42 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



three boys will make 150 of them in a 

 few hours. These boxes will last sev 

 eral years if cleaned out and piled with 

 their bottoms up, but not if allowed 

 to lie around the yard half full of soil 

 till the following fall, or run over by 

 tue wagon, or when used to carry plants 

 to a bedding job to be left there ana 

 not called for. 



Oh, florists, I am not immaculate 

 myself in this respect, Dut how many 

 dollars you do waste in letting your 

 boxes, pots, flats, tools and implements 

 lie around in disorder. You are about 

 as bad as the slovenly farmers in a poor, 

 poverty-stricken farming district which 

 is always to be found wuuout going 

 very far. It is well known anu ad 

 mitted by the manufacturer that + the 

 .t-merican farmer took good care of his 



thing from decent potting soil to broken 

 glass, hoop iron and empty beer bot 

 tles. He rather peevishly replieu that 

 he had no time to spare and was glad 

 to get rid of the stuff out of the green 

 houses. That time excuse is the 

 worst of all and the man who lets his 

 wagon stand out in the sun till the hubs 

 are cracked has always the most time 

 to spin a yarn or see how much old 

 Bill Jones cows bring at the auction. 

 If my friend had had a pile for stuff 

 that was purely rubbish and another for 

 old soil and plants and vegetable mat 

 ter that would come useful some day it 

 would have been much time saved in 

 the end and some money. 



With this diversion we will return 

 to the bulbs. The flats as described 

 will hold sixty Romans, fifty Paper 



Hyacinths in Basket Trimmed with White Ribbon. 



agricultural implements and tools half 

 the factories could and would close 

 down. The scythe is hung in the apple- 

 tree, the plow is thrown out at the end 

 of the last furrow to bleach and rot 

 in the sun and rain, the harrow may be 

 dignified by being tilted up against the 

 fence, and the costly reaper lies out in 

 the yard for the children and chickens 

 to perch on. There is no time to clean 

 and put things away. The gossip of the 

 village smithy or rural postoffice must 

 be attended to. The prosperous farm 

 er s place is all contrary to this, and 

 as the florist is farming on a high 

 grade and costly plan, where the out 

 lay and receipts to the acre are enor 

 mous, it behooves him to take care of all 

 his implements and have them ship 

 shape and in place where they are al 

 ways ready to his hand. 



Some men can do twice as much on an 

 acre as another. It is order, system and 

 cleanliness that enable him to do it. 

 &quot;Dirt is matter out of place.&quot; That 

 is a true definition. I once found fault 

 with a man, who was then a partner, 

 that his rubbish pile contained every- 



Whites and from sixty to seventy-two 

 tulips, according to the size. Yellow 

 Prince is a large bulb, La Eeine is a 

 small one. I believe, as Mr. Ernst As- 

 miis said at Chicago years ago, that it 

 makes little difference in the flowering 

 how close the bulbs are. Even if touch 

 ing they will flower all right and save 

 room. 



We always do our bulb boxing out 

 side on a temporary bench where the 

 soil can be brought to the men by the 

 cart load. We fill the flats nearly full, 

 very loosely, and squeeze the bulb into 

 the soil till the top of the bulb is even 

 with the edge of the box. A few hand- 

 fuls of the soil fill up between the bulbs 

 and the job is done. All this is a very 

 quick operation. A good man will box 

 8,000 to 10,000 a day if supplied with 

 boxes and soil and another man to take 

 the boxes away when filled. 



Bulb houses have been spoken of, but 

 I never saw the need of them. We 

 once tried our earliest tulips under the 

 bench of a very cool house, covered with 

 an inch of soil. It was an en 

 tire failure. There is no better 



place for the flats when filled than the 

 surface of the open ground. We 

 smooth off a piece of ground and lay 

 out beds six or seven feet wide and 

 any desired length, leaving the same 

 widths between beds. We lay down 

 strips of old boards to keep the bot 

 tom of the flats away from the soil. 

 When one bed is covered with flats we 

 get out the hose and thoroughly water 

 the soil in the boxes. When the water 

 has soaked in we dig up the ground be 

 tween the beds and cover the bulbs with 

 this soil about three inches deep. We 

 never cut down the soil nearer than a 

 foot from the end or side of the boxes, 

 because they want to be well protected 

 there. The frost is sure to penetrate 

 into the beds from the sides, if any 

 where. 



Nothing more is done to the beds for 

 a month or two, or till severe winter 

 weather sets in, excepting it be a very 

 dry time. If it is dry give the beds a 

 thorough watering every week. Remem 

 bers the bulbs are not as though they 

 -.were planted out, and they get none of 

 the benefit of the moisture arising from 

 the depths of the ground, as they would 

 if planted in it, and the oulbs will not 

 make roots unless the soil is kept moist. 

 About the middle of December we throw 

 on about four inches of stable manure. 

 It is just as well to let the soil in the 

 flats be slightly frozen before covering 

 with the manure, as it will stop the 

 bulbs from growing up too long. If 

 too much manure is put on it will en 

 courage the bulbs to draw up to a great 

 length before spring, which will greatly 

 injure their handling. 



In many years we have never had 

 any difficulty in getting them in to 

 force. A mild day is sure to come, and 

 you can then get in enough for sev 

 eral weeks, keeping some of them in 

 reserve in a cool shed. If unprotected 

 by snow and the covering of soil is 

 frozen we bring in covering and all and 

 clean them off when thawed out. Out 

 of doors is their natural place and I 

 believe it is better for the bulbs to make 

 their roots there than in any house or 

 cellar you could build. 



Paper White narcissi we do not al 

 low to freeze, giving them the protec 

 tion of glass in addition to the manure, 

 but they are mostly into the houses be 

 fore very hard weather. 



Roman hyacinths will stand some 

 freezing, but must not be handled when 

 frozen. If frozen bring in the whole 

 covering with them and let them thaw 

 out in a very cool shed. If when frozen 

 they are put suddenly into heat, as you 

 would a tulip, they will be ruined. 



The Dutch hyacinths in pots we stand 

 in a frame on dry ashes and after cov- 

 gring with soil and litter prefer to cover 

 with shutters or glass to prevent very 

 hard freezing. Freezing may not hurt 

 the bulbs, but it breaks the pots and 

 pans. 



Roman hyacinths and Paper White 

 narcissi can be had in bloom from the 

 first of November on. They want the 

 light and no extra heat at any time. 

 Both are better when brought on slowly. 

 The Paper White, if well rooted, should 



