13* 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



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 end of May in good, light loam, 

 grow nicely during summer. It needs 

 little pinching, as its growth is 

 branching. They lift well in Septem- 

 ber 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 give us a few species 

 that are of first importance to the 

 florist. All are beautiful and where 

 there is an opportunity for their cul- 

 tivation in the garden few flowering 

 plants can be of more interest. They 

 are widely scattered over the North- 

 ern Hemisphere and the majority of 

 them are hardy in our northern 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 char- 

 acter is principally 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 cul- 

 tivation produced. There are certain- 

 ly characteristics possessed by it suf- 

 ficient to make it a distinct variety. 

 The leaves are thinner and less glau- 

 cous, 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 sub- 

 stance of the true longiflorum. All of 

 these traits are what could be ex- 

 pected after years of cultivation in a 

 semi-tropical climate, for except in 

 coloring what is it that produces va- 

 riations but environment? 



The following cultural directions 

 are suitable for the Harrisii, Bermuda 

 grown longiflorum and Japan longi- 

 florum, except some slight differences 

 which will be noticed. At present the 

 Harrisii and what we know as Bermu- 

 da 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 longiflorum can be grown and 



ripened early enough to give us bulbs 

 for Easter forcing. 



As soon as you receive the bulbs get 

 them potted without delay. The bulbs 

 are loose scaled, quite different from 

 a tulip, and must be injured by lay- 

 ing around exposed to the air. We 

 once tried (as a means of saving la- 

 bor) to force our 5 to> 7 inch bulbs in 

 square boxes holding a dozen plants 

 and about five inches of soil. It was 

 by no means a success. They were 

 very awkward to handle and for some 

 reason not accounted for a large per- 

 centage came blind. 



We put the 5 to 7 bulbs in 5-inch 

 pots, leaving the top of bulb about 

 even with surface of soil. For those 

 we want early, say for December cut- 

 ting, we put at once on the bench in 

 a shady house and after one watering 

 cover the pots lightly with excelsior. 

 It keeps them from drying out and 

 does not prevent the lily from push- 

 ing up. Remove it as soon as the 

 growth is up an inch. Water sparing- 

 ly till the growth starts. As there are 

 few roots they don't want much water. 

 Later batches of this size we put out- 

 side in frames and there the few 

 inches of covering is of still greater 

 service, as the sun would daily dry 

 out and bake the soil. Be sure that 

 the frames you stand them, in have a 

 dry bottom and that water does not 

 remain under the pots. 



I like to have the lilies in frames 

 because if we get several days of co- 

 pious rain, say in October, it would 

 be altogether too much for them. 

 And there you have at hand the means 

 of covering them with glass. 



The 7 to 9 bulbs we put into 4-inch 

 and treat the same. We were told by 

 a neighbor that he had found that 

 starting the bulbs in a 4-inch and 

 after a time giving them a shift, re- 

 tarded them two weeks, or made 

 them later by two weeks than those 

 put at once into their flowering pot, a 

 6-inch. We have not found it so and 

 shall continue to put the large bulbs 

 of Harrisii and the Bermuda grown 

 longiflorum first into the 4-inch and 

 after a growth of four or five inches 

 shift them into a 6-inch, or the strong- 

 est into a 7-inch. 



We find the smaller bulbs (5 to !) 

 the best to grow for cutting, for the 

 reason that you can make a better 

 bunch or vase of flowers with stems 

 of -two or three flowers and a bud 

 than you can a stalk of say four flow- 

 ers and three buds to open. 



The Bermuda grown longiflorum is 

 now the favorite lily for Easter. It 

 makes a finer plant and a better, and 

 grows with ordinary care about the 

 most desirable height, two to three 

 feet. But it is well for church deco- 

 rations to have some of the Harrisii, 

 for if they are six feet high many 

 people will think them of great merit. 



It is not only at Easter or Christ- 

 mas or Decoration Day that we want 

 the lilies. From November on till 

 June there is use for them. At wed- 



dings they are often a leading feature 

 and at funerals they are in constant 

 use. ; 1 1'[ 



Although desirable to have a con- 

 tinuous supply, Easter .is the time 

 when your main crop will be wanted, 

 and every effort should be made to 

 get them right to the day. Though 

 the great majority of plants are sold 

 singly in 5, 6 or 7-inch pots, there is 

 always a good sale for a number of 

 large pots, about a 9-inch, with three 

 plants of Bermuda longiflorum. For 

 this purpose we would only use those 

 bulbs. Here is where the advantage 

 of starting them in the 4-inch is ap- 

 parent. You can select three plants 

 that are all about the same size and 

 degree of earliness, and if carefully 

 handled in shifting they will be all 

 three in bloom at the same time. You 

 may have another pot with three 

 plants not so forward, but they also 

 will be in flower at Easter because 

 the heat you give them afterwards will 

 regulate that. 



If let alone in one house at one 

 temperature a batch of lilies would 

 vary in time of flowering a month or 

 six weeks. It is entirely by moving 

 them about into different degrees of 

 temperature that you can get, say 900 

 out of a thousand lilies to be in flower 

 the same week. 



We will go back to the 7 to 9 bulbs 

 we left in the frame in 4-inch pots. If 

 you leave them there till middle of 

 December, "which for want of room 

 you may have to do, don't let a sud- 

 den hard frost sweep down on them. 

 Though almost or quite a hardy plant 

 they have been grown somewhat ar- 

 tificially and ten to fifteen degrees of 

 frost without any covering will hurt 

 the foliage and greatly disfigure them. 

 I can speak from experience on this 

 and would rather the lilies had little 

 or no frost. 



If Easter is early you will want to 

 bring them in by the first of Novem- 

 ber. If three or four inches above the 

 pot we then shift into the flowering 

 pot and this enables us to fill around 

 tjie stem an inch or less with soil, 

 which is a help to the roots, which 

 often come out above the bulb. 



We start in with a night tempera- 

 ture of 45 to 50 degrees and increase 

 to 60 later. I think a night heat of 60 

 in a light house and this is what 

 lilies should always have till they 

 open their flowers grows them nice- 

 ly, and can't be called heavy forcing. 

 There are times frequently when to 

 get the backward plants in bloom we 

 have to give them 70 at night and 85 

 to 90 in day time. Beyond that de- 

 gree of heat it is not safe, for I have 

 seen the young buds when an inch or 

 so long just dry up. 



You cannot get your Easter crop of 

 lilies in without a great deal of labor 

 in moving them around, and with the 

 experience of years you will yet be 

 anxious, as to getting all at the right 

 time. No possible rule can be laid 



