168 



HORTICULTURE. 



August 8, 1908 



FORMOSA LILIES. 



A Paper Read Before the Florists' 



Club of Philadelphia by 



I. Rosnosky. 



The Formosa lily was discovered 

 about three years ago by Mr. Uhei Su- 

 zuki, of Yokohama, Japan. Mr. Suzuki, 

 after repeated efforts to bring a lily on 

 the market that could compete in earli- 

 ness with the Bermuda Harrisii, dis- 

 covered on the island of Formosa, a 

 wild-growing lily of Lcngiflorum type. 

 The bulbs were collected and culti- 

 vated exactly as they are on the main- 

 land. The cultivation proved highly- 

 successful, and three years ago six 

 cases in miscellaneous sizes of the 

 Formosa lily were shipped for the pur- 

 pose of experimenting in the States. 



The experiment proved a success, 

 and as the following year a further 

 consignment of sixty cases resulted 

 equally well, the Yokohama house was 

 instructed to plant as many Formosa 

 lilies as possible. 



The Formosa lily flowers in the 

 month of February in its native island, 

 which is about two months earlier than 

 the Harrisii in Bermuda. By the end 

 of May the bulbs are ready for ship- 

 ment and ought lo reach here in Au- 

 gust. Repeated experiments have 

 proved the Formosa lily to be strictly 

 free from disease and the bulbs are 

 good for both pot, plant and cut 

 flowers. 



There are about six different kinds 

 of Formosa lilies, but the flowers are 

 almost identical and bloom at the same 

 time. The flower opens up a fine, pure, 

 waxy white, and keeps splendidly. 

 Average size ot plant is 30 in. to 40 in. 

 high, with leaves from the root up. 

 The plant produces three to eight flow- 

 ers to a plant, according to size of 

 hulbs. The plants stand very erect and 

 their stalks are firm and hard. 



I wish to call special attention to the 

 fact that if the Formosa lilies are not 

 forced too much they will all turn out 

 the same height. If forced very early 

 they will grow rather tall, and may 

 not produce flowers as large as they 

 should if grown in 50 to 55 degrees 

 temperature. Tf the lilies are wanted 

 for Easter the bulbs should be potted 

 in November and kept cool. This 

 long rest, from the time of their arrival 

 until they can be potted is very bene- 

 ficial. 



An interesting result was achieved 

 by the Hinode Florist Co., of White- 

 stone. X. Y., with this year's lot of 

 Multihorum lilies. They did not pot 

 the bulbs until a week after Christmas 

 and much to everyone's surprise the 

 plants were ready for the Easter mar- 

 ket in perfect condition. Further- 

 more, the Hinode Florist Co. only had 

 to throw out 10 per cent, of their Mul- 

 tiflorum lilies. They kept their lilies 

 in a temperature of from 50 to 55 de- 

 grees, at night sometimes 60 degrees. 



I wish to emphasize the fact that a 

 great many lilies are killed by over- 

 watering, for even the strongest and 

 healthiest plants can be killed that 

 way. The roots get soaked until they 

 are brown, and the plant dies. During 

 cold weather the water should be 

 warmed up in avoid chilling the plants. 



For the benefit of the Philadelphia 

 florists, I wish to say that E. Lielcer, 

 at Lansdowne, Pa., gave the Formosa 



a thorough trial of J 500 bulbs. He was 

 exceptionally well pleased with the 

 results last Easter. I also saw a very 

 fine lot of Formosas at A. Graham & 

 Sons', Cleveland, Ohio. A. N. Pierson's. 

 Cromwell, Conn., and several other 

 places. I am also informed that Mes- 

 srs. Bassett & Washburn of Chicago 

 had especially good results with For- 

 mosas last Easter. This firm grows a 

 very large quantity. 



ROSE HYBRIDISATION. 



(A paper by Alex. Dickson, Newtownard*, 

 Ireland. Read before the American Rose 

 Society.) 



It was with considerable hesitation 

 that I consented, at the request of 

 your Society, to write a paper upon 

 hybridisation and cross-pollination in 

 relation to the rose. I may say at 

 once, it is a request I have refused 

 many times from similar organizations 

 here and elsewhere, because I have 

 always felt, and indeed still feel, it is 

 a subject upon which it is extremely 

 difficult to write a satisfactory paper. 

 The subject is one which cannot possi- 

 bly be dealt with satisfactorily in a 

 paper such as the present, and the 

 chief difficulty one has is selecting the 

 lines upon which to write, or the point 

 of view from which to discuss it. I 

 will do my best to make the paper 

 as interesting and instructive as I can 

 within the limited scope at my dis- 

 posal. I have given the subject my 

 most careful consideration, and I am 

 convinced that the best method of 

 dealing with the subject in this paper 

 is to give you in a condensed form 

 some of the results, which have ac- 

 crued from the labors of my brother 

 and myself, extending over a period of 

 almost thirty years. 



