lUBBK 21, 1916. 



The Florists' Review 



15 



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VIRGINIA'S BULB FIELDS 



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THE AMEBICAN HOLLAND. 



In Ole County No'folk. 



Norfolk county, Virginia, long time 

 famed as one of the largest truck-pro- 

 <iucing sections of the country, now 

 boasts the growing, of another commod- 

 ity, which differs mainly from the 

 other products, in the ' minds of the 

 negro workers in the fields, in that it 

 cannot be eaten. The passer-by along 

 the roads is informed, in response to the 

 perpetual inquiry, that, while the things 

 grown look like onions, they really are 

 ^'bnbs," and will kill him if he eats 

 them. 



The Portsmouth side of the river, on 

 account of soil conditions principally, 

 has the largest acreage devoted to 

 bulbs. Here the soil, a sandy loam, is 

 particularly adapted, being practically 

 identical with that seen in the bulb- 

 growing sections of Holland, and pro- 

 ducing some varieties of narcissi, tulips, 

 «tc., that even surpass the imported 

 stocks in blooming qualities and have 

 an additional advantage of blooming 

 from a week to ten days earlier, a point 

 that readily will be appreciated by 

 all forcers of this stock. 



The industry has long since passed 

 the experimental stage, a period full 

 ■of obstacles, such as encountered in 

 overy new enterprise. The intensive 

 mode of planting used by Europeans 

 «ould not be applied here, as the utter 

 lack of skilled labor, coupled with the 

 wages demanded by the most igno- 

 rant types available, made this imprac- 

 ticable. This condition was offset, 

 however, by the cheapness of land. A 

 system of team work, already largely 

 in use in the truck fields, was adopted, 

 and workers could be obtained that 

 were familiar with the system. The 

 result shows the bulb fields a series 

 of ridges and hollows. The planting 

 is accomplished by throwing out two 

 furrows, one each way, then cultivating 

 to the desired width, which also levels 

 the bottom of the row. The bulbs are 

 set out and the covering is done by 

 merely reversing the plow action. In 

 lifting, the rows are opened in a like 

 manner, the bulbs being then forked 

 out in the middle. The saving of hand 

 labor thus accomplished more than com- 

 pensates for the extravagant use of 

 land. ^ 



The Home-grown Varieties, 



The selection of varieties was next 

 taken up, and here some real trouble 

 was encountered. It soon was appar- 

 ent that as many varieties as shown by 

 growers in the old country could not 

 be successfully handled without incur- 

 ring much extra expense in keeping the 

 stocks true, as to the workers "a bulb 

 is a bulb," They have no idea of 

 variety. Then, again, a few of the most 

 desirable varieties of narcissi were 

 either utter failures in this soil or 

 else propagated so slowly as to make 

 their culture unremunerative. Notable 

 among these was the double Von Sion, 

 Telamonius plenus, which', in spite of 

 all efforts, persisted in coming green, 

 •?rjt>i the symmetry of the flower not 



discernible. Experiments culminated 

 in the selection of narcissi of probably 

 twenty-five varieties, chief among 

 which are prineeps maximus. Emperor, 

 Empress, Grandee, Silver Spur, Sir 

 Watkin, Barrii conspicuus, Mrs. Lang- 

 try, Campernelle, poeticus Pheasant's 

 Eye, ornatus and prsecox grandiflorus, 

 and among the newer ones King Alfred, 

 Madame de Graaff and Glory of Leiden. 

 In tulips the earlier types were dis- 

 carded altogether, further plantings be- 

 ing made of the May-flowering and 

 Darwins, which were highly successful. 

 The planting of the different varieties 

 now is regulated so that each occupies 

 a separate cut or parcel of land, being 

 replaced by the same variety after each 

 digging, which thus minimizes the pos- 

 sibility of mixing. 



Sales and Prices. 



The first week in September finds the 

 lifting of narcissi practically complete. 

