Fkbruauy 5, 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



29 



the day temperature, when the sun is 

 shining, might run up to 70 degrees! 

 Whatever information you can give me 

 will be much appreciated. 



J. V. L.— N. Y. 



HOW VALLEY CAME THBOUGH. 



An Affair Between Nations. 



Making free with a familiar quota- 

 tion, one may say that "there is a 

 diplomacy that shapes our imports, 

 near-German though they be." At 

 least, that was the case in the incident 

 related below by Sydney B. Wertheimer, 

 of Wertheimer Bros.,* New York. One 

 can see in it, too, not only another 

 triumph of the perennial Yankee wit, 

 but also a suggestion of the far-reach- 

 ing interests of the florists' business. 

 Mr. Wertheimer writes: 



"Mrs. Wertheimer and I last week 

 had the pleasure of dining with Dr. 

 Maurice Egan, recently United States 

 minister to Denmark, as his guests. Dr. 

 Egan, who is completing a lecture tour, 

 is well known as a versatile writer and, 

 due to his wide knowledge of European 

 diplomatic affairs, has rendered inesti- 

 mable service to our government, par- 

 ticularly during the war. He related 

 many interesting anecdotes relative to 

 his experiences during three successive 

 presidential administrations. Particu- 

 larly amusing were his descriptions of 

 the visits of Dr. Cook and of the Ford 

 peace party to Copenhagen. 



"In the course of the conversation, 

 Dr. Egan related an incident of particu- 

 lar interest to florists: 



Bluffing the British. 



"During the British blockade, be- 

 fore our country had actually entered 

 the war, a large New York importer of 

 horticultural supplies frantically be- 

 sieged the Department of State and 

 sent repeated cablegrams requesting 

 Dr. Egan to secure permission from the 

 British authorities for the exportation 

 from Denmark of an immense shipment 

 of lily of the valley pips of Danish 

 growth. 



"Dr. Egan called upon the British 

 minister, at Copenhagen, and requested 

 permission to remove the embargo on 

 the shipment. The British minister re- 

 plied, ' My dear doctor, we cannot al- 

 low these plants to go through, because 

 it will cause a great shortage in the 

 Danish market and the Danes will re- 

 plenish their supplies in Germany.' 

 Dr. Egan replied that this was rather 

 far-fetched and that he could not see 

 wherein Germany would benefit by the 

 exportation of this shipment, but his 

 lordship was obdurate and Dr. Egan 

 left without success. 



"Upon receipt, the following day, of 

 another cabled request from Washing- 

 ton, to endeavor to rush this shipment 

 through, he again called upon the Brit- 

 ish minister and said to him, 'My dear 

 lord, you do not seem to realize the im- 

 portance of permitting this shipment of 

 lily of the valley pips to go through. 

 You may not be aware that in the 

 United States it is the custom of men, 

 at all our weddings, to wear a bouton- 

 niere of lily of the valley in their coat 



lapel and also the custom of brides to 

 carry a bouquet of lily of the valley. 

 You know President Wilson is about to 

 be married and if this shipment does 

 not go through it may seriously inter- 

 fere with the success of the event.' 



" 'Well, Dr. Egan,' said the British 

 minister, 'if you put it that way, I do 

 not see how I can refuse to grant the 

 permit. ' And forthwith he gave his 

 permission to have the embargo re- 

 moved. 



"Verily, a triumph of American hu- 

 mor over John Bull." 



FORCING LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



Will you kindly inform me how to 

 grow valley? Please tell me in what 

 temperature the pips should be started. 

