JANCAEY 22, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



327 



Bride's Bouquet. Fig. 4. 



cannot affect the vitality of the seed. 

 To pick each seed off before the pulp 

 began to shrink would be a tedious job. 

 Let the last fruit be ripe, then gather 

 the whole crop. 



If you want to sow the seed yourself 

 it will most decidedly germinate if sown 

 just as you pick it, as nature would 

 handle it, but if you intend to sell it to 

 a seedsman he may either buy it as 

 gathered or want it cleaned of its cov- 

 ering. By rubbing thin layers of it 

 over a sieve you can separate the seed 

 from the pulp. Tlie cleaning of seeds 

 is an expert business and in a large way 

 must be most expeditiously done, but 

 with a sieve and a little wind most of 

 our own grown seed can be handled well 

 enough in a small way. 



William Scott. 



LONGIFLORUM LILIES. 



P. 0. asks "When should longiflorum 

 intended for Decoration Day be potted, 

 from cold storage, of course?" 



A question about the same as this 

 was sent to me very recently and an- 

 swered to the best of my knowledge. I 

 will say to begin with that a few years 

 ago we had a thousand bulbs of Japan 

 longiflorum which arrived late and no 

 attempt was made to force them for 

 Easter. Tlicy were potted early in No- 

 vember, brought into the house at New 

 Year's and kept in a house which was 

 usually about 40 degrees at night. They 

 came along very slowly. You may say 

 they just advanced with the season and 

 they came on exactly right and were 

 particularly fine. Perhaps this is not 

 the most economical way of occupying 

 your bench, and it is certainly not an- 

 swering the question. 



You cannot let the lilies remain in 

 cold storage until after Easter, and as 

 your bench room is not as valuable now 



as it will be two months from now, 

 I see no advantage in postponing start- 

 ing them at once. Nothing is improved 

 with cold storage, and every day that 

 natural growth is arrested there is some 

 loss to the future vigor of the plant, so 

 I would pot them at once and start them 

 in a cool house. In a night tempera- 

 ture of 40 degrees for the next two 

 months you cannot miss it. A little 

 retarding, if necessary, is easily done 

 in Jlay by shade and ventilation, and 

 a little progression is still easier ac- 

 complished in that bright spring month. 

 Get them out of cold storage and into 

 soil at once. 



A hint worth remembering is the fact 

 that with almost all bulbs brought out 

 from cold storage, and particularly is 

 this so with lilies, that they should when 

 first started be kept in a very cool house, 

 or the top will make a growth with no 

 roots to support it, and until the roots 

 are active no encouragement should be 

 given to push up growth. Many failures 

 with cold storage lilies arise from put- 

 ting the bulbs at once into a warm 

 house. William Scott. 



NOTES OF A WAYFARER. 



(CONTINUED ) 



Arriving in New York in time for the 

 Florists' Club meeting, thither we went, 

 knowing we would see a goodly number 

 of old, familiar faces. The largest and 

 no doubt the most pleasant-looking one 

 was that of "The Bard," J. Austin Shaw. 

 It was election night and zero weather, 

 but a large crowd was present. Re- 

 freshments were served and no doubt 

 this was one of the drawing cards; it 

 always is, and to keep up interest in a 

 club there is nothing like it. We lis- 

 tened to the report on the financial out- 

 come of the recent flower show, which 

 made everyone feel a little blue; how- 



ever, our spirits were soon revived to 

 see the way in which the substantial 

 members came to the rescue with dona- 

 tions. No other city could have made 

 a bigger failure, neither could any other 

 city have recovered so quickly from it. 

 We predict that when the New York 

 florists make a success of a flower show 

 it will be a big one. 



The next few days we were calling 

 on florists in that vicinity. At the Cot- 

 tage Gardens Mr. Ward's force was busy 

 filling wire hanging baskets with Lor- 

 raine begonias for Christmas; $1,200.00 

 worth hanging there, all sold, was a sight 

 we appreciated, but no more so than the 

 crops of carnations, which were command- 

 ing what seemed to us fabulous prices for 

 that date, just double Chicago market 

 prices. As a matter of course we were 

 interested in the crimsons. Mr. Ward's 

 name will go down in history as the 

 "Crimson King"; no matter what other 

 hybridizers raise in future, it seems 

 that they must use Ward's blood to in- 

 sure success. Harlowarden has some 

 of it. 



Mr. Ward is now working just as 

 strenuously on other strains. His new 

 cerise, Mrs. Roosevelt, will make a good 

 commercial variety. President Roosevelt 

 is a fine crimson, being a great improve- 

 ni9nt over the Governor and Harry 

 Fenn. Sub-irrigated benches show a 

 great improvement over surface watered, 

 especially so in the case of the Lawson 

 plants. iProsperity was seen in fine shape 

 and those houses of seedlings will be a 

 treat for the conventionists in Febru- 

 ary. 



The Dailledouses, at Flatbush, were 

 as usual in good shape. Floriana is one 

 of the best commercial varieties grown 

 here, although Alice Roosevelt, the va- 

 riety just withdrawn from distribution, 

 was not bad by any means. Fragrance 

 was another fine thing, as was also Blush 

 Seedling, and the new white May Naylor 

 was very free. A house of Cypripedium 

 insigne, producing more than half 

 double flowers, was a novel and inter- 

 esting sight. I should have also men- 

 tioned a new white carnation as large 

 as Prosperity, finer form, more sub- 

 stance and a stem that holds up the 

 flower. Isn't that a wonder? You'll see 

 it. The five-inch carnation is in sight. 



We were not particularly interested 

 in ferns, but after seeing Nephrolepis 

 Piersoni exhibited so many times we 

 could not restrain ourselves from going 

 out to Tarrytown to see how this new 

 fern looked in its home. Nearly the 

 whole of the establishment was being 

 devoted to the propagation. You are 

 already aware that it is a great ac- 

 quisition to the trade in general, but as 

 a grower it surprised us. We did not 

 expect to see it such a rampant grower 

 as it appears to be. It seems to throw 

 out its feeders with more freedom than 

 the Bcston and develops the young 

 plants in shorter time. Even the 2-inch 

 pot plants show the character of the 

 variety. Judging from the favor with 

 which the Bostoniensis was received by 

 the trade, we cannot see why on earth 

 Mr. Pierson lets this one get away 

 from him this year, but, as we said 

 before, practically the whole place is 

 filled with it and he has no room to 

 build, therefore must presume it is Hob- 

 son's choice with him. 



Our next call was at Florham Farms, 

 Madison, N. J., where the president of 

 the C. S. of A. wields the magic wand. 

 We were particularly struck with the 



