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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



MARCH 24, 189S. 



fully developed as in P. tremula 

 Smithae, the fronds being shortened 

 and crested on the tips of all the pin- 

 nae in much the same manner as those 

 of Nephrodium molle corymbiterum. 

 As noted above, P. Smithae propagates 

 readily from spores, the latter being 

 produced with much freedom on old 

 and rather starved plants, and the 

 seedlings soon show the same charac- 

 teristics as the parent plant. 



The young plants will make better 

 progress if kept moderately warm, for 



example about 60 degrees, and all of 

 the ferns of this family being strong 

 rooting will flourish in good soil, that 

 is, in a bright loam well enriched with 

 old stable manure. As an exhibition 

 plant, this variety is very effective, 

 and is well worth growing as one 

 among an exhibit of 25 ferns. 



But in growing any of these crested 

 ferns to a large size one needs to 

 watch them rather closely, and to keep 

 them away from any other plants that 

 may be infested w-ith scale or mealy 

 bug, for the cristate foliage forms a 

 first-class harbor for insects, and once 

 they become dirty it is almost impos- 

 sible to clean them again, without sac- 

 rificing the whole of the foliage. 



W. H. TAPLIN. 



ROSE NOTES. 



Roses should now have a mulch, for 

 the sun is getting powerful, not so 

 much to stimulate them as to keep the 

 bed from needing an almost daily wa- 

 tering, which they would do in sunny 

 weather and only a few inches of soil. 

 There is yet two months for your 

 Brides, Bridesmaids and Meteors to 

 flower. Two months, if not of the 

 highest prices, certainly of excellent 

 demand and prolific crops. Stir the 

 surface of the bed very slightly, or 

 you will injure many roots; perhaps a 

 cleaning is sufficient. Sprinkle on a 

 little bone flour, a quart to 100 square 

 feet of surface of bench will be plenty, 

 then cover with a thin layer of rotted 

 cow manure. If it were at all fresh 

 manure, there is great danger of am- 

 monia arising from it, and If a bright 

 but cold day came and you could not 

 ventilate freely, you would run a great 

 risk of burning much of your foliage. 

 There is also a fungus that quickly 

 forms on fresh manure, the spore cases 

 of which, when bursting, throw the 

 spores all over the house, covering the 

 leaves and petals thickly with little 

 black specks, and they stick, too, much 

 disfiguring the whole growth. 



If you have not been successful in 

 rooting your young stock or neglected 

 to do so, there is yet time, if .vou have 

 good, healthy wood. I would rather 

 have a plant rooted from a cutting 

 during the last days of March than 

 much of the stuff I see sent out by 



firms by the thousand, cheap, appar- 

 ently, but dear at any price. 



Crimson Rambler Rose. 



There will be seen this Easter many 

 a magnificent plant of this rose, and 

 doubtless they will command a large 

 price and outsell any plant, and worth- 

 ily, too. If you want to have any for 

 another year, don't wait till fall, for 

 this is not the way to do it. Purchase 

 from some reliable nurseryman the 

 good home-grown plants they have to 

 offer; get them within a few weeks be- 

 fore they are started. Pot into 7, S. 9, 

 or even 12-inch, pots, if extra strong. 

 Don't buy any but what are strong, 

 and don't haggle over a tew cents in 

 the price; 5 cents' difference in price 

 this spring may mean a dollar next 

 spring, and your labor has been identi- 

 cally the same. Cut out weak shoots, 

 if any, and shorten back the strong 

 growths to one foot. It grown under 

 glass, they would need to be put out 

 of doors in September to ripen their 

 growth, but they could be started and 

 grown entirely out of doors till you 

 wanted to force them. From the 

 growth of this summer you will get 

 the flowers for next spring, and the 

 roots will not be disturbed. There is 

 time enough to give a hint or two 

 about their management this summer. 

 The important point is to get the 

 plants at once, while they do not feel 

 the moving. 



Hybrid Perpetual roses you can buy 

 of our American nurserymen in the 

 fall and force most satisfactorily the 

 following spring; but this girgeous 

 Ra'mbler should be well established be- 

 fore forcing is attempted. 



WM. SCOTT. 



THE BERMUDA EASTER LILY. 



Lilium Harrisii is a;s well known to- 

 day as the rose and carnation, while in 

 the early eighties it was unknown to 

 fame. Today it is one of the largest 

 revenue-producing products of the 

 tight little island of Bermuda, and is 

 to be found in all the flower marts and 

 bulb markets of the world. Of late 

 years, however, disease has wrought 

 sad havoc, from what causes it is hard 

 to tell. 



Though on British soil, it was Amer- 

 ican pluck and enterprise that brought 

 the Bermuda Easter lily to fame, and 

 now, while we are in the midst of its 

 season, it is appropriate that some- 

 thing be said of this lily, which has al-; 

 most revolutionized the Easter flower 

 market. ' 



It is very interesting to look back 

 and note the catalogues containing the 

 early history, prices and press articles 

 regarding it, and to make comparisons 

 with today. 



In 1884 bulbs 4 to SVo inches sold for 

 $12 per 100, while today one-quarter 

 that price, including duty, would be 

 considered a fair price. In 1882 the 

 New Yoi'k Times, in its report of the 

 New York Horticultural Society's 

 meeting. May 3, says that nothing at- 

 tracted so much attention as the col- 

 lection of Bermuda Easter lilies which 

 was shown and awarded a first pre- 

 mium. 



A Short History. 



The exact origin of the Bermuda 

 Easter lily has always been shrouded 

 in doubt. What it was, and how it 

 was carried to Bermuda, no one knows. 

 The best evidence that can be gleaned 

 would lead one to believe that it was 

 brought from the far East by some of 

 the early English governors, and, lux- 

 uriating in the soil and climate of Ber- 

 muda, was probably distributed among 

 the inhabitants and became common 

 in the different gardens on the islands. 



At first it was supposed that it was 

 nothing but the well-known longiflo- 

 rum, changed by having been grown in 

 the fertile soil and favorable climate 

 of Bermuda. When the value of the 

 lily became known, and the supply 

 proved inadequate to the demand, 

 large quantities of longiflorum were 

 sent to Bermuda, to be grown there, 

 with the idea that the stock could be 

 increased in that way. The result was 

 that a great deal of the earlier stock 

 became badly mixed by such importa- 

 tions. Of course, it is now well known 

 that Bermuda-grown Harrisii and Ber- 

 muda-grown longiflorum are entirely 

 distinct, and both as grown in Ber- 

 muda quickly supplanted all other 

 sources of supply. 



When the lily was first introduced 

 into Bermuda, no one knows, but its 

 cultivation there, in a commercial way, 

 began in the fall of 1881 by Mr. F. R. 

 Pierson, of Tarrytown, N. Y., whose 

 attention having been called to the 

 fact that the lily grew in Bermuda, 



