146 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Dia-KMllER 18. 1902. 



helpers were as busy as tees making up 

 holly wreaths and it is a pleasure to 

 sit and talk with them while they work; 

 they will keep you from getting lonely. 

 After looking through -the 60,000 

 square feet of glass in 21 houses we 

 sat down to a bountiful dinner, gotten 

 up as few people outside of our good 

 German housekeepers can. You can see 



good management and good taste all 

 through this establishment, from the 

 front gate and the residence way down 

 to the boiler pits. After dinner we were 

 well entertained until it was time to 

 go to the train, and when we came away 

 we had only the very kindest recollec- 

 tions of our visit to this happv famiiv 

 of florists. A. F. J.'Baur. " 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Lilies. 



I have been asked a question or two 

 by a subscriber of the Keview, and as 

 they are seasonable, I will attempt to 

 answer them under this head. ]\rr. 

 Jones has mixed up his questions in rath- 

 er an entangling manner, but with pa- 

 tience we decipher the following: "Can 

 Harrisii lilies potted November 1, and 

 which are now four inches high, in a 

 temperature of 50 to 55 degrees, be got 

 in Hower by Easter?" We would say 

 that, being 4 inches high now, they are 

 all right for Easter, and 55 at night 

 will do for another month or six weeks. 

 After that they may need 65, or at least 

 60, for the remaining time. 



Azaleas. 



The next question is what time to 

 start azaleas for Easter. Jilr. J. says: 

 "They are in 40 to 45 at night and have 

 buds on now." Possiblj- the plants that 

 have formed buds are the varieties wo 

 force for Christmas, and which without 

 any forcing will develop their buds. If 

 he has plants of Deutsche Terle or Simon 

 JIardncr showing color, put them into 

 more heat and give them plenty of 

 water, and they ought to sell during the 

 month of January. Properly speaking, 

 there is no starting of azaleas for Ea.st- 

 er. On the contrary, with many of 

 the best varieties we have often to re- 

 tard their growth by keeping them in a 

 very cool house. You can't do any bet- 

 ter with the plants you want in (Icuwer 

 for Easter than keep them in a house 

 which is 40 at night. The natural in- 

 crease of heat as the season advances 

 will bring them along plenty fast 

 enough. 



Hydrangeas. 



Next come hyprangcas, and Mr. Jones 

 asks what time to start them for East- 

 er. He has them dry and cool now. I 

 hope not too dry. Cool is all right, and 

 if they had a little frost to ripen up 

 the wood, so much the better. Start 

 the hydrangeas at once in a night tem- 

 perature of 50 degrees, and by middle 

 of February you can increase it to 55 

 or 60 degrees. I have seldom seem hy- 

 drangeas too early when forced for 

 Easter. If they were lifted and potted 

 from the field in October, they will want 

 no more shifting, but if groftvn in pots 

 and full of roots, they will want a 

 shift, and use a good, heaNn?" loam with a 

 fourth of manure and well packed down. 

 Dahlias. 



Another subscriber asks a question, 

 not so seasonable for this latitude, for 

 dahlia roots are now resting beneath a 

 bench in a cool house; but in Tennessee 

 where the inquiry comes from they may 



be only just digging them up. ''Are the 

 tubers that break off the stalks of dah- 

 lias in digging of any use?" Dahlia 

 roots are qften divided and started in 

 the spring, and one tul)er that had an 

 eye or leaf bud would make a fine 

 plant, but without this btid or eye it 

 would be of no use. I don't think the 

 dahlia tuber has eyes, as the potato has, 

 except at the top or where it adheres 

 to the stalk. 



Begonia Lorraine. 

 Before you sell all your Gloire de 

 Lorraine begonias put in a goo<l lot of 

 leaves for your nc.\t year's plants. If 

 the sand is 65 degrees and your house 

 55 to 00 degrees tl)at will do very well. 

 A good, healthy, matured, strong leaf 

 shotild be taken, and let all the leaf 

 stalk remain on, sinking that in the 

 sand, and the leaf just al)ove the sand. 

 They take some time to root, but make 

 the finest plants, because they usually 

 will get two or three gi'owths from the 

 very bottom, and this means a good, 

 bushy plant. 



Tulips and Narcissus. 



