30 



The Florists^ Review 



February 2. 1022 



) y 



bers shall constitute a quorum at any 

 meeting." 



The above is considered due and legal 

 notice to the members. Action on the 

 above changes will be taken at the an- 

 nual meeting of the association, to be 

 held at Urbana March 14. 



Albert T. Hey, Sec'y. 



AT AGBICULTURAL SESSION 



The S. A. F. was represented at the 

 agricultural conference, at Washington, 

 D. C, last week by S. S. Pennock, pres- 

 ident, and .lames McIIutchison, chair- 

 man of the tariff and legislative com-' 

 mittec. The nurserymen were repre- 

 stJnted by Edward Moon, past-president 

 of the nurserymen's association. The 

 conference was opened by President 

 Harding, with Secretary Wallace, of 

 the Department of Agriculture, as tem- 

 porary cKiiiriiian, and Congressman An- 

 derson, of Minnesota, as permanent 

 chairman. 



The subjects to be considered were 

 planned by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and general committees, each with 

 several subcommittees, were arranged, 

 the primary object being to alleviate and 

 find remedies for the distress now exist-" 

 ing among the farming interests. The 

 delegates were allotted to the commit- 

 tees and subcommittees in advance, 

 which gave critics reason to say that 

 the conference was called partly to give 



the administration a vote of confidence 

 by the farming interests and block the 

 "agricultural bloc" in congress. 



With such urgent national subjects 

 pressing for a solutiou, we did not think 

 it advisable to inject our particular 

 grievances op problems into the confer- 

 ence, with the exception of demanding 

 through the subcommittee compensation 

 to florists and nurserymen for any stock 

 destroyed or not allowed shipment by 

 federal laws or regulations, but this 

 was turned down by the general com- 

 mittee, under the plea that it was a sub- 

 ject for the state legislatures. 



/The grievances and problems of flo- 

 rists and allied interests caused by fed- 

 eral laws are subjects for confei-ence 

 with Federal Horticultural Board and 

 Department of Agriculture officials, and 

 what these men want in order to help 

 us is constructive guidance rather than 

 criticism. 



A STEP. 



It might be advisable to comment 

 favorably on the appointment of a hor- 

 ticulturist to the Federal Horticultural 

 Board, in an advisory capacity. David 

 Lumsden, the board's horticulturist, has 

 had a wide experience in horticulture. 

 His appointment is a step in the right 

 direction and has been advocated by 

 the trade for years. 



James McHutchison. 



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EASTER STOCK 



BULBOUS PLANTS FOB EASTEB. 



How to Treat Them. 



Many queries are at present coming to 

 Tlie Review concerning the treatment 

 of Dutch bulbous plants for Easter 

 flowering. There are annually a number 

 of small growers who are liandling these 

 and other plamts for the first time, and 

 the information they seek is well worthy 

 of careful consideration. There arr 

 many skilled growers who, of course, do 

 not need any advice on the culture of 

 plants in general, but there will always 

 bo a small army of beginners anxious to 

 find out just how to treat a variety of 

 plants for Easter, Memorial day. 

 Thanksgiving and Christmas, and Eas- 

 ter is the greatest plant sale holiday of 

 the year, when a wide variety of flower- 

 ing plants i« usually available. 



It is unfortunate that we cannot have; 

 a fixed dat« for Easter. It is a con- 

 summatiom devoutly to be wished. If it 

 were only possible to have it come the 

 first Sunday i« April yearly, how mucli 

 better it would be! However, as we are 

 unlikely to get this date merely to suit 

 llower producers, we must worry along 

 as best we can. 



Easter this year comes quite late, viz.: 

 Ajiril 16, and, in consequence, more 

 care will be necessary to time bulbous 

 flowers and other plants exactly. A 

 general query is, "How many weeks will 

 it take my hyacinths and tulijjs to flower 

 for Easter in the greenhouse in a tem- 

 perature of 50 degrees at night?" Along 

 in April, all bulbous flowers come on 

 rapidly, and while in some of the colder 

 states a little artificial heat may be 



needed to get the plants in flower, in 

 others coldframes may advance tlie 

 I)Iants sufficiently fast. 



For a Late Easter. 



