362 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



January 29, 1903. 



know of any other light pinli that blooms 

 well in warm weather. I believe it is 

 claimed that Fair Maid is an excep- 

 tionally good summer variety, but I 

 have not grown it. 



Five thousand plants should give you 

 a good lot of blooms during July. August 

 and September. Cuttings that were root- 



ed in November and grown right along 

 ought to produce from 6 to 10 blooms 

 per plant during these three months. 



Tliey will need no support except, per- 

 haps, to protect them against heavy rain- 

 storms, etc. Under ordinary conditions 

 the stems will support the blooms un- 

 aided. A. F. J. Baur. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Lilies. 

 I have had several inquiries of late on 

 the all important question of the earli- 

 ness of Japan lilies for Easter. Easter 

 is not so very early this year — the 12th 

 of April, without referring to the alma- 

 nac. Some of the best growers of this 

 Easter plant do not do much forcing be- 

 fore New Year's, but after that they 

 rush them right along. If your plants 

 are five or six inches above the soil and 

 you have the facilities to give them 60 

 degrees at night from now on, you will 

 be all right. Look out for gi-een lly. 

 There is nothing more evident to an ob- 

 server than that the twisted, "busted" 

 bud is caused by the aphis stinging the 

 bud when it is in a very young state. 

 It is well for every florist to have a 

 pocket microscope. It is so easy to be 

 skeptical over what injury these minute 

 creatures can do to a plant, and too 

 many wait until the injury is very visi- 

 ble and fciko no precaution against the 

 author of the injury. 



Any of you who have read Gulliver's 

 travels will rememlx-r where jwor Gul- 

 liver was hiding in the wheat field when 

 a mower came along with his scythe and 

 discovering Gulliver, lifted liim up for 

 close inspection, and when Gulliver was 

 opposite the giant's eyes he was seventy 

 feet from the ground. Supposing he 

 had been dropped to the ground as we 

 may drop a toad, what would have been 

 the consequence? He did not drop him; 

 he put this full sized English sailor in 

 his pocket and took him home when his 

 day's work was done and presented Gul- 

 liver to the Queen of the Court, who 

 had a cage made and carried him around 

 fastened to her waist belt, as an Italian 

 carries white mice. I never visited that 

 island and never want to see a prin- 

 cess over five feet and nine inches, but 

 the marvelous story is written ju.st to 

 show you that all things are large or 

 small only by comparison. A very mod- 

 erate lens will show you flocks of 

 aphis, red spider, thrips and other vege- 

 tarians as ferocious and formidable in 

 appearance as a flock of wild boars 

 driven up for Kaiser William to slaugh- 

 ter with his rifle. 



It is almost impossible to get to- 

 bacco smoke down into the thick growth 

 of leaves when the buds are forming, 

 and therefore it is time and money well 

 spent to go over them every two weeks 

 and inject a little liquid tobacco prep- 

 aration into the crown of leaves. You 

 can make your own tobacco water, but 

 the strength will be uncertain and it is 

 very important that you should not 

 overdo it in this operation. The "rose 



leaf extract" diluted 100 to 1 is strong 

 enough. 



I am sorry to see among some lots of 

 Japan longiflorum the appearance of 

 disease of both kinds, and which I can- 

 not name, but they seem distinct. One 

 is the old trouble that destroyed so 

 many of our Bermuda importations, and 

 that may be called the jaundice or 

 spotted fever, and the other is a wilt- 

 ed and scalded look of the leaves. How 

 did that disease get over to the Japs 

 unless some of our American representa- 

 tives took it over? We suppose that 

 too premature lifting after flowering is 

 the cause, as it was in Bermuda. 



Azaleas. 

 Keep your eye on the azaleas that are 

 for Easter. You can't treat them all 

 alike. Mme. Van der Cruyssen . will 

 want the coolest house you have above 

 freezing, while Emperor of Brazil will 

 come along on time in a night tempera- 

 ture of 45 to 50 degrees. Tliese are 

 perhaps the two extremes, but you can 

 judge by the advance of the buds what 

 temperature they will want. And don't 

 let the young leaf growth make any 

 headway, or you won't get any flowers. 

 Rub them off as they start. 



Deutzias. 



