborhood of $2 per 100, it is not a 

 pleasant thing to find that the box weighs 

 about double the amount of the plants. 

 If the shipper would consider the time 

 wasted in building these bull-proof cases 

 and the amount of nails put into each 

 one. he would find it would have been 

 much cheaper to have secured a light, 

 practical box for his shipping. There is 

 no large center in the country but where 

 there is a dealer in second-hand boxes, 

 who will furnish any quantity of light 

 boxes, well made, so that there can be no 

 excuse made that they could not get 

 boxes. 



If this little note as to the building 

 these styles of boxes would strike some 

 of our big shippers, it would save a great 

 deal of unnecessary cussing by the little 

 florists who have to pay the express 

 charges on yellow pine and scantlings. 

 Piano boxes are good enough to ship 

 pianos in, and do well for heavy machin- 

 ery when not used for pianos, but they 

 are mighty costly things to ship plants 

 in when the express chages are counted 

 in at rates of from $1.50 per 100 

 pounds up. Boxes. 



BUFFALO. . 



We have had a week of very fine warm 

 weather good for CA'erybody. The plant 

 business is growing to a close and it 

 has been a good one. I think everybody 

 is satisfied. There has been a great de- 

 mand for palms for summer decoration. 



There has been undoubtedly a good 

 demand for all kinds of flowers and 

 they are well cleaned up at the end of 

 every day. Sweet peas seem about the 

 only flower that seems to be too abund- 

 ant. Mr. C. F. Christensen contrilyuted 

 to the stock of plants this year and. 

 considering the late beginning ho had, 

 succeeded in working up a splendid .stock 

 of geraniums and other bedding plants. 

 On raising good market plants he is a 

 past master. 



Our parks have still enlarged the area 

 of flower gardening and Capt. Braik 

 turned out a great lot of plants. We 

 think, however, the one in supreme com- 

 mand has chosen some spots for isolated 

 flower beds that would have looked bet- 

 ter if left with the green sward. A 

 little circle a halt mile away from an- 

 other bed looks forlorn and should be 

 very large to be effective. 



The nurserymen's convention at Niag- 

 ara Falls on Wednesday and Thursday 

 last brought a good many to our city 

 and to the Pan-American. I regret I 

 missed several who favored me with a 

 call. Mr. Nelson Bogue, of Batavia, was 

 well pleased with his beds of roses. Mr. 

 Meehan, Jr., of Germantown, Pa.; L. C. 

 Bobbink, of Rutherford, N. J. ; James 

 W. Withers, of New York ; Orlando Har- 

 rison, Berlin, Md.; Mr. Duncan, repre- 

 senting Parsons & Son; Mr. Carl Cropp, 

 of Chicago; F. J. Rumpletin, of Ridge- 

 wood, N. J. ; and many others escaped 



Pan-American Notes. 



The advent of real summer weather 

 has much increased the attendance and 

 you now see people from every state of 

 this big country. Very little remains to 

 be done and that little mostly around 

 the territory devoted to the different 

 state buildings. The dedication of sev- 

 eral of them the past week were grand 

 affairs for those participating. Mexico 

 opened up in grand style and so did 

 Jlichigan. Today the New England 

 building opens up with a reception and 

 a very beautiful place it is. There have 

 been several additions to the outside dis- 

 plays and a few days more will see every 

 bed filled. 



The Spanish Iris exhibited by Clucas & 

 Boddington are just opening. They are 

 beautiful and orchid-like flowers. Tlie 

 hybrid roses planted by Ellwanger & 

 Barry and Nelson Bogue, about 4,000 

 bushes of all the leading varieties, are 

 just opening a grand lot of buds and 

 will be very attractive for the next two 

 or three weeks. Conard & Jones, of 

 West Grove, Pa., have planted two large 

 beds of cannas. W. Atlee Burpee & Co., 

 of Philadelphia, have several beds of 

 begonia of the Vernon type and some 

 new varieties of coleus. John N. May, 

 a bed of summer blooming roses. Henry 

 A. Dreer has added more beds to their 

 already large exhibit, among others a 

 fine lot of Hydrangea paniculata. J. C. 

 Vaughan has filled seven or eight beds 

 with new cannas and a fine bed of 

 Soupert roses, also one of St. Louis 

 salvia, said to be very fine. Mr. Hein- 

 rich, who has worked very hard pyer 