The Commercial Standpoint. 



I would ask those who hear this 

 paper read, and those who may read it 

 for themselves, to remember, that it 

 is written by a professional rose 

 grower, and, therefore, by one to 

 whom the practical results, from a 

 commercial standpoint, were of the 

 most vital importance, and of neces- 

 sity this point of view had always to 

 be borne in mind by my brother and 

 myself in our line of experimental 

 inquiry; and it is from this point of 

 view that I deal with it. Hybridisa- 

 tion is a subject of intense interest, 

 and the practical application of the 

 science opens up an indefinite and even 

 inexhaustible field of inquiry, but 

 those of us who are professionally en- 

 gaged upon this branch of horticulture 

 must abandon to some extent at least, 

 the scientific aspect, in favor of the 

 practical. With the stern realities of 

 life facing me, I have many times — 

 contrary to my desire — been compelled 

 to abandon scientific lines of inquiry, 

 as against the production of new varie- 

 ties of commercial value — a situation 

 I regretted, but could not help. After 

 thirty years steady and continuous 

 work, I am inclined to the opinion 

 that the further one pursues the sub- 

 ject of hybridisation, the greater the 

 field for exploration. I have often 

 thought, whilst pursuing my work, 

 and watching the results, that the 

 effect was much like that produced 

 when climbing up a steep mountain — 

 the further one rises, the more the 

 plains below are opened up. I will try 



to explain more fully as I go on ex- 

 actly what I mean, and the foregoing 

 observations are made with a view to 

 render less keen the disappointment 

 which I feel will inevitably follow the 

 reading of this paper. I am conscious 

 that my observations will be read be- 

 fore, and by, men of practical ex- 

 perience in horticulture, and particu- 

 larly in the culture or advancement 

 ot the rose, and by men keen upon the 

 development and improvement of the 

 rose; and I am sorry for this reason, 

 that I can give little practical assist- 

 ance to any who are desirous of en- 

 tering the field of hybridisation on 

 their own account. I may, however, 

 render their disappointment less 

 acute. The main reason why I can 

 render little practical help is, that, 

 when all is said and done, hybridisa- 

 tion is a science of pure experiment, 

 or rather chance, as I can easily show. 



Hybridisation and Experiment. 



To do this it is only necessary for me 

 to assume that everyone — at least 

 everyone interested in horticulture — 

 knows that, so far as seed bearing 

 plants are concerned, they will re- 

 produce their species in some shape 

 or form — may be with some variation, 

 or may be exactly similar. And it 

 follows that, by the fertilization of 

 different varieties of the same species, 

 new varieties, or at least varieties 

 with some distinctive feature may be 

 produced. It is a different matter, 

 however, to reduce the chaos, which 

 results from indiscriminate cross- 

 fertilization, to something like definite 

 order — a result far beyond my ambi- 

 tion, or the scope of this paper, il 

 indeed it is at all possible. All I can 

 do in this direction, and indeed it ia 

 very little, is to give some results of 

 our labors in hybridisation. 



We began work in 1879, and natur- 

 ally our first operations were upon 

 what were considered the finest show 

 varieties of that day. Naturally we 

 chose parents of the choicest colors, 

 having beauty of form, and, as far 

 as possible, vigor of habit. The hope 

 of course was, that the fertilization 

 would re-produce varieties of a dif- 

 ferent kind, with at least, some of 

 the qualities for which the parents had 

 been selected. The results for many 

 years were disastrous. Keen and bit- 

 ter disappointment followed our ex- 

 periments. ^Ve, however, persevered, 

 always upon fixed lines, carefully re- 

 cording our crosses and results, mak- 

 ing a careful and close observation of 

 the most important features of the off- 

 spring of the cross; and I regret to 

 say that, in the majority of instances, 

 there was nothing but dismal failure 

 to record. I think I can safely say 

 that the most certain result of our 

 crosses in the early stages of our ex- 

 periments was to convince us of the 

 absolute uncertainty of what our re- 

 sults would be — this prevails even 

 now, though in a lesser degree. Possi- 

 bly this is one reason why rose- 

 hybridisation is so intensely interest- 

 ing. There is always and ever the 

 element of uncertainty in it so dear 

 to human nature. One never knows 

 what the fertilization to any two varie- 

 ties will produce, or more correctly — 

 how many different varieties. One 

 seed pod containing four seeds may — 

 and has to my knowledge — produced 

 four seedlings absolutely distinct in 