You should allow about eight weeks 

 in a night temperature of 50 degrees for 

 Deutzia gracilis to come out in good 

 style. It's better when not hurried in 

 strong heat. 



Rhododendrons. 



Rhododendrons wliiili have perhaps 

 been kept quite cool should now be put 

 into a house at 50 to art degrees at night, 

 and keep them syringed. Our importers 

 now know just what varieties will force 

 and you are not likely to get hold of 

 any of the slow varieties. Some of the 

 grandest varieties of rhododendrons are 

 entirely unsuited for this purpose, and 

 we have had them remain without a 

 move for two months in a strong heat. 



Like the azaleas, these plants import- 

 ed last fall have made little or no roots 

 in the soil you gave them when potting, 

 and while cool they would not suffer if 

 slightly on the dry side, but when you 

 begin to give them a warm house and 

 the sun shines brightly the flowers are 

 quickly ruined if the ball of roots is 

 dry. In fact, if the water passes freely 

 through the soil, you cannot very well 

 overwater them. Our method of treat- 

 ing these newly imported plants is very 

 abnormal and you must use unusual 

 methods very different from what you 

 would if it was an established plant 

 with a pot full of working roots. 



There are some Azalea mollis grown 

 for Easter. They should be out in a 

 cold frame now the same as any other 

 hardy shrub, but seven or eight weeks 

 should be given them in the house. 

 They can be forced in shorter time, but 

 are all the better to come along slowly. 



Lilium Lancifoliuffl. 



We are receiving now some bulbs of 

 L. lancifolium album and roseum, and 

 we think they are very useful for us in 

 .July and August, and later if you can 

 retard them. They fill in a gap in mid- 

 summer. The two above mentioned are 

 beautiful, and no one can object to the 

 odor, but we draw the line at the gor- 

 geous auratum, grand flower as it is in 

 the border or in the conservatory. It 

 can't be endured in a room, and a de- 

 sign with these lilies in would be as 

 good taste as a wedding bouquet 

 sprinkled with the essence of Limburger 

 cheese. 



We began a plan of treatment of 

 these ly. lancifolium some years ago, 

 which we have never had occasion to 

 alter, and which is one of the few orig- 

 inal gardening inspirations emanating 

 from a bald head. Lily bulbs don't im- 

 prove out of the ground or in dry soil 

 or moss where no root growth can pro- 

 ceed. So when received pot them in 

 5-inch, or three bulbs in an 8-inch. Let 

 the soil be moist, or as you would use 

 soil for any plant when potting or shift- 

 ing. Don't water them : the moisture in 

 the soil is enough, and place the pots 

 lieneath a bench in a cool house. I like 

 to cover the surface of soil with i-inch 

 or so of sphagnum moss. They will 

 remain like this for two months without 

 making much grc\vth, and you don't 

 want them to make much. When the 

 growth is up to two or three inches you 

 must get them on the bench, for then 

 they want the light, the season Ijeing 

 then well advanced. Nothing but the 

 coolest hous& is ever needed. In fact, 

 the slower you can grow them the bet- 

 ter they will be, and if you can have 

 them in flower in September they will 

 be worth more to you than in .July. 



Brides' Bouquets. 



I read with pleasure the well written 

 article on wedding bouquets by Mr. 

 Wienhoeber, and the illustrations were 

 in keeping with the article — fine. Such 

 illustrations as that are a real help to 

 all of us. May we have lots of the kind 

 from the same talented young man, for 

 they are up to date, which really means 

 that they are in advance of the date of 

 most of us. 



I would just mention — not in the way 

 of criticism, goodness knows — but as a 

 comment on Mr. Wienhoeber's article, 

 that he assumes that a bride leaves to 

 the florist the style of bouquet which 

 she is going to carry. Not on your life! 

 The tall stately brunette or the little 

 flaxen fluffy has each made up her mind 

 months before what the flower is going 

 to be and has intimated the same to 

 Alphonse, who will have that and only 

 that. And if they, he or she, are open 

 to suggestions and will take advice on 

 such a momentous question they should 

 receive the thanks of every florist as a 

 woman or man of surpassing judgment 

 and the florist's friend. 



The advice from Mr. Wienhoeber on 

 originality, and to break away from 

 being merely copy books, is fine. Let's 

 have more of it, and often. 



William Scott. 



