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15 



FORCING LILIES FOR 



AN EARLY EASTER 



Because Easter comes early this year, April 4, lilies must he constantly 

 pivshed to have them in hloom for that day. The cost of the hulhs and the 

 prices that prohahly will he ohtained make careful culture valuable to every- 

 one who is forcing giganteums for Easter. 





NLY a small number of 

 lilies were forced for 

 Easter in 1919 and most 

 of them were from cold 

 storage. War conditions 

 prevented any of the 1918 

 crop coming to America 

 and this caused a great 

 dearth of the great Easter 

 flower. This year condi- 

 tions are different and, in spite of the 

 rumored short crop in Japan and the 

 sinking of one large cargo of bulbs, 

 there appears to be a fairly ample sup- 

 ply for next Easter's needs. While 

 small lots of Harrisii, Bermuda grown, 

 and formosum are to be seen, they will 

 cut but a small figure in gross supplies, 

 as will lilies grown in the south. At 

 least nine-tenths of all Easter lilies will 

 be giganteums. 



In this connection it is well to state 

 that the trade uses the word "gigan- 

 teum" rather loosely. There is a tall- 

 growing, noble lily named giganteum, 

 a native of the Himalayan mountains, 

 which has been cultivated in Europe 

 for many years and, to a limited extent, 

 in America. I have seen spikes of this 

 lily flowering in August in Great Brit- 

 ain ten to twelve feet high and its ap- 

 pearance is truly stately. European 

 readers of our trade 

 papers are often a 

 little confused by 

 the use of the term 

 "giganteum lilies" 

 . as advertised here 

 and do not at first 

 grasp the fact that 

 a large- flowered 

 form of L i 1 i u m 

 longiflorum is re- 

 ferred to. 



PuBb Plants. 



In order to flower 

 giganteums for Eas- 

 ter, from twelve to 

 fifteen weeks from 

 potting to market- 

 ing is necessary, ac- 

 cording to the sea- 

 son and still more 

 to the temperatures 

 at command. Easter 

 this year comes at 

 an early date and 

 plants will, in most 

 cases, need pushing 

 from start to finish. 



The old plan, and 

 it is a good one in 

 the case of most 

 varieties of lilies, is 

 to pot the bulbs, 

 place them in a 



frame or cold cellar, cover with leaves, 

 straw, moss or some similar material 

 and leave in a comparatively low tem- 

 perature until the pots are nicely filled 

 with roots and the tops started a little. 

 Then the plants can be placed on the 

 bench, watered and sprayed regularly 

 and given a warm temperature. In the 

 case of giganteums, this treatment will 

 hardly answer, more particularly as 

 growers do not in many cases receive 

 their bulbs until the middle or end of 

 December. 



Potting the Bulbs. 



The average giganteum bulb needs a 

 6-inch pot, but if you chance to be 

 short of this size when the bulbs come 

 in, 4-inch pots will serve. I like to 

 use a mixture of three-fourths loam and 

 one-fourth old manure for compost, and 

 if the soil chances to be quite heavy, it 

 is an advantage to add some sharp sand 

 to make it more porous. Just cover the 

 bulb with soil and be sure to leave 

 ample space for water. If the soil is 

 damp at potting time, no water is 

 needed; if it is dry, a little may be given. 

 After potting, stand the pots below the 

 benches, or several deep on the benches, 

 and cover them with straw in order 

 to prevent their drying out. 





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Such a House of Lilies will Represent Real Money this Easter. 



As soon as Christmas stock is out of 

 the way the lilies should have the bench 

 space, although no harm is done if they 

 are left below the benches until they are 

 three or four inches high. One point 

 which should be specially emphasized 

 is that in the early stages of growth all 

 lilies should be kept on the dry side. An 

 excess of water will cause the roots to 

 decay and the shoots will have a sickly, 

 diseased appearance, or, as some grow- 

 ers express it, the plants develop a 

 "curliensis" type. When the foliage 

 curls up you can be sure that such plants 

 are going to be valueless, and do not 

 waste space with them. 



A few words about temperatures. If 

 your bulbs arrived in good season and 

 were given a temperature of 50 to 55 

 degrees, they will come on all right if 

 given 60 degrees after January 15. I 

 like to allow twelve weeks from the time 

 the growth shows until the plants are in 

 full bloom, in an average night tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees. Now, it is pos- 

 sible that many small growers cannot 

 command this heat. If not, you must, 

 for an early Easter, give the lilies the 

 warmest bench you have, and if heating 

 pipes run below them all the better. In 

 the late stages of g^rowth, after the buds 

 can be seen, night temperatures of 70 

 degrees can be given 

 and the use of tepid 

 water in spraying 

 helps in some meas- 

 ure to accelerate the 

 rate of growth. 

 With giganteums 

 received late, not 

 less than 60 degrees 

 at night must be 

 maintained. This 

 lily will stand hard 

 forcing better than 

 any other I h a v e 

 acquaintance with. 



Buds at Lent. 



Giganteum is nat- 

 urally a dwarf lily 

 under cool culture. 

 It is apt to come too 

 dwarf. To draw up 

 the stems somewhat, 

 a shade on the glass 

 helps, but this must 

 be light. As soon 

 as the buds show, 

 and this should be 

 when Lent begins, 

 a clear forty days 

 before Easter, feed- 

 ing can be started. 

 Liquid cow manure 

 or sheep manure is 

 good, also nitrate of 



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