JANUAKY 22. 1903. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



325 



fatcli each successive brood as it is 

 liatched. 



All infested buds should be picked off 

 .-iiul burned. Picking off the.se infested 

 buds and throwing them under the 

 benches, as is frequently done, only ac- 

 centuates the trouble, as the insects 

 are very active and quickly transfer 

 their operations from the lifeless to the 

 living buds. To fight this enemy suc- 

 cessfully requires great persistence, and 

 tliere must be no let-up until the victory 

 is complete. RiBES. 



PAPER WHITE NARCISSUS. 



Why is it that about 12 per cent of 

 paper white narcissus does not bloom 

 at all? We buy only best quality and 

 highest priced bulbs. I have grown 

 them when almost every bulb would 

 send one stalk of bloom, and a great 

 many two, but the past two years about 

 12 per cent failed to bloom at all. Has 

 anyone else the same trouble? 



P. & P. 



Yes, we have noticed this year that a 

 few bulbs on every flat of these did not 

 send up their flowers with the major- 

 ity, but give them time and they will 

 all flower, although a week or ten days 

 later. This is not satisfactoiy, because 

 you like to clear ofT a flat and out with 

 it to make room. Some bulbs sending 

 up a late and weak flower is not any 

 fault of j'our culture. These narcissus 

 bulbs cannot be depended on to be well 

 ripened and strong any more than your 

 tulip bulbs, and I am sorry to say we 



have seen 50 per cent of these give us 

 no flower even when not forced before 

 March, and such standard varieties as 

 Yellow Prince. That was several years 

 ago when tulip forcing was at its height 

 and poor bulbs were sent us because the 

 demand exceeded the supply. Of late 

 years I have noticed no failure among 

 the tulips. A paper white grower has 

 his troubles as well as we who force 

 them. A sharp frost when they were 

 in active growth would be injurious to 

 the bulbs. 



If you have lost only 12 per cent, 

 don't complain. This narcissus is one 

 of the simplest of all bulbs to force; 

 in .fact, there should be very little forc- 

 ing about it. Tliey should be gotten 

 into the flats as soon as received. No 

 frost should ever touch them, and from 

 middle of October they will want a 

 light house and 50 degi'ees at night. 

 William Scott. 



LILIES FOR MEMORIAL DAY. 



We have a ■ batch of Japan Long- 

 iflorum lilies that are now out in frame 

 that we wish to have come in for Me- 

 morial day. How many weeks in a tem- 

 perature of CO degrees would you allow 

 to get them in bloom for that date? 



P. & P. 



It would not be possible to give any 

 definite number of days that the lilies 

 would want in a night temperature of 

 00 degrees to bring them in flower for 

 the last days of May, because May is 

 sometimes a warm month and sometimes 



it is cloudy and cool, and April is also 

 a month of doubtful weather. The two 

 months that these lilies would occupy 

 the benches is the most crowded time 

 of all the year with the men that grow 

 bedding plants, as I judge P. & P. 

 do, and therefore I should not attempt 

 to keep them in a cold frame to a late 

 date and then give them a quick forc- 

 ing. Are you sure they are all right 

 in a frame, and not liable to too severe 

 a frost? If they are not stxirted at all 

 and protected with an inch or so of 

 short manure over the bulbs, a freeze 

 will not hurt them, but if they have or 

 will make a growth of three or four 

 inches, a severe freezing will hurt them. 

 Although a hardy bulb in their native 

 state, this growth has not taken place 

 where hard frosts prevail. 



If you cannot afford them space in 

 your houses until the last possible mo- 

 ment, then I would say bring them in 

 not later than the middle of March. 

 Tliey will need little forcing; the in- 

 creased heat of the houses from the 

 advance of the season will be sufficient. 

 I would, however, prefer to bring them 

 in by the first of February and let them 

 come along slowly in a cool house. Un- 

 der the latter treatment the coolest 

 house you have will bring them all right 

 for the end of IMay. My remarks about 

 the value of bench room are not as clear 

 as I wished to make them. To be bet- 

 ter understood: While you must give 

 these lilies a space in the 'houses during 

 the crowded month of April, why not 

 also give them March, when you are less 

 crowded and a cooler house will do, and 

 be on the safe side? William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



There is very little to be said at this 

 particular time in regard to cultural 

 directions. Your time will be largely 

 taken up with daily routine work, such 

 as watering, ventilating, disbudding, at 

 the same time keeping each shoot grow- 

 ing into a straight stem. Fumigation 

 and feeding are also to be numbered 

 among the various operations to which 

 I have called your attention lately. 



It is a good time now to spend a few 

 evenings looking into the financial re- 

 sults up to the present time and what 

 the prospects are up to and including 

 Easter. We have had the usual reports 

 about large percentages of increase in 

 trade during the holidays just passed. 

 A favorite expression used was, "Could 

 have sold much more if stock had been 

 obtainable." A better' expression, to 

 my mind, would have been to say, 

 "Would have realized more if we had 

 watched the market closer and not un- 

 loaded too soon." However, this is not 

 all there is to be said. If some of the 

 stock on the market could have been 

 obtainable at these places, it would not 

 have sold at any price. Quite a few 

 reports gave it out that there was a 

 decrease in business, and these reports 

 did not come from small cities as a 

 rule. 



Speaking to the growers, I will ask: 

 Did you receive a larger price per hun- 

 dred blooms this year than last? If 

 not there is something decidedly wrong, 

 and the more so from the fact that ex- 

 penses have been higher, caused by 

 scarcit}' and poor quality of fuel, for 

 which exorbitant prices had to be paid. 

 Perhaps you will remember in my notes 

 of Dec. 4 I ventured to say this year's 

 Iioliday trade would be a supreme test 



