28 



The Florists^ Review 



Mabch 0. 1922 



ODCN WCTEOSyy^ DEADEIi6 



selves. Ai)d we found that the mos' 

 positive way is to use tobacco dust. Th. 

 snail appears to dry up the moment i; 

 comes in contact with the dust. Th<> 

 tobacco dust is sure death. The 8lim< 

 on the snail absorbs the tobacco and tht 

 effect is immediate. This remedy cai 

 be used freely, because it will not dt 

 stroy plant life. Try it and Bee the re 

 suit. Fairview Greenhouses. 



DO EASTER LILIES PAY? 



Does it pay to grow lilies, er does it 

 not! The price of giganteum lilies, which 

 are the most popular variety, has, like 

 the price of the French Boman hya- 

 cinths, been gradually advancing until, 

 where we used to get them at $40 per 

 thousand for the size 7 to 9, we now pay 

 $49.50 for a case of 300. But the cost is 

 not so much the cause of the question as 

 the number of buds and blooms. Where 

 we used to get an average of from three 

 to seven buds and blooms, we now get 

 two to four, or less than 300 buds and 

 blooms to 100 bulbs. Besides, whereas 

 there used to be less than five per cent 

 diseased stock in Japanese giganteums, 

 now we expect twenty per cent, and in 

 some cases fifty per cent of the total 

 bulbs are diseased. 



Here at St. Catharines, Ont., a case 

 of 7 to 9 bulbs costs $49.50, or better 

 than $57 with freight, exchange and cus- 

 toms tax. This is an average of 19 cents 

 per bulb. Now, if 2,000 bulbs, potted, are 

 worth $500 and twenty per cent of these 

 are lost on account of disease, leaving 

 1,600 plants, an average of three buds or 

 blooms to a plant, making a total of 

 4,800 buds or blooms, if sold at a top 

 market price of 25 cents, will produce 

 returns of $1,200. Upon deducting the 

 $500, one is left $700 as the return on 

 a bench 6x100 feet, which is the space 

 needed from Novembfix.:l, when lilies 

 are potted, until roughly six weeks be- 

 fore Easter, or March 1 this year. Dur- 

 ing the remainder of growing time to 

 finish this stock double the space will be 

 required for hardening the plants off. 



In my opinion, formed from growing 

 lilies the last twelve years, lilies are due 

 for a setback, such as French Eomans re- 

 ceived, unless the Japs either reduce the 

 prices or furnish us with stock that will 

 produce a higher percentage of blooms, 

 as it takes as long to finish a lily with 

 two to three blooms as it takes to finish 

 a plant of four to six blooms and both 

 occupy the same space. 



Some one may say, use large bulbs, of 

 the 8 to 10 size. I might say that I have 

 done so the last two years, and the dif- 

 ference does not pay. W. W. Walker. 



HOW TO AVOID TROUBLE. 



Somebody is always trying to take 

 the joy out of life; I read the article 

 headed "Ban on Rose Bushes," in The 

 Review for P'cbruary 9. No doubt, the 

 doctor mentioned will tell the farmers 

 to kill their hogs because they have hog 

 lice; to kill a cow because she has cat- 

 tle ticks; to kill a chicken because she 

 eats eggs; to burn the beds and the 

 Iiouse because there are bedbugs about; 

 not to plant eggplants because the po- 

 tato bug will eat the eggplants; not to 

 plant cucumbers because green aphis 

 will kill them all; not to plant tomatoes 

 because the tobacco worm will eat the 

 whole bush; not to plant vegetables in 

 the ground because grub, cut and eel- 

 worms will eat them up, and not to kill 

 moles, field mice, etc., because they stir 

 the soil when they get under the roots. 



r sav that there is a medicine for all 



these pests, if the growers will leave 

 out the get-rich-quick and grow only 

 enough potatoes to insure adequate han- 

 dling. My trouble is that the price of 

 the medicine for these pests has gone 

 too high. F. W. C. 



TOBACCO DUST HALTS SNAILS. 



We noticed the reply to F. D. W. 's 

 query on "Eliminating Snails," in The 

 Review for March 2, and have some- 

 thing to say in that respect from our 

 own experience. We have heard sev- 

 eral ,ways suggested to get rid of this 

 greenhouse pest and we have tried most 

 of the "remedies," but we. are sorry to 

 say that we have found them of little 

 effect. 



