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The Florists^ Review 



Afbu. 8. 1920 



HOME-GROWN 



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AMEBICAKIZING EASTEB UIJES. 



Department of Agriculture's Work. 



That the Americanization of the 

 Easter lily is entirely practicable — a 

 fact which eventually may make florists 

 wholly independent of foreign bulb 

 growers — has been demonstrated by the 

 work of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture horticulturists at the de- 

 partment 's experimental farm, at Ar- 

 lington, Va. Just now several hundred 

 plants are coming into bloom. They 

 have been grown from seed produced 

 on the farm instead of from bulbs im- 

 ported from Japan or Bermuda, as is 

 the practice of florists. At the present 

 time approximately $250,000 is commer- 

 cially expended each year in importing 

 Easter lily bulbs. 



Not only are the agricultural de- 

 partment's lily plants a thoroughly 

 American product, but the manner of 

 growing them brings them to flower 

 in approximately fifteen or eighteen 

 months, whereas foreign-grown bulbs 

 usually require three years to produce. 

 This shortening of the growing period 

 before blooming not only saves much 

 time, but also lessens the opportunity 

 for the bulbs to become infected with 

 disease, thereby materially reducing the 

 risk of the grower. 



Growing Them Outdoors. 



Some of the plants now in bloom at 

 Arlington have g^own from bulbs which 

 had been discarded after they had 

 flowered once, showing that the practice 

 of throwing away such bulbs is not 

 always to be followed. Another fea- 

 ture of the experiments has been to 

 grow some of the Easter lilies outdoors, 

 whereas this has been commonly 

 thought an unsafe practice as far north 

 as Washington. It has been found that 

 Easter lily bulbs will winterkill in the 

 gulf coast states, while surviving out- 

 doors in the colder regions. The usual 

 mildness of the extreme south produces 

 top growth which is killed when a sud- 

 den drop in temperature occurs, whereas 

 the normal cold farther north keeps 

 the bulbs dormant. 



Methods to Follow. 



The federal horticulturists point out 

 that any one of four different programs 

 may be followed in producing ail- 

 American Easter lilies. One of these 

 is to begin by making pollinations at 

 Easter. This will give ripe seed the 

 following June, which, if planted early 

 in August, will produce plants ready for 

 2-inch pots in January and 4-inch pots 

 in March or April. If these plants are 

 well handled they will show scattering 

 blooms the following June. All the 

 progeny, whether flowered or not, can 

 be tried for four or six weeks during 

 August and September. Then, during 

 the winter months, ten to twenty-five 

 per cent of the most promising ones can 

 be forced to bloom for the following 

 Easter. 



The second method of procedure is to 

 defer the planting of seed from August, 



the date indicated in the f oreging, until 

 about January 1. It will then germinate 

 in about half the time. The seedlings 

 will be ready for 2-inch pots in March 

 and, as soon as the danger of frost is 

 past, they can be put in open ground 

 six inches apart each way, in beds. 

 With suitable fertility and moisture, 

 scattering blooms will begin to appear 

 in July and flowering will continue until 

 frost. Those which have not bloomed 

 before frost can be potted from the 

 field and their growth continued in 

 pots. Those which have bloomed in the 

 field can be potted and forced the same 

 way as imported bulbs. 



October Digging Possible. 



The third way consists in digging up 

 and drying all the seedlings early in 

 October, instead of letting them stand 

 until frost, as indicated in the previous 

 paragraph. After they are dry, they 



can be planted outdoors again abou- 

 November 1, with a good dressing o..' 

 well rotted manure after the ground 

 freezes. These bulbs should remain ir, 

 the ground until the following Sep 

 tember and then be potted for winter 

 forcing. The smallest of these and the 

 stem bulblets should be held until 

 November, when they should be planted 

 outdoors again to continue the propaga- 

 tion. 



