18 



The Florists* Review 



Septembkk 1, li>-l 



of six t((t. and wlieii ])luiit{('il in tin' 

 ;,'anicn or |il.iiit<<i out — the I'ornicr plan, 

 liovvcN cr. i> lif>t" -they produce a strik- 

 ing; cITcit. i's|U'i-iiilly when associated 

 witli liardly larksjiurs, traclieliutns or 

 other blue llowcrs. 



The haiie of tliis lovely lily is tlie dis- 

 ease whicli sometimes attacks it, ens- 

 toiriarily .just as the buds have do\'el- 

 o|ied. To jirevent this, it j>ays to ;;ive 

 a weekly ^prayiiif,' of JJordeaux mixture 

 or some other funfjicide from e.arly 

 spring; until the buds show color. Do 

 not w.tit imtil the disease has app<>ared; 

 ratlier jirocee.l en the ;issumi)t ion that 

 Jirevent ion i- iM-tler than cure. 



CommerciaJi Possibilities. 



Wliib' -oini lili(- ari> easily ])ropa- 

 yated from '-eed>. L. candidum is not 

 one of the^(. At the Arlington experi- 

 mental f.nirj- iiiU( h has been done with 

 ],. Ifinjrillonnii, but 1 believe success is 

 not hojied for witli the far more l>eauti- 

 ful candi<liuii. It only we could ])ro]ia- 

 },','ite tlie .Madonn.i lily as easily as the 

 newer l.ilimiL rcf^ale, how liaj)py we 

 should bi ' A i^ood innnber of the lat- 

 ter will tlower in lllteen months from 

 seed. K\en with scale jiropii^at ion, 

 there would 'ieem to lie possibilities for 

 som»> wide-awake growers. An ideal 

 s]iot for --uch work. I h.ave often 

 thouehi. woubl lie ('ape Cod, in Massa- 

 idiuselt--. where J,, candidum {jrows well 

 in iii;in\' e,ird< n^, In one ])roniinent 



nursery at Wi-st Barnstable, Mass., in 



this section, such lilies as auratuni, 

 sjieciosum in variety, Henryi, re}i;ale and 

 others have proved comniercitil suc- 

 i-esses, and I hope that the })eautiful 

 but steadily diminishing candidum may 

 jirove tractable there. Some of the 

 tinest spikes of L. candidum I ever f^rew 

 -which, when shown at an exhibition 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety some j'ears afj;o, were awarded a 

 cultural certificate — were grown at 

 West Harwich, on Cape Cod. 



The balmy southern states produce 

 yood longiflorum bulbs. I fear that 

 they are too warm for the successful 

 culture and jiropagation of candidum. 

 Along the northern Pacific and Atlantic 

 coasts would seem to be ideal locations 

 for making successful commercial at- 

 temjits with this most beautiful of all 

 white lilies. 



The j)rincipal commercial value of L. 

 I'andidum is not as an Kaster llower, 

 but rather as a lily to 1)0 grown cold 

 ■■ind flowered in .Tune, when it is in de- 

 mand for weddings. It will not stand 

 forcing like longiflorum. Subjected to 

 heat, the stalks are sjiindling and the 

 tlowers small and lacking in substance, 

 comjiared witli those produced in a coni- 

 jiaratively low temperature. As the 

 llower stalks develop. I find that a dose 

 of li(|uid manure weekly is of great 

 beiielit. 



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IN EUROPE 



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EUROPEAN CONDITIONS. 



Dewar's Observations Abroad. 



Alexander 1'. Dewar, the manager of 

 the see<l st<ire tii the K. i; .1. F,ir<iuhar 

 Co., liostoii. arriveii home from his 

 Kurojiean trip August 2-. Ho was noti- 

 lied when at Marseilles of John K. M. 

 1.. Far<)uh:ir's death and hastened his 

 return a number of weeks in conse- 

 i)uence. Most of his time was si)ent in 

 Ktigland. Scdtland and France. He 

 would have \ivited Holland and other 

 countrie> Imd he luit been obliged to 

 hurry lionie. It was ti'ii years since 

 Mr. Dewar ha<l been in Europe and, as 

 he is a keen oV)server, his opinions on 

 gener.il coiKiitions and the horticultural 

 outlook were full of interest. 



The long drought ancl extreme lieat, 

 with ]iraet ically no rain falling for 

 three months, had made the south of 

 Kngland and southern Fr.iiice almost 

 like sierra>. Cr;iss on lawns and jias- 

 tures was entirely brown. Wheat crops 

 were fairly goo<l. Potatoes had no 

 size; turnips, ui.'ingels and other root 

 crojis were in a wretched condition. 

 l<eaves on shade trees were falling in 

 showers an<l shrubs were wilted and 

 shriveled almost beyond recognition. 

 In the great London ]iarks many thou- 

 sands of ]ieop!e literally lived under the 

 vh:ide of the tret'>. 



At Covent Garden. 



In Co\iiit tiitrdin market. London, 

 business w.iv active in spite of the sum- 

 mer heat. Cut flowers were none too 

 jdentiful. Great quantities of single and 

 double gyjisophila were seen and numer 

 ()ii« ;innuaK .md perenniaN rarely of 



fered in this country. Roses were of 

 ]ioor quality, owing to the lieat. Carna- 

 tions are not thrown in heaps on the 

 stands as they are liere, but are packed 

 ill boxes by the growers and are re- 

 shipjx'd from Covent Harden unopened. 

 Knormoiis quantities of i)ale blue statice 

 were being sold and wreaths of these 

 flowers in the high-(dass flower stores 

 were exquisite. Fresh wreaths are ;ilways 

 (in exhibit ion at the flower stores and cus- 

 tomers can pick one out to suit theni- 

 selv(>s. Cloxinias, 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 

 f.ir better effect. So serious was the 

 (irought in France that it was impos- 

 sible to jiurdiase ;i salad in the south 

 of France at any price. A prominent 

 s(ed grower at Marseilles showed Mr. 

 Dewar :i b.ag containing about fifty 

 jiounds of seed and told him that was 

 .all the seed that had been obtained 

 from an acre of iil.ints, the normal 

 yield for a year being fiOO to 800 pounds. 

 Among Seedsmen. 



Mr. D.'war was formerly in the noted 

 London seed house of Hurst iV Sons .and 

 niad<' his head(|u;irters there during this 

 triji. calling also on Cooper, Taber & 

 Co., W'atkins & Simpson, and other Large 

 wholesale houses. All re]>orted serious 

 short.ages in jjract ically ;ill flower seeds 

 .■ind a heavy decline in .■tboiit all vege- 

 table seeds. Heet seeil is iKit.ably short. 

 There was, however. ;i fairly good carry- 

 over of vegetable seeds, which will 

 alle\iate conditions somewh.at. 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 u]) 

 by the co.al strike on his arrival. When 

 he left factories wore 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 EMBARRASSMENTS. 



New York, N. Y. — Against Arthur T. 

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

 tion in bankruptcy August 27 by H. 

 Langcler, 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.— HI. 



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 tlie pink French 

 hydrangeas, like Radiant, Mme. Chau- 

 tard and (icneral 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 

 ]iinks into blues, but the general 

 (qiinion here and at)road is that the use 

 of small pieces of iron in the soil is the 

 best metliod of procedure where blue 

 colors are wante<i. The most intense 

 blues we have .are among the French 

 hydrangeas. No iron is needed to ni.ake 

 them come blue. These French hydran- 

 geas do not stand up so well, however, 

 .IS iiutdoor i)l:uits as the old otaksa. 



c. w. 