 The stocks for selling are always the 

 first to be dug, as only by early lifting 

 will the bulbs have a good appearance 

 and hold a nice skin. For this purpose 

 bulbs are obtained that have been 

 planted for the purpose some two or 

 three years previously, and they average 

 over seventy-five per cent salable, 

 either as double or single nose. With 



this complete the propagating work is 

 taken up and bulbs are lifted that have 

 been down from three to five years, 

 depending on variety. These bulbs are 

 generally split up quite small and show 

 an increase in this period of from 300 

 to 1,000 per cent. These splits form 

 first-size bulbs in two or three seasons, 

 and thus the evolution. Tulips are 

 taken up every year, usually as soon as 

 the foliage matures. A large bulb of 

 these will produce an abundance of off- 

 sets every season, as well as retain its 

 original size. 



This season's liftings show stocks of 

 unusual fineness, the ideal weather con- 

 ditions that prevailed during the 

 months of May and June permitting an 

 extended maturing season, which is re- 

 flected in the size and substance of the 

 bulbs. 



Contrary to the general belief, these 

 liome-grown bulbs are being handled 

 extensively by large eastern dealers of 

 repute. The unwarranted prejudice 

 does not exist with them, and if large 

 repeat orders for carload lots are evi- 

 dence of the satisfaction they are giv- 

 ing, then the bulbs must be doing all 

 and more than the growers claim for 

 them. 



The prices are necessarily governed 

 by European quotations, but the buyer 

 is given an opportunity to save the cost 

 of import freight and duty, which aver- 

 ages about $2 per thousand. In spite 

 of the threatened dumping of excessive 

 Dutch stock in this country, no demand 

 has been felt for lower prices, and at 

 the rate orders are coming in it is cer- 

 tain that there will again be no surplus, 



W. J. G, 



ODEN LCTTEl^^-» READEDB 



A NATIONAL FLOWER. 



Although I never saw an iris that 

 was not beautiful, yet a feeling of pro- 

 test takes possession of me whenever I 

 read of its being proposed as our na- 

 tional flower. The iris is not any cer- 

 tain, definitely known thing, but any 

 one of a thousand more or less similar 

 or dissimilar flowers. 



Is it native? Some varieties of it are, 

 but its commonly known forms are 

 not. As a matter of fact, the native 

 species are but slightly known, com- 

 pared with, say, the goldenrod. The 

 most familiar form of the iris, the so- 

 called German sort, is not native. It 

 is not in any way characteristic of the 

 country or of the people. It does not 

 make any such intimate appeal to the 

 people as does the goldenrod, the water 

 lily, dogwood, violet, wild rose, field 

 daisy, hawthorn, wild crab, or even the 

 Spanish needle in its fields of burnished 

 gold. 



As to beauty, that is a matter of per- 

 sonal fancy. But, as between the gold- 

 enrod and the iris, give me the golden- 

 rod. Most persons, I think, would 

 agree with me in this opinion. Who 

 ever heard of people swarming into the 

 country, or anywhere else, on foot, in 

 buggies, in autos or on suburban trol- 

 ley lines, to gather the iris, as they go 



to gather the goldenrod? The Americam 

 people love the goldenrod, weed though 

 it may be, but they do not specially 

 love the iris and probably never will. 

 Benjamin C, Auten. 



CHAMPIONS THE IBIS, 



In The Review of September 7 I read 

 an article by C. S. Harrison, of York, 

 Neb,, which appealed to me strongly. 



I have been growing Iris Germanica 

 for a number of years and some of my 

 original roots came from Mr, Harrison's 

 fields. He wrote earnestly in advocat- 

 ing the iris as the national flower, but 

 he did not name all the good qualities 

 of the iris. 



At shipping time in the fall of 1914 

 small bulbs were torn off the divisions 

 and thrown on the ground because they 

 were too small to send out. The follow- 

 ing spring, after all the freezing and 

 thawing, I was looking over the beds 

 to see about the labels of the varieties 

 that might have been broken or thrown 

 out by the frost, I found that the dis- 

 carded bulbs were growing out at th« 

 crowns and that some of them had only 

 one small root left; the others had been 

 torn off by the ice and snow. I placed 

 them back in the rows where the 

 original ones were, and this fall I can- 

 not tell them apart. They are as strong 

 and as sturdy as any of the rest. 



