20 



The Florists' Review 



February 8, 1917. 



CSm LETTEa^y^<» DEADEG6 



CUBE FOR PRIMULA POISONING. 



Under "Open Letters from Readers" 

 there recently appeared several articles 

 in which the writers suggested remedies 

 for primula poisoning of the hands and 

 face. Two of my family, as well as 

 myself and an employee, ar^- subject 

 to this form of poisoning, but we have 

 a simple remedy that never fails to 

 stamp out the irritation whenever it 

 appears. Instantaneous relief is found 

 by applying to the affected parts a mix- 

 ture consisting of equal parts of lime 

 water and olive oil. The one afflicted 

 does not have to wait even two or three 

 days for results. The irritation is 

 checked at once and in a day or two the 

 effects of the poisoning have disap- 

 peared. Fred C. Morris. 



TOMATOES UNDER GLASS. 



Here is a new one and a good one for 

 your subscriber, T. E. H. — Can., who 

 asks for the best method of poUenizing 

 tomatoes. Providing his houses have 

 electric wiring, as have most of those 

 recently, erected, let him take a portable 

 electric fan with a long feed wire; with 

 one of the boys to jar the plants and 

 shake the pollen loose, let him move the 

 fan about in the house, directing the 

 breeze over the plants, first from one 

 angle and then from another. The gen- 

 tle breeze created by the fan will dis- 

 tribute the pollen thoroughly through- 

 out the house. The work should be done 

 on a bright day, when the air in the 

 house is as dry as possible. 



Wo recently published a small adver- 



tisement of tomato seed in The Review 

 and received so many inquiries that we 

 are inclined to think a nice business 

 might be built up on greenhouse-grown 

 tomato seeds. So far as we know, no one 

 in this country is growing tomato seeds 

 under glass. The seedsmen here supply 

 only outdoor-grown seeds, but the Eng- 

 lish seedsmen recognize the importance 

 of supplying indoor-grown seed, grown 

 and ripened under the artificial condi- 

 tions required of the plants in the future 

 crop. Winter crops of tomatoes in Eng- 

 land yield ten to twelve pounds to the 

 plant, while in this country the winter 

 does not average over two to four 

 pounds to the plant. By judicious seed 

 selection from disease-resistant, prolific 

 plants grown in the greenhouse, we 

 think we can obtain just as large a crop 

 as the growers do in England. 



Willey's Farm. 



WHEN FORMOSA BULBS FAIL. 



I force only a few Easter lilies, but 

 enough of them to know that the lily 

 grower has his troubles and sorrows. 

 During the last two years I have visited 

 growers who make Easter lilies a fea- 

 ture, and, to a man, each of them com- 

 plained, and vigorously, too. When one 

 sees 100 lilies in the hands of a com- 

 petent grower, lilies that were all potted 

 the same day, with some of them com- 

 plete failures, others with twisted foli- 

 age and those that look fairly well 

 ranging in height from two to eighteen 

 inches, one knows at once that there 

 is something vitally wrong with the 



\ I t r r I I ) t> 



At lit lt> 





• *!>•■■ "^••^'~ •- ■ 



bulbs. My observations lead me to 

 place the entire blame on the bulb grow- 

 ers in Japan, or Formosa; not in ship- 

 ping diseased biilbs, but in harvesting 

 the builds .before they are mature, in 

 order to beat the other fellows to the 

 market. The Japanese in a way at- 

 tempt to put blinds over our eyes by 

 packing the bulbs in soil, so that the 

 bulbs may ripen en route. The real 

 trouble is not here, as this method 

 brings the bulbs to us in a fresh and 

 plump condition. The actual injury is 

 done when the growers, in their anx- 

 iety to reach our market early, cut 

 off the tops too soon and thereby rob 

 the bulbs of Nature's finishing touch, 

 which is so essential to perfect matur- 

 ity. 



It is well known that Nature's last 

 effort, in all such cases, is her greatest. 

 At the last moment, so to speak, she 

 draws on the reserve forces in stems 

 and leaves, and finishes her work. This 

 is easily evident to any onion grower. 

 He can easily see the superficial effect 

 on the bulbs at the last stages of 

 ripening. Of how much greater im- 

 portance must be the effect on the 

 vitals of the bulbs! If we harvest lily 

 bulbs before Nature says "Ready," we 

 are certain to suffer. 



The bulbs may appear all right, ' ' ripe 

 and solid," but if they have been 

 robbed of Nature's cream by the un- 

 scrupulous or ignorant grower, then 

 we, at this end of the line, are certain 

 to suffer. I maintain that a few days 

 are of such vital importance that a 

 grower, having an acre or two to 

 harvest, may begin to harvest too soon, 

 but the latter half of his crop will be 

 perfectly matured before he reaches it. 

 Nature puts her "Ready" sign on every 

 bulb in the dead stem. Every grower 

 knows full well when they should be 

 dug. Our importers are to blame if 

 they hurry orders. I predict that in 

 the near future the slogan of the lily 

 bulb dealer will be "Perfectly matured 

 bulbs," and the pot grower will know 

 what to expect in his crop and will 

 hold the importer strictly to account. 



We Americans count too much on 

 days, and too little on the ills our hurry 

 may bring. The lily business is run on 

 a too high speed. We must * ' shift into 

 second" if we would attain that maxi- 

 mum success which Nature intends and 

 for which we all work. 



S. C. Templin. 



THE NEBRASKANS. 



I would like to make a statement in 

 regard to the report in The Review in 

 the issue of January 25, about the 

 "Nebraskans' Meeting." The Ne- 

 braska Florists' Society up to the last 

 session did not have an independent or- 

 ganization, but held its annual meeting 

 in conjunction with the Nebraska State 

 Horticulturists' Society; also the flower 

 show was staged under that society, 

 which also paid the premiums offered, 

 as was the case this year. 



Paul B. Floth. 



Halftone of the Floor Plan for the Philadelphia Show of the American Rose Society 



VINE FOR SUN PORCH. 



I enclose a rough diagram of my sun 

 porch. This porch is heated in winter by 

 hot water and is enclosed with double 

 windows. The temperature probably 

 never falls below 50 degrees at night 

 and rises to 70 and 80 degrees during the 

 day. The north wall, of course, is the 

 side of the house, and the chimney from / 

 the furnace runs up through it. The wall,/ 



