October 9, 1902. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



635 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The Eucharis. 



Tliere is a lovely, sweet flower Ihat is 

 beautiful wherever used, and which is a 

 staple article in the florist shops, as 

 well, as the adornment of the conserva- 

 tories of Europe, but which is too sel- 

 dom seen here. It is the delicate, fra- 

 grant eucharis, or Amazon lily. They 

 "are not lilies, but belong to the same or- 

 der as the amaryllis. The best species 

 is E. grandiftora, which is widely known 

 as E. araazonicu. As they -are from 

 Central South America, it is needless to 

 say they are tropical plants. Travelers, 

 "or orchid collectors, tell us they have 

 passed over a clearing in the tropical 

 forest in a dry time and have seen no 

 signs of the eucharis, either of its broad 

 dark green leaves or flowers, .and a few 

 months later they have seen this same 

 spot a carpet of deep green foliage, whit- 

 ened with the beautiful flowers of the 

 eucharis. 



No doubt there are some successful 

 growers of this plant in the country, but 

 few of them are commercial men. I re- 

 member seeing a plant in Toronto a few 

 years ago. It was in an H-inch pot. It 

 had ten flower stems and the open flow- 

 ers and buds numbered twenty-eight. 

 You often see a few plants in a commer- 

 cial place, most often beneath a lienrh. 

 where it has been shoved away in dis- 

 gust because it was not profitable. "The 

 darn things won't flower for me" is fre- 

 quently the remark that any comment 

 about them brings forth. 



A night temperature of CO degrees 

 will do them verj' well, but when grow- 

 ing vigorously a little higher would be 

 better. Tliey can be grown either in 

 pots, or planted out on bench in six 

 inches of soil. The soil should be of a 

 rough or coarse texture; a turfy loam 

 chopped up with a fourth or fifth of half 

 decayed cow manure is what they like, 

 and to this add a C-inch pot of broken up 

 charcoal to every bushel of compost. 

 When making their growth they require 

 copious waterings, and that is why tlie 

 soil should be coarse and porous. When 

 growing thej' also relish and need a daily 

 syringing, which will keep down their 

 greatest enemy, mealy bug. They do not 

 like to have their roots disturbed, and 

 well established bulbs in an S, 9 or 10- 

 inch pot will do very well without dis- 

 turbance or a shift for two or three 

 years, and the same applies to those in 

 a bench. If you think the bulbs and 

 roots are crowded, you can top dress 

 them with loam and manure (if sheep, 

 be careful not to overdo it), and when 

 growing and making foliage you can 

 give them weak liquid manure twice a 

 week. 



Tliere is no doubt that the miserable 

 failures that we all have in attempting 

 to flower this beautiful plant are due to 

 not understanding, and more than that, 

 not following out faithfully the condi- 

 tions of growth and rest that are so vital 

 to its success. As good an authority as 

 I know says this about it, and I have 

 every reason to think he is right: "Sup- 



posing you have some plants that have 

 been just existing for some time, but 

 have not been making much giowth. 

 Put them in a good, strong heat, top 

 dress them, water and syringe freely. 

 Tliey will soon throw up young leaves. 

 When these new leaves are mature in 

 size (which will be two weeks from 

 time of starting into growth), withhold 

 water partially, not by any means suffi- 

 cient for the leaves to ^vilt or decay in 

 the least, but shorten off' water enough 

 to arrest further growth. Continue this 

 treatment for a month or six weeks. 

 During this six weeks of semi-dormant 

 condition the bulbs will have formed 

 flower buds in place of more leaves. 

 Then after the five or six weeks of par- 

 tial rest begin with the watering and 

 syringing, and the flower stems should 

 soon appear. And when you once see 

 them there is no misfortune likely to 

 occur, for they develop surely and safe- 

 ly. After the flower stems are cut 

 gradually withhold water and give them 

 a rest of another month preparatory 

 to again starting into a new growth." 



English gardeners say that the 

 eucharis can, if well managed, be made 

 to produce four crops a year. If you 

 can produce two crops a year, it is a 

 most profitable plant, and their season 

 of flowering is any time you choose. 

 We have really a limited variety of 

 flowers to offer our patrons, and for the 

 past week or two have you noticed that, 

 with the exception of white roses, what 

 a famine there is in white flowers. This 

 will soon be relieved, but there is room 

 for this choice eucharis every day in the 

 year. 



Lily of the Valley. 