 Should they be covered and grown in 

 the shade until they come up through 

 the ground? How deep should the pips 

 be planted? Could I grow good valley 

 in a house where the night temperature 

 is between 40 and 50 degrees and where 



It is doubtful whether the house mea- 

 tioned would be warm enough for the 

 satisfactory growing of lily of the val- 

 ley, as a temperature of 65 to 68 de- 

 grees is considered desirable. Bottom 

 heat also should be available, though 

 sometimes dispensed with in the forc- 

 ing of cold storage pips. The benches 

 or boxes are filled with sand to a depth 

 of five or six inches, and the pips are 

 so planted that they just show above 

 the sand. The sand is kept moist by 

 watering it daily. Frequent syringing 

 also is beneficial in the early stages of 

 the crop, but care should be used to 

 avoid wetting the bells after they show 

 color. 



For the first ten days or two weeks, 

 or until the stalks have made a growth 

 of three or four inches, the light is al- 

 most excluded by means of wooden 

 shutters or some sort of framework. 

 Then the light is gradually introduced, 

 perhaps by replacing the wooden shut- 

 ters with curtains of some such mate- 

 rial as oiled cheesecloth, fastened on 

 frames. During the last few days this 

 shading or protection is entirely re- 

 moved and full light is admitted, so as 

 to give color to the leaves and sub- 

 stance to the flowers, but even then 

 direct sunlight is detrimental. 





U J vy. 



' -'( 



SUGGESTIONS FOB FORCING. 



Information is not generally exact 

 among growers as to the flowering time 

 of gladioli. Pink Beauty, Halley and 

 Chicago White, if planted May 1, will 

 bloom about July 15 to 20. America, 

 Augusta, Panama and Niagara, planted 

 May 1, will bloom about August 1, if 

 entirely dormant bulbs are used. Bulbs 

 kept in a cool temperature will not 

 bloom so quickly as bulbs stored in a 

 higher temperature. For forcing, bulbs 

 should be stored in a temperature of 45 

 to 50 degrees for a month prior to plant- 

 ing; a temperature of 50 to 60 degrees 

 will hasten their cycle of rest and give 

 better results. To get the best results, 

 they should not be planted before Feb- 

 ruary 1. 



Early varieties, like Pink Beauty, 

 Halley, Chicago White, Myrtle, Proph- 

 etesse, Minnesota and Jessie, if planted 

 early in the spring, will be ready to dig 

 September 1. Such bulbs, if rested in 

 the temperatures suggested, ought to be 

 ready to plant January 10, although 

 January 20 to 30 would be better. 



Our primulinus hybrids were bred for 

 early blooming. Many of them have 

 been sold to eastern growers, especially 

 those around Boston, and have thus far 

 given quite profitable returns, largely 

 because, being early, the bulbs were 

 well rested, whereas America and late 

 varieties are not; hence so much "blind 

 stock." Some Boston growers have 



produced eighty to ninety per cent with 

 America as against as high as 250 p«f 

 cent with primulinus. However, only 

 a select strain of primulinus should be 

 used, as many of the smaller ones will 

 not be so salable. 



Bulbs for forcing should not be al- 

 lowed to seed or "bloom out'' in the 

 opon, A well matured America ought 

 to give a spike of seventeen to twenty 

 blooms; if allowed to seed or bloom out, 

 it will give only ten to fifteen. 



As a suggestion for Christmas forc- 

 ing, I should advise placing the bulbs 

 in storage not later than March or April. 

 We have taken bulbs from a cool cellar 

 and planted them in the field about 

 August 1 and these bloomed about Octo- 

 ber 20. It will be well to experiment 

 by planting a few hundred bulbs at 

 various dates to ascertain the best time 

 to plant for Christmas. 



The breeder must breed earlier types 

 to use for forcing. Not many bulbs that 

 are dormant will bloom in less than 

 sixty to seventy days, though a few 

 varieties will bloom in fifty-eight to 

 sixty-two days and we have some bulbs 

 that take from forty-five to sixty days, 

 but these are small-growing and small- 

 flowered. Another cross will give us 

 larger plants and flowers. 



For the Christmas experiments, I 

 should suggest that the experimenter 

 try early primulinus varieties, Brench- 

 leyensis, Myrtle and Minnesota. Au- 