The fourth method recommended by 

 federal horticulturists makes the grow- 

 er independent of the greenhouse, the 

 chief adv^rUtage being that it shortens 

 the time of bringing the plants into 

 bloom. The seed secured in the manner 

 indicated above can be sown in a cold- 

 frame in the autumn and then trans- 

 planted and spaced after it has made 

 sufficient growth in the spring. Few, 

 if any, of these plants will bloom the 

 first year. In the autumn they can be 

 dug up and dried off and then reset 

 about November 1. A good percentage 

 should be large enough to force after 

 the second year *s growth and all of them 

 after the third year's growth. The 

 investigators are inclined to favor the 

 second method of procedure indicated 

 in the foregoing. 



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MOTT-LY MUSINGS 



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"Charming!" ejaculated Miss Eileen 

 Low, daughter of Stuart Low, of Stuart 

 Low & Co., London, England, who has 

 the honor of being the first member of 

 the fair sex to represent a European es- 

 tablishment in America in the history of 

 horticulture. It was a* the Boston 

 flower show and the fair visitor was 

 viewing the wonderful display of 

 acacias grown by Thomas Eoland, of 

 Nahant, Mass., acknowledged by those 

 qualified to speak as being unequaled 

 in the world, granting that, while the 

 exhibits of orchids were superb, yet 

 they could be duplicated. "It was a 

 source of disappointment when I learned 

 that the ship would not reach New 

 York in time to allow my visiting the 

 international flower show, which I am 

 glad to learn was so successful. The 

 fame of the Grand Central Palace as an 

 ideal exhibition hall has spread across 

 the ocean. I can imagine how, with its 

 vast and elegant proportions, a splendid 

 collection of plants would appear. Its 

 wealth amazes one and has already con- 

 vinced me that the reports I have 

 heard of the progress of horticulture 

 in America have not been exaggerated." 

 • • • • 



Motoring out to the Aitken green- 

 houses, at Agawam, Mass., through a 

 dense fog, Mark Aitken, of Springfield, 

 Mass., observed that the outlook for the 

 retailer who grows his own stock was 

 never brighter than now; in other 

 words, it is not what will be the best 

 seller, but how to produce the goods 

 fast enough. His sales show a large in- 

 crease over previous years and the 

 bookings for Easter were in proportion. 

 Eber Holmes, the grower, called atten- 

 tion to the choice line of Holland bulb- 

 ous stock grown in flats, then panned 

 by the night fireman, a big job easily 

 worked out. Lilies, pot roses and hy- 

 drangeas lead, with all the varied as- 



sortment encouraged by the introduc- 

 tion of plant receptacles from the pygmy 

 to the giant. Looking beyond, one sees 

 a fine line of candytuft for Mothers' 

 day, ten weeks' stocks for Memorial 

 day, gladioli for early summer and 

 chrysanthemums for fall. "In this 

 way," observed Mr. Holmes, "the lead- 

 ers act as reminders, so to speak, of the 

 various important seasons; in other 

 words, the grower's calendar." 



• * • • 



Chatterton Warburton, of Fall Biver, 

 Mass., commenting upon the short spell 

 of bright weather, observed that he 

 cannot recall when blooming plants and 

 other crops responded so readily. An 

 abnormal amount of funeral work has 

 used up all kinds of stock, though set 

 pieces are stUl popular with the fac- 

 tory workers, who like something big 

 for their usually liberal investment. 



• • • • 



H. W. Littlefield, of Worcester, Mass., 

 made a visit to Boston and found the 

 pulse-beat of the Hub flower market 

 rising rapidly as Easter approached. 



• • • • 



"Quite out of my element," ob- 

 served William Schlatter, of William 

 Schlatter & Son, of Springfield, Mass., 

 "but at this Easter season, oversight at 

 the greenhouse end is profitable, while 

 our salespeople are kept busy booking 

 orders. Then when the rush comes 

 everyone is posted. Experience gained 

 in the short space of time spent among 

 the stock is well worth the change." 



• • « • 



"Lilies are somewhat behind, but 

 carnations are much to the front and, 

 believe me, of the two the divine flower 

 will show the largest net profit," is the 

 opinion of R. C. Carey, of South Hadley 

 Falls, Mass., who is also strong on Hol- 

 land bulbous stock, which was just 

 right for Easter. W. M. 