We have about concluded that it is 

 more profitable and more satisfactory 

 all around to grow but few Roman hya- 

 cinths, and in their place increase our 

 supply of the lily of the valley. The 

 latter may not be quite so easily man- 

 aged with success, but when you have the 

 right facilities for its growth and a 

 good quality of roots, there is no trou- 

 ble about it. They cost less than the 

 Romans, occupy much less room, and re- 

 quire only one-tenth the labor and time 

 in forcing into flower, and bring a bet- 

 ter price, and there is no doubt that our 

 customers believe they have a choice ar- 

 ticle for their money. Therefore grow 

 plenty of valley and let the Frenchman 

 and his hyacinth have the opportunity 

 to come oflf the perch, and the corners, 

 combines, trusts and syndicates in the 

 hyacinth can be a matter of indifference 

 to us. 



It will be several weeks yet before the 

 valley roots arrive, but be prepared to 

 care for them when they do. A very 

 exhaustive, able and complete article was 

 written a few years ago by Mr. Robert 

 Simpson, yet some of you may have for- 

 gotten it. I am not now going into the 

 forcing part of the business, later will 

 do for that, but merely the care of the 

 roots. At the outset don't try to force 

 the fall imported roots before the middle 

 of December. That will give you the 



first crop at New Years, or a little after. 

 l;p to that time the cold storage 

 roots are depended on. Firms that 

 jjrow hundreds of thousands, or perhaps 

 millions, make use. doubtless, of their 

 icild storage facilities the year arormd 

 and put their freshly imported roots into 

 it at once, but they are few in number 

 comjjared to those who grow only ten 

 to thirty thousand during the winter 

 and spring months, and depend during 

 simimer on buying cold storage roots for 

 their wants. 



Unpack as soon as received; dip the 

 whole bunch into cold water for a few 

 moments, only long enough to thorough- 

 ly wet every fiber. We then pack away 

 the bunches in boxes about one foot 

 deep and of a size that will hold the 

 quantity that you want to bring in week- 

 ly, or semi-weekly. Between every row 

 of bunches we pack some old soil, leaving 

 the crown of pips even with the soil. 

 Then we water the whole just enough 

 to wet the soil through, and after 

 that cover the crown.s with an inch 

 of sphagnum moss. We place the boxes 

 on boards in a frame out of doors. The 

 only use of the board is that in case 

 of very hard freezing the boxes lift up 

 clean. Over the whole surface of the 

 boxes we spread two or three feet of 

 soil, and then cover tl;e frame with 

 boards or sash for the purpose of keep- 

 ing the roots from being saturated by 

 rains, which is veiy important. 



Whether they freeze or not we never 

 trouble. If they do freeze up hard under 

 those conditions it would do no harm^ 

 but we doubt the old story that freezing 

 the roots is essential. We know that 

 lily of the valley naturally growing in 

 our gardens and undisturbed is as hardy 

 as the North Pole, yet I have seen these 

 imported pips without covering, ex-posed 

 to twenty degrees of frost and rendered 

 useless. Large growers sometimes untie 

 the bunches when received and sort them, 

 selecting the largest and strongest 

 crowns for early forcing and the smaller 

 for later use. Doubtless in a large way 

 this would pay, but if you pay a good 

 price for the roots and get the best qual- 

 ity, you can depend on about ninety- 

 eight good spikes out of a hundred, and 

 the other two the eat is welcome to. For 

 some years we have grown only the 

 grade known as "Multibelle" and" it is 

 "Multigood." 



Trees and Shrubs. 



Many of you will now be asked to do 

 some planting of shrubs and trees this 

 month and next. If you keep a retail 

 store on Chestnut street, or Broadway, 

 or Michigan avenue, or Tremont street, 

 and sell $500 worth of cut flowers every 

 day, you won't bother about a cydonia 

 or forsythia,apaeony root, an amp'elopsis 

 or Salisburia adiantifolia. While I am 

 a believer in division of labor, and that 

 the specialist is the man that moves 

 the world around, as well as accumulat- 

 ing wealth, there arc many florists in 

 moderate sized cities and towns that can 

 add considerably to their incomes if 

 able to talk intelligently to their patrons 

 on the planting of ornamental trees and 

 shrubs, and follow it up with successful 

 planting. 



To digress a moment, there is a mar- 

 velous awakening all over! the land', 

 among not only the very wealthy, who' 

 can and are building "castles on the 

 banks of onr rivers and lakes and in 

 moimtain retreats, and surrounding 

 these palatial buildings with the art 

 and skill of the landscape gardener; but 



