18 



The Flonsts^ Review 



Septembeb 1, 1921 



of six feet, and when plunged in the 

 garden or planted out — the former plan, 

 however, is best — they produce a strik- 

 ing effect, especially when associated 

 with hardly larkspurs, tracheliums or 

 other blue flowers. 



The bane of this lovely lily is the dis- 

 ease which sometimes attacks it, cus- 

 tomarily just as the buds have devel- 

 oped. To prevent this, it pays to give 

 a weekly spraying of Bordeaux mixture 

 or some other fungicide from early 

 spring until the buds show color. Do 

 not wait until the disease has appeared; 

 rather proceed on the assumption that 

 prevention is better than cure. 



Commercial Possibilities. 



While some lilies are easily propa- 

 gated from seeds, L. candidum is not 

 one of these. At the Arlington experi- 

 mental farms much has been done with 

 L. longiflorum, but I believe success is 

 not hoped for with the far more beauti- 

 ful candidum. If only we could propa- 

 gate the Madonna lily as easily as the 

 newer Lilium regale, how happy we 

 should be! A good number of the lat- 

 ter will flower in fifteen months from 

 seed. Even with scale propagation, 

 there would seem to be possibilities for 

 some wide-awake growers. An ideal 

 spot for such work, I have often 

 thought, would be Cape Cod, in Massa- 

 chusetts, where L. candidum grows well 

 in many gardens. In one prominent 



nursery at West Barnstable, Mass., in 

 this section, such lilies as auratum, 

 speciosum in variety, Henryi, regale and 

 others have proved commercial suc- 

 cesses, and I hope that the beautiful 

 but steadily diminishing candidum may 

 prove tractable there. Some of the 

 finest spikes of L. candidum I ever grew 

 — which, when shown at an exhibition 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety some years ago, were awarded a 

 cultural certificate — were grown at 

 West Harwich, on Cape Cod. 



The balmy southern states produce 

 good longiflorum bulbs. I fear that 

 they are too warm for the successful 

 culture and propagation of candidum. 

 Along the northern Pacific and Atlantic 

 coasts would seem to be ideal locations 

 for making successful commercial at- 

 tempts with this most beautiful of all 

 white lilies. 



The principal commercial value of L. 

 candidum is not as an Easter flower, 

 but rather as a lily to be grown cold 

 and flowered in June, when it is in de- 

 mand for weddings. It will not stand 

 forcing like longiflorum. Subjected to 

 heat, the stalks are spindling and the 

 flowers small and lacking in substance, 

 compared with those produced in a com- 

 paratively low temperature. As the 

 flower stalks develop, I find that a dose 

 of liquid manure weekly is of great 

 benefit. 



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IN EUROPE 



EUROPEAN CONDITIONS, 



Dewar's Observations Abroad. 



Alexander P. Dewar, the manager of 

 the seed store of the R. & J. Farquhar 

 Co., Boston, arrived home from his 

 European trip August 22. He was noti- 

 fied when at Marseilles of John K. M. 

 L. Farquhar 's death and hastened his 

 return a number of weeks in conse- 

 quence. Most of his time was spent in 

 England. Scotland and France. He 

 would have visited Holland and other 

 countries had he not been obliged to 

 hiirry home. It was ten years since 

 Mr. Dewar had been in Europe and, as 

 he is a keen observer, his opinions on 

 general conditions and the horticultural 

 outlook were full of interest. 



The long drought and extreme heat, 

 with practically no rain falling for 

 three months, had made the south of 

 England and southern France almost 

 like sierras. Grass on lawns and pas- 

 tures was entirely brown. Wheat crops 

 were fairly good. Potatoes had no 

 size; turnips, mangels and other root 

 crops were in a wretched condition. 

 Leaves on shade trees were falling in 

 showers and shrubs were wilted and 

 shriveled almost beyond recognition. 

 In the great London parks many thou- 

 sands of people literally lived under the 

 shade of the trees. 



At Covent Garden. 



In Covent Garden market, London, 

 business was active in spite of the sum- 

 mer heat. Cut flowers were none too 

 plentiful. Great quantities of single and 

 double gypsophila were seen and numer- 

 ous annuals and perennials rarely of- 



fered in this country. Roses were of 

 poor quality, owing to the heat. Carna- 

 tions are not thrown in heaps on the 

 stands as they are here, but are packed 

 in boxes by the growers and are re- 

 shipped from Covent Garden unopened. 

