THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



143 



A Well-Kept Lawn 1 



and greener than it does in the sun, sim 

 ply because the farmer and the park and 

 cemetery superintendents do not water it. 

 They do not have the time, and would not 

 if they could. 



This continued watering brings the 

 roots to the surface only . to perish. It 

 produces a weak, forced growth of the 

 grass. What better combination could 

 you have to wear out a lawn than keep 

 ing up a continual forcing of growth by 

 water and- then clipping it off short with 

 the mowing machine? 



You will ask, &quot;What better can you 

 tell us to do, for we are determined to 

 have a green lawn?&quot; First, if your lawn 

 has been sodded on a hard clay or sown 

 on an inch or two of poor sandy soil, 

 dig it up and dig deep, and put in lots 

 of manure. If you can t do that and 

 your lawn turns brown with a week of 

 hot weather in June, then water thor 

 oughly once a week and then let it alone. 

 Once &quot;a week is often enough for any 

 lawn if thoroughly done. And under the 

 shade of trees remember that much less is 

 needed. 



If a very dry summer, a good soaking 

 once in two weeks is ample for grass that 

 is heavily shaded with trees. Unfortu 

 nately this, in many cases, is near the 

 sidewalk where your man or yourself 

 delight to stand hose in hand in your 

 shirt sleeves and nightly pour ice water 

 (for cold it often is) on the tender grass 

 in hot evenings of June, remarking to 

 every acquaintance who passes : Hot 

 enough for you?&quot; The struggling blade 

 of grass would say, could it make you 

 sensible of its desires, &quot;Shut up and 

 shut off and let me breathe in the warm 

 night air ; I am shivering with the cold 

 and my feet are wet.&quot; In protracted 

 drought grass will turn brown. The 

 poorer the soil the browner the grass, but 

 it can be kept green with an occasional 

 watering. And leave alone this ever 

 lasting and daily sprinkling. 



I should say in conclusion that all 

 lawns, big or little, should be under- 

 drained with tile or some other means 



as good. You can get on the lawn ear 

 lier in the spring and later in the fall, 

 but more important than that, it is bet 

 ter for the roots of the grass than land 

 that is boggy and saturated with mois 

 ture. All lawns may not need it, but 

 most do. 



The mowing machine keeps down all 

 troublesome weeds except dandelion and 

 plantain. The latter perishes if cut an 

 inch below the surface. For dandelion 

 I know no cure, and there is a rich prize 

 for the man who will discover some ef 

 fectual method for its extermination. 



LIBONIA. 



This is a very pretty little free-flow 

 ing plant that has been largely 

 crowded out by other perhaps more 

 showy plants. It makes in one sea 

 son a compact little plant from eight 

 inches to a foot in height, with small 

 shining leaves and profusely covered 

 with small, tubular, scarlet, yellow-tip 

 ped flowers. We used to grow it for 

 selling in pots, but many a hundred we 

 cut up and used in baskets and cut 

 flowers. A greenhouse temperature of 

 about 50 degrees suits it well. 



The terminal growths or the young 

 breaks of the cut down plants root 

 readily in winter and when planted out at 

 the end of May in good, light loam, grow 

 nicely during summer. It needs little 

 pinching, as its growth is branching. 

 They lift well in September and by the 

 holidays are in full flower. They are so 

 easily raised from cuttings that plants 

 are not worth keeping the second year. 



L. floribunda is the species we grew 

 for years, but a great improvement on 

 that is L. Penrhosiensis. 



LILIUM. 



This large and handsome genus of 

 bulbous plants gives us a few species 

 that are of first importance to the florist. 

 All are beautiful and where there is an 

 opportunity for their cultivation in the 



garden few flowering plants can be of 

 more interest. They are widely scattered 

 over the northern hemisphere and the 

 majority of them are hardy in our north 

 ern clime. 



The most important species to the 

 florist is L. longiflorum. I will say here 

 that there are several varieties of some 

 species. The variated character is prin 

 cipally difference of color or markings 

 of the flower. The lily that is known as 

 L. Harrisii, or the Bermuda lily, must be 

 a variety of longiflorum which the mild 

 climate of Bermuda has through years 

 of cultivation produced. There are cer 

 tainly characteristics possessed by it suf 

 ficient to make it a distinct variety. The 

 leaves are thinner and less glaucous, the 

 petals lack the substance of longiflorum, 

 the flower is larger, and it is more easily 

 forced into flower. Briefly, the plant 

 has not the substance of the true longi 

 florum. All of these traits are what 

 could be expected after years of cultiva 

 tion in a semi-tropical climate, for ex 

 cept in coloring what is it that produces 

 variations but environment? Within ten 

 years the Japan-grown bulbs of L. longi 

 florum have almost exclusively been 

 grown for Easter. They are free of dis 

 ease and in stoutness of texture of leaf 

 and flower more nearly resemble the orig 

 inal species. Mr. Farquhar, of Boston, 

 who has traveled extensively in the 

 islands of Japan, tells us that the lily 

 industry is confined to the temperate 

 northern islands and the bulbs are too 

 often dug before being ripe, and this 

 accounts for the Japan bulbs being oc 

 casionally very unsatisfactory. Mr. Far 

 quhar further adds that if the lily indus 

 try was taken up in the southern islands 

 they would have climatic conditions that 

 would produce as early matured bulbs as 

 Bermuda. Another reason why we 

 should not be too severe on the dealers 

 who sell us Japan bulbs is the fact that 

 they don t always get what they have 

 bought ana paid for. Although the Jap 

 anese deserve and have received the ad 

 miration of the world for their ability 

 and conduct of war ; yet as business men 

 they are very unreliable and do not al 

 ways stick to a bargain. 



The following cultural directions are 

 suitable for the Harrisii, Bermuda-grown 

 longiflorum and Japan longiflorum, ex 

 cept some slight differences which will 

 be noticed. At present the Harrisii and 

 what we know as Bermuda longiflorum 

 (the latter is the true longiflorum taken 

 to Bermuda and grown a few years) are 

 all imported from the Bermuda islands 

 and what with the disease and the tariff 

 the bulbs within three years have about 

 doubled in cost to us. Doubtless there 

 are experiments going on and surely 

 somewhere in our southern states in the 

 broad millions of square miles we have, 

 some place will be found where the longi- 

 florum can be grown and ripened early 

 enough to give us bulbs for Easter forc 

 ing. 



As soon as you receive the bnlbs get 

 them potted without delay. The bulbs 

 are loose-scaled, quite different from a 

 tulip, and would be injured by lying 

 around exposed to the air. We once 

 tried (as a means of saving labor) to 