Some growers make a practice of keep- 

 ing their pans and flats of Easter bulbs 

 outdoors well covered with earth and 

 tills, in turn, protected by straw, hay or 

 other material. Others equally success- 

 ful use cold cellars for storage purposes 

 and I incline to the opinion that where 

 a gooil cold cellar is at command, one 

 without any artificial heat whatever, 

 it makes the ideal storage place for 

 bulbs for late use. Some large growers 

 liave their pans of bulbs in racks ami 

 this jilan answers quite well. For a 

 really late Easter, I like to have tlie 

 bulbs on a cellar floor covered with sand 

 nnd above this I have found sawdust 

 .1 good excluder of frost and easy to re- 

 move when the plants are wanted. 



It is not well to keep Easter bulbs too 

 long in the dark, as it has, of course, a 

 tendency to make them more or less 

 leggy or wobbly and we need idants 

 which will stand up without supports 

 as far as possible. 



Hyacinths naturally bloom earlier 

 than tulips and daff'odils and are, there- 

 fore, rather more difficult to retard than 

 the other bulbs. They should be un- 

 covered and have light as soon as they 

 are sprouted two to two and one-half 

 iiiclies high. The cellar may be suitable 

 for them for a good while, and later, 

 say three weeks before Easter, place 

 them in a coldframe, where on warm 

 days they should be shaded with mats 

 or board shutters, but left fully exposed 

 on colder days and at night. This will 



prevent them from drawing up and 

 frame-grown bulbs are bound to be 

 stockier than those in greenhouses 

 where artificial heat is necessary. 



Hyacinths and Tulips. 



On the other hand, in some states, 

 where winter lingers long in the lap of 

 spring, it niay be necessary to house 

 hyacinths two or three weeks before 

 Easter. Place the plants in full light, 

 but cover them with newspapers if hot 

 sun hits them. It is an advantage not 

 to have them too fully open and, if they 

 come a trifle early, simply move them to 

 a cool shed or cellar where they are light 

 but where sun cannot hit them. Tulips 

 need similar treatment to hyacinths. 

 Such a fine double sort as Murillo, a 

 great Easter favorite, will be found to 

 need a day or two longer to develop 

 than such singles as are customarily 

 grown. Always remember, however, that 

 if you want stocky hyacinths, tulips or 

 daffodils, they must be kept in full light 

 after placing them in frame or green- 

 house, being careful to shade from hot 

 sunshine. A shaded greenhouse has a 

 tendency to draw up the plants and it is 

 better to shade the plants, when neces- 

 sary, with cloth or newspapers. 



Speaking generally, three weeks 

 should suffice to flower any of the Easter 

 Dutch bulbs, and it is always easy to 

 push any a little which may seem tardy, 

 or to hold others back in the cellar. Some 

 liquid manure, applied as the spikes are 

 pushing up, will materially improve 

 them, but discontinue its use as the 

 flowers start expanding. 



Lilies. 



Easter lilies are grown by a great 

 many florists who have a retail trade, 

 and at this time it may not be out of 

 place to remind such that buds should 

 appear on the stems so that they can be 

 counted readily when Lemt comes in, 

 which is March 1 this year, and any 

 lilies which show buds om that date 

 are rea.sonably sure to be in flower for 

 Easter in an average minimum tempera- 

 ture of 60 degrees; if the night tempera- 

 ture is lower, allow a few days longer. 

 It is always a good policy to have 

 flowers opening a few days before 

 Easter, as the plants are easily retarded 

 in a cellar or in a cool, shaded green- 

 house. 



Any lilies which seem somewhat 

 tardy should now be given the warmest 

 house at command and sprayed several 

 times a day to hurry them along. If 

 the plants are inclined to be too dwarf, 

 they can be drawn up by shading the 

 glass for two or three weeks. Throw 

 away young, sickly-looking lilies. Those 

 with curled up foliage and full of streaks 

 will never amount to anything. Keep 

 spreading the plants out'aad give the 

 more backward ones the most heat. A 

 considerable amount of moving around 

 will be necessary to get all the plants, 

 even a small batch, in flower at one time. 

 Another point is to fumigate regularly 

 or spray with nicotine." Once green 

 aphis gets lodged in the eads of the 

 growth, it is hard to get rid of, and if 

 It IS allowed to remain oh the plants, 

 many deformed flowers are sure to ap- 

 pear. Cleanliness, frequent spraying 

 and a warm, moist atmosphere are re- 

 quirements of lilies from now on, but 

 be careful not to give too much water 

 to plants in the early stages of growth, 

 as it too often causes 8i«kly growths. 



C. W. 