It will be lime now to bring in your 

 first tulips and Von Sion narcissus. We 

 \ised to think years ago that we must 

 have them in flower at Christmas, but 

 they are poor things when forced so 

 early. Yellow Prince, La Reine, Ver- 

 milion Brilliant and Prosperine will 

 111! the bill of colors. First of all see 

 that the tulips are well rooted in the 

 flats, and that is easy seen, for the roots 

 should be showing through the bottom 

 of the flats. If they are not well root- 

 ed you will only have a failure and will 

 have wasted yotir bulbs. Forcing these 

 bulbs which have active roots is entirely 

 different from the treatment required 

 for lily of the valley. The tulips want 

 a strong top heat. 75 to SO is not too 

 much for the month of .January, and 

 some shade a foot or so above them. 

 Cheese cloth on a light frame is as 

 handy as anything. Without this shade 

 you would get only 3 or 4ineh stems up 

 to middle of February. After that date 

 no shade is necessary, \\1iile the tu- 

 lips and Von Sion narcissus want this 

 strong heat for the early crops, they do 

 not want their root,s scorched. The 

 heat of the toards over three or four 

 hot water pipes is enough. 



Large growers may h.ave houses es- 

 pecially constructed for these operations, 

 but you can get the conditions I have 

 tried to describe by confining the heat 

 of the pipes beneath a side bench, let- 

 ting it come up only at a space between 

 bench and wall, then your curtain of 

 cheese cloth over the flats and hanging 



down to the bench on the path side will 

 give you the top heat. Every day they 

 should be freely watered, and when the 

 strong forcing is going on spray them 

 two or three times a day. When they 

 are showing color the shade can be re- 

 moved or the flats taken out of this 

 hot box and lie given light, but they still 

 want a good warm house or they will 

 just stand still. Simple as it is to 

 force these beautiful flowers in March 

 and April, they want considerable 

 handling in mid-winter. Sixteen to 

 twenty days produce a crop. 



Lily of the Valley. 



Cold storage valley is alwaj-s depend- 

 ed u]ion up to Xew Years, because if you 

 got flowers from the new pips you 

 would not get the foliage. After Xew 

 Years, or the roots put in now the 

 newly transported crowns will do all 

 right. Here is an entirely different 

 process. When the beautiful little 

 flower was first forced some thirty years 

 ago there were all sorts of fads floated 

 r^arding the material in which to put 

 the roots. Sand, pure or mixed, with 

 chopped sphagninu, crushed coke, brick 

 dust and cocoanut fiber all had their 

 advocates. Experience and common 

 sense have solved this question, and 

 sand, just plain sand, either from the 

 lake, river or bank, is all you need. ' 



The sand should be kept at a tem- 

 perature of 80 degrees, and this can be 

 done by boxing in a bench, back, front 

 and ends, and letting the heat of the 

 pipes strike the slates which form the 

 bottom of your bed. and while you are 

 confining the heat bcncalh the bench you 

 are keeping the atmosphere cool, and 

 that is just w'hat you want. The sand 

 should be at least six inches deep, for 

 although the roots make hardly any visi- 

 ble sign of gronvth, they should not 

 be cut off to within three or four inches 

 of the crown. Leave the roots as long 

 as you can, a little trimming at the 

 Imttom is perhaps necessary, as it lets 

 the roots absorb the moisture. The at- 

 mosphere of the house can be 55 or 60 

 degrees. Put the roots in the sand in 

 straight rows and the rows three to 

 four inches apart so you can poke the 

 hose between them. 



The all-im|)nrtant thing about forcing 

 this dainty little flower is never to wet 

 the bells after they arc visible above 

 the foliage, and to water the bed from 

 overhead without doing this would be 

 difficult to do, so on the level of the sur- 

 face of bed or sand, the board that goes 

 a foot higher should be hinged that you 

 may let it drop when watering, and you 

 can then water the sand without wetting 

 a leaf. For the first ten days wetting 

 the crowns and growth is of course no 

 harm, but most injurious to the buds, 

 especially when they are showing color. 



We use two kinds of cover for the 

 valley, the first ten days a thin or i- 

 inch board of any size to suit your 

 bed — ours are 3x3J feet — that will cover 

 a batch of five or six hundred roots. 

 Then until the buds are well open we 

 use a covering of cheese cloth, and a 

 day or two before cutting, no cover at 

 all. Only if you are in the sunny 

 South, or in Denver, where the sun al- 

 ways shines, don't let the sun shine 

 brightly on them. Very little need of 

 that caution here, for Obi Sol hibernates 

 for several months, as far as we know, 

 and some winters we have to travel 

 hundreds of miles south or west to get 

 a glimpse of his genial rays. 



William Scott. 



I 



