Apbil 28, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists* Review* 



1203 



Lilium Candidum at Easter, 1904, Grownby W. N. Craig at North Easton, Mass. 



the roots. I am not going to say that 

 all your thousands of bedding plants 

 should be plungtd, but I will say that 

 you can delay shading for a month, save 

 hours of labor, watering and grow 

 infinitely better plants in every respect 

 if you plunge your plants. 



Protect the Hydrangeas. 



Last year we had a rather sad ex- 

 perience with a number of large hydran- 

 geas that had been wintered in a shed 

 where there was plenty of light and the 

 temperature kept but a few degrees 

 above the freezing point, an ideal place 

 for sweet bays, hydrangeas, box trees, 

 oleanders, etc. The hydrangeas during 

 April will grow, and grow weak and 

 spindling, and they should be got out- 

 doors as soon as it is safe, but look 

 out for the frosts that may come, and 

 did come last year, about May 20, for 

 this tender young growth will freeze, and 

 that will settle the flower buds for thnt 

 year. They should be outdoors, but in 

 such position that they can be laid down 

 and covered at any danger of frost. The 

 sweet bays will stand any cold that we 

 will get from November on, unless they 

 have been coddled in a greenhouse, and 

 have started to grow. 



Crimson Ramblers. 



I think it was in the Boston notes that 

 I saw that the Ciimson Ramblers that 

 were summer-grown i i ) ots ;n;d sold tlie 

 past Easter were mueli superior to those 

 lifted and potted in the fall. Of course 

 they were, and always will be. Now is 

 the time to start with them, either with 

 plants you have in the field, or some 

 you must buy from a nurseryman. 

 Cut them down severely. If you leave 

 two or three inches of last summer 's 

 growth it is plenty. You only want five 

 or six canes of this summer's growth.- 

 Pot into 6, 7 or S-inch, according to size 



and strength of plant. Pot firmly and 

 put them into tbe coolest house you 

 Lave, or in a cold frame. They will 

 soon make roots, and at the same time 

 start growth. If in a cold frame, I 

 would ]irefer them moved into a light 

 house as soon as root growth is active. 

 When the young growths are an inch or 

 two long, select five or six of the strong- 

 est, and rub off the rest. Let them come 

 along slowly in the greenhouse, no forc- 

 ing. Tie the canes to a stake as they 

 grow, and when real hot weather comes 

 be sure they don't suffer for water at 

 the roots. A hot day and dry at the 

 loots will produce mildew. And as I 

 can see these pot-grown Ramblers on 

 July 4 with canes five and six feet high, 

 I will take a rest. William Scott. 



LILIUM CANDIDUM. 



The merits of the ascension or annun- 

 ciation lily, Lilium candidum, were at 

 one time fully recognized by florists and 

 large numbers were disposed of in our 

 eastern oiarkets. During the past six or 

 eight years, however, they have been al- 

 most entirely dropped by trade growers. 

 Not without some reason, 'tis true, for the 

 major portion of the bulbs sold at low 

 rates, produced miserable, diseased plants, 

 yielding only three to five flowers per 

 stem. At one time candidmn lilies cut 

 quite a feature in our Boston Easter 

 market; this year we failed to find a 

 spike in the wholesale flower market and 

 only a few wretched little spikes in one 

 of our Boylston street stores. 



Our experience with Lilium candidum 

 of late years has been that the cheap 

 bulbs grown in Turkey, Holland, or the 

 south of France are useless; they pro- 

 duce poor spikes and are full of disease. 

 But bulbs from the north of France 

 can be absolutely relied upon; for five 

 years we have not seen a trace of disease 

 on any of our indoor stock. We have 



had quite good success with bulbs grown 

 in the sanely soil of Cape Cod, in Massa- 

 chusetts and believe bulbs equal to the 

 French' ones could be grown in our east- 

 ern states if some enterprising grower 

 could take them in hand. 



The culture of this lily is very simple. 

 We pot our bulbs as soon as received, 

 three in an 8-inch pot. The extra large 

 bulbs will need 10-inch pots. We get 

 much better returns by using the larger 

 size pots than can be had by potting 

 bulbs singly in 6-inch pots. A compost 

 of turfy loam, well decayed cow manure 

 and sand is used. After potting the 

 bulbs are stood on a bed of ashes in an 

 open, sunny position outdoors until the 

 advent of frost severe enough to freeze 

 the compost quite hard, when they are 

 placed in a frame. Bulbs for Easter 

 blooming are housed about January 1. 

 Lilium candiehim does not take kinelly to 

 hard filing; in a temperature of 50 de- 

 grees at night it was in good season for 

 Easter this year. 



Plants in 8-inch pots carried four to 

 six spikes with from six to twelve flow- 

 ers per spike ; good ones had fifteen each. 

 This lily needs plenty of liquid food and 

 is very susceptible to the attacks of 

 green aphis, like others of its family. 

 We consider well-grown specimens of this 

 lily far superior to Lilium longiflorum, 

 either for cut flowers or for conserva- 

 tory decoration, anel visitors are nearly 

 unanimously of like opinion. Its cheap- 

 ness, usefulness and ease of culture 

 should commend it to florists generally. 

 W. N. Craig. 



Gkand R.\pid?, Mich. — Eli Cross wiU 

 shortly begin work on another violet 

 house. 



Polo, III. — The greenhouse owned by 

 H. D. & R. E. Davis was burned April 

 21. There was no insurance. 