 Enormous quantities of pale blue statice 

 were being sold and wreaths of these 

 flowers in the high-class flower stores 

 were exquisite. Fresh wreaths are always 

 on exhibition at the flower stores and cus- 

 tomers can pick one out to suit them- 

 selves. Gloxinias, begonias, achimenes 

 and other flowering plants were offered. 

 In France the flowers were much the 

 same as in London and tasteful arrange- 

 ments in the flower shops always in- 

 vited one's attention. Far less mate- 

 rial is used than is used here, but to a 

 far better effect. So serious was the 

 drought in France that it was impos- 

 sible to purchase a salad in the south 

 of France at any price. A prominent 

 seed grower at Marseilles showed Mr. 

 Dewar a bag containing about fifty 

 pounds of seed and told him that was 

 all the seed that had been obtained 

 from an acre of plants, the normal 

 yield for a year being 600 to 800 pounds. 

 Among Seedsmen. 



Mr. Dewar was formerly in the noted 

 London seed house of Hurst & Sons and 

 made his headquarters there during this 

 trip, calling also on Cooper, Taber & 

 Co., Watkins & Simpson, and other large 

 wholesale houses. All reported serious 

 shortages in practically all flower seeds 

 and a heavy decline in about all vege- 

 table seeds. Beet seed is notably short. 

 There was, however, a fairly good carry- 

 over of vegetable seeds, which will 

 alleviate conditions somewhat. Seed 



trade conditions were rapidly approach- 

 ing normalcy, and not only in the seed 

 trade, but in other lines the people in 

 Britain seemed optimistic as to the 

 future. 



He found the railroads almost tied up 

 by the coal strike on his arrival. When 

 he left factories were stocked to reple- 

 tion with it, all the railroad dumps and 

 sidings were full of coal and the de- 

 mand from the householders, owing to 

 the high prices, was negligible. As a 

 consequence the miners were working 

 only one or two days a week. The 

 people said that they would use substi- 

 tutes and do without coal in every way 

 in order to force a drop in prices. 



In Scotland, the north of England 

 and the north of France, vegetation was 

 much fresher than in the south of Eng- 

 land and in the south of France. In 

 spite of the heat and drought, the na- 

 tional sweet pea show at London in 

 July was wonderful, 20-inch stems, 

 carrying four flowers, being common. 

 Royal Scot was the most admired nov- 

 elty in the show, a new mammoth white 

 of Stark 's raising and acquired by Bur- 

 pee, promising to create a sensation, out- 

 classing all other whites. W. N. C. 



BUSINESS EMBABRASSMENTS. 



New York, N. Y. — Against Arthur T. 

 Boddington & Co., Inc., was filed a peti- 

 tion in bankruptcy August 27 by H. 

 Langeler, who presented claims amount- 

 ing to $747. Mr. Boddington has con- 

 ducted a seed and bulb business at 128 

 Chambers street for a number of years. 

 In the spring of 1915 a committee took 

 charge of his affairs in order to satisfy 

 creditors. The result was the incorpora- 

 tion of the business, most of the cred- 

 itors receiving shares of stock for their 

 claims. 



BLUING PINK HYDRANGEAS. 



What is the best method to use in 

 making pink hydrangeas produce blue 

 flowers and what are the best varieties 

 to select for this purpose? 



G. & S.— 111. 



It is commonly supposed that the use 

 of small pieces of iron and especially 

 iron filings in the soil will make pink 

 hydrangeas turn blue. Certainly where 

 the water and soil are impregnated 

 strongly with iron, plants nearly al- 

 ways come blue instead of pink. In 

 our own case plants which one year 

 were pink will come blue the next and 

 succeeding years without the use of 

 iron at all. I have not tried the in- 

 fluence of iron on the pink French 

 hydrangeas, like Radiant, Mme. Chau- 

 tard and General de Vibraye, but on 

 otaksa, which remains the standard va- 

 riety for summer use. 



At Newport, R. I., where unusual 

 numbers of hydrangeas are grown, 

 nearly all are blue and nothing is done 

 to color them. Some growers aver that 

 the use of alum in the water will turn 

 pinks into blues, but the general 

 opinion here and abroad is that the use 

 of small pieces of iron in the soil is the 

 best method of procedure where blue 

 colors are wanted. The most intense 

 blues we have are among the French 

 hydrangeas. No iron is needed to make 

 them come blue. These French hydran- 

 geas do not stand up so well, however, 

 as outdoor plants as the old otaksa. 



C. W. 