So we tried out a few things for our- 



BULBS STARTED TOO LATE. 



I brought in three flats of jonquil; 

 from the outside. They all eame lik< 

 these I am sending you. I put them ii 

 flats November 18. Also what is tht 

 matter with my hyacinths! They arc 

 not coming along as well as others I see 

 Specimens have been sent for inspec 

 tion. J. 8.— O. 



Your bulbs were placed in the soil to< 

 late. October 1 would have been a bet 

 ter time. They did not have time to fill 

 the flats with roots and make a suit 

 able top growth before being forced. 

 If you had left them a month longer, 

 they would, undoubtedly, have comt 

 all right. C- W. 



DELPHINIUMS 



iS 



LARKSPURS FOR FORCING. 



Perennial and Annual. 



Delphinium Belladonna is probably 

 tb« most popular color in hardy lark- 

 spurs. I do not, however, find it to force 

 so well as D. formosum and the various 

 hybrids, all of which latter are more 

 robust in habit and produce much larger 

 and stronger flower stalks than Bella- 

 donna. A good many growers today do 

 not know what Belladonna is, and those 

 who have had the best success in forcing 

 delphiniums have used few of that popu- 

 lar outdoor variety. 



The amount of sunlight makes a great 

 difference to the growth of delphiniums 

 under glass. The largest and most suc- 

 cessful grower of delphiniums under 

 glass prefers to start his plants cool, at 

 40 to 45 degrees at night, advancing to 

 50 to 52 degrees as growth progresses. 

 Another successful grower allows his 

 plants to freeze in the beds indoors, 

 using plants a second season. His plants 

 are in solid beds. It is a question, how- 

 ever, whether it would not pay better 

 to discard the plants after forcing them 

 once and utilize the beds for sonic other 

 flower crop. 



Plants started the previous winter 

 prove to be better for forcing than older 

 clumps. Plants kept in flats outdoors 

 and somewhat starved haved forced well 

 and seem more immune to damping off 

 than the larger, field-grown clumps. 

 Everj'one who has grown these plants 

 indoors admits that careful watering is 

 a necessity, and in the early stages of 

 growth it is always safer to run a little 

 on the dry side rather than the reverse. 

 Well rotted cow and stable manure used 

 MS n niulfli has ])roved a good stimulant, 

 ("lieniical manures seem to make the 

 flowers more flabby. 



Stalks five to si.v, or even eight, feet 

 high will be produced on many of the 

 pl.-infs. While mixed hybrids give n fine 



rapge of colors, those of the Belladonna 

 color and the deep blues seem to take 

 the best. Anyone can, by careful seed 

 selection, soon make up a fine strain of 

 his own. Some remarkably fine strains 

 are now to be had abroad and California 

 is said to have good ones also. The 

 latter would probably not do so well in 

 the east as the European strains. 



Delphiniums ship well 300 to 500 

 miles. I have not tried shipments of 

 longer distance. I should say, however, 

 that the best success would be had where 

 the grower was fairly convenient to a 

 big wholesale market, one to which he 

 could make deliveries in his own auto 

 mobile. While forcing delphiniums is 

 not a new practice at all, these plants 

 have come into favor only in the last 

 two or three seasons, and much has yet 

 to be learned regarding their proper 

 treatment. Forcing earlier than Feb 

 ruary 1 has so far not proved satisfac 

 tory. Like all other hardy herbaceous 

 perennials, the plants need a certain 

 period of rest. 



Annuals for Spring. 



The annual larkspurs do best if sown 

 in January or February for flowering ir. 

 late spring. They are exceedingly valu- 

 able for Memorial day. The fall-sown 

 plants do not move much in the dead of 

 winter, but I have always been able to 

 bloom some in March. Sown in late Feb- 

 ruary or early March, the plants would 

 attain ample size for May sales. They 

 make highly desirable bedding plants, 

 especially for mixed borders, but I 

 sliould not say they were specially good 

 for window boxes. I consider rosy scar- 

 let the best color, with light pink, dark 

 blue and lavender blue next in favor. 

 White I should_^ass as the least desir- 

 able. Though iMs flower is not a dirty 

 white at all, still, colored flowers as a 

 rule sell better than white. C. W. 



