448 



HORTICULTURE 



April 4, 1908 



MlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllGCIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlI 



b4 per = 

 100 I 



|EasterLilies"'or"SuperbLilyof the Valley 



I American Beauties, Riclimonds, Killarneys, Brides and Bridesmaids 



S Violets, Carnations, Daffodils, Tulips, Narcissus, Hyacinths, Sweet Peas, nnd all season- 



S able flowers. For Kaster dtcorations : ^oulhetn Wild Smilax, Laurel Festooning, Leucothoe 



S Sprays, Hardy Cut Dagger and Fancy Ferns, Bronze and Green Galax. 

 = ALL ORDERS RECEIVE PROMPT AND PERSONAL ATTENTION 



I HENRY M. ROBINSON & CO. 



, 2 .7..6.8 ma,n ,.,iu..ou.» «u.. CO uMo.c 15 PfOviRce St., 9 ChapiDBn PI., BOSTON, MASS. a 



S Te'epho-'es 



2 17-2618 Main 



Wholesale Cominlssion Floiists 



THE QUALITIES OF FORMOSA 

 LILIES. 



Mr. Editor: — Will you please lend 

 your columns to the following ques- 

 tion: I notice Lilium Formosa ad- 

 vertised as a variety free of disease. 

 To one who has been experiencing 

 these last two seasons the growing 

 deterioration of the Japan longiflorum 

 and multiflorum stocks, this sounds 

 tempting, were it not for the fear that 

 other qualities of this lily may turn 

 out disappointing. May I appeal to 

 such of your readers, who have 

 already tried this lily in previous sea- 

 sons, to give to their brother florists 

 their experience as to habit of the 

 plants, size and style; also substance 

 of the flowers; whether free flowering, 

 and whether early or late, or easily 

 kept back? Are they fit for pot plants, 

 or only for cut? They must have been 

 tried in this country ere this, possibly 

 for several seasons, sufficiently to al- 

 low the claim "entirely tree from 

 disease;" but I notice nothing special 

 claimed about other desirable quali- 

 ties, except to be superior to Bermuda 

 Harrisii, a pretty general remark! 

 An open expression on this subject 

 will be thankfully appreciated by the 

 writer and many a lily grower in 

 America- 



Editor HORTICULTURE. 



Dear Sir:— Answering your corres- 

 pondent concerning Formosa lilies we 

 beg to say that we have about 1000 

 pots. They are strictly free from 

 disease and we have not thrown away 

 ten plants out of the 1000 pots. They 

 are tall growers with very substantial 

 stems and produce more flowers than 

 any of the other Longiflorums. They 

 can also be forced as early as Harrisii 

 lilies but by doing this they may not 

 tloom as large as they ought to. We 

 kept our lilies in the house tempera- 

 ture of 50 to 55 degrees, at night 

 sometimes 60 degrees. We are cut- 

 ting flowers now. There are about five 

 or six different kinds mixed but the 

 flowers are almost the same, also 

 bloom at the same time. The type 

 cf the flowers is rather short but they 

 open up very fine pure waxy white 

 and keep very good. They are good 

 for both pot or cut flowers but if 

 wanted for Easter trade, pot them in 

 the month of November and keep them 

 cool. You'-s very truly, 



HINODE FLORIST CO. 

 \\Tiltestone, N. Y. 



Dear Sirs:— Replying to "America" 



regarding Lilium Formosa; we bought 

 a case last fall but did not try to bring 

 them in early as we had a lot of other 

 lilies on hand. The Formosa has been 

 in bloom now about six weeks. Some 

 plants measure 30 to 40 inches high, 

 with leaves from the root up and 

 every leaf perfect. They average 5 to 

 7 flowers to the plant and the flowers 

 stand out firm and stronger than any 

 lilies we ever grew. The flowei-s have 

 more substance and last longer than 

 any we ever grew. Ours were all pot 

 grown, one bulb in a 6-inch pot and 

 there was not a dwarf or deformed 

 plant in the lot, so they must be free 

 from disease. The plants stand very 

 erect and while the stalk is no larger 

 than other lilies it seems more finn 

 and hard. This year we shall 

 grow them entirely and will try some 

 oT them for early, but not for Christ- 

 mas. They can hardly be classed as a 

 Christmas flower, any more thau 

 poinsettias are appropriate for Easter, 

 and when one can have something the 

 year around, like lily of the valley for 

 instance, the novelty wears off. 

 Yours truly, 

 Rochester, N. Y. SALTER BROS. 



Dear Sir: — In reply to your corres- 

 pondent, here is our experience with 

 the new Lilium Formosa. We grew 

 Eve thousand of these bulbs the past 

 season. They arrive in this country 

 the latter part of August, but whether 

 they come from the Formosa Islands 

 or not; we do not know. We under- 

 stand these are simply the Giganteum, 

 Longiflorum and Multiflorum, which 

 were moved from the Island of Japan 

 seven years ago by Japanese residents 

 who took up their homes in the Island 

 of Formosa. These bulbs after having 

 been planted on fresh soil and in a 

 warmer climate have matured early 

 and so far are free from disease. They 

 come into bloom at about Christmas 

 and are first class in every respect so 

 far as our experience goes though the 

 size of the bulbs was rather small, a 

 good many being from five to six 

 inches in diameter; very few 7-9. We 

 think if the Japanese would be careftil 

 to plant their bulbs on new soil each 

 year they would soon get free of disease. 

 Our experience has been limited to one 

 season's growth. We are of course 

 going to try them in larger quantity 

 another year. 



Trusting this Information is satis- 

 factory, we are. Respectfully, 



BASSETT & WASHBURN. 

 Chicago, 111. 



ANCHUSA ITALICA VAR. DROP- 

 MORE. 



None of the varieties of the An- 

 chusa have been planted to any great 

 extent, yet they are exceedingly at- 

 tractive. The variety above men- 

 tioned is one of the latest introduc- 

 tions, and according to European 

 papers was considered one of the best 

 novelties of the season, two years ago. 



It is a strong, vigorous grower, with 



coarse, dark green foliage and a large 

 liranching spike, which last summer 

 grew almost three feet high; so that, 

 with a fairly wet summer it would 

 reach fully four feet. The spike 13 

 also nearly three feet wide near the 

 ground. 



The flowers commence to open early 

 in July but, like other plants belong- 

 ing to the borage family, they soon 

 drop; although this debars its use as a 

 cut flower, it does not spoil its use as 

 an ornamental border plant. 



The individual flowers are about 

 three-quarters of an inch in diameter, 

 and stay on the spike in full beauty 

 two or three days, but the unopened 

 flower buds are so numerous that the 

 flowering season is from four to six 

 weeks in length. 



The exquisite color of the flower is 

 its principle recommendation, being a 

 beautiful shade of deep pure blue. 



