40 



The Florists^ Review 



Mabch 16. 1922 



migate with tobacco stems, or injury is 

 sure to result. Saucers below the plants 

 will prevent drying out and will not 

 cause loss of foliage. 



Any hardwood subjects, like ericas, 

 acacias, azaleas and genistas, will need a 

 cool house to retard them. It is a late 

 Easter for acacias. Azaleas will be few 

 as compared with the days when we re- 

 ceived ample Belgian supplies. Some 

 bedding plants, like geraniums and he- 

 liotropes, sell in small as well as in 

 large sizes. Give them a sunny house 

 and a little liquid manure or sprinkling 

 of fine bone. 



Much care in watering and ventila- 

 tion is now necessary and constant shift- 

 ing around of plants which are too early 

 may be necessary. He who is constantly 

 on the alert and attending to the many 

 little details incidental to successful pot 

 plant culture should achieve a large 

 measure of success at the coming great 

 plant holiday. C. W. 



DISEASED UUES. 



Please examine the specimens of 

 Lilium longiflorum and L. giganteum 

 which we have mailed you and deter- 

 mine, if possible, what is wrong with 

 them. They were planted about October 

 20, and have grown in carnation tem- 

 perature until about two weeks ago. 

 They were potted in soil composed of 

 three parts of well-rotted sod to one 

 part of well-rotted cow manure and 

 grown on a concrete bench, the bottom 

 of which was covered with new coarse 

 sand, and bottom heat was applied. 



R. & S.— Colo. 



There are many complaints about 

 giganteum lilies this season and a much 

 larger proportion than usual are com- 

 ing diseased. Premature digging may 

 be responsible for this. In my own 

 case, all of this variety of lily are ab- 

 normally dwarf and far too many are 

 diseased. I have seen a good many 

 like the specimens you forwarded. I 

 have always found that giganteums did 

 best when groyn warm from start to 

 finish, averaging 55 to 60 degrees, un- 

 less Easter came early, when 60 degrees 

 at night was found better. Careful wa- 

 tering until the pots are well filled with 

 roots is necessary; many lilies are 

 ruined by being kept too moist in the 

 early stages of growth. Roots under 

 such conditions rot and growths go like 

 those you forwarded. I should prefer 

 in future not to give the lilies any bot- 

 tom heat; thev do much better without 

 it. " C. W. 



BULBS NOT ROOTING. 



I have sent you specimens of two 

 hyacinths and two tulips bulbs. A great 

 many like these have not rooted on my 

 place. Some rooted, however, and the 

 peculiar thing is that they were all 

 treated alike. They were planted in 

 November. Will vou explain this for 

 me? " D. G. D.— N. J. 



It is not easy to give the cause for 

 non-rooting without knowing some- 

 thing of your culture of the bulbs. No- 

 vember is somewhat late to plant hya- 

 cinths and tulips for best results. Even 

 at that date, however, they should al- 

 ways have a soaking watering and be 

 placed in a cellar, frame or pit, pro- 

 tected from sun and frost. Before cov- 

 ering them with loam, sand or coal 

 ashes, be sure they have two or three 

 additional waterings. Many Dutch 



bulbs are ruined by an insufficient 

 water supply in the early stages of 

 growth. The bulbs seemed sound inside 

 and I could find no sign of beetles. The 

 fact that the hyacinths had started top 

 growth goes to show that they were 

 all right. It is quite probable that an 

 inadequate water supply is the cause 

 of the trouble. C. W. 



SXTMMER GREENHOUSE CROPS. 



I am engaged chiefly in growing 

 vegetable plants for use in the spring, 

 but as I do not begin with these plants 

 until late in January, my greenhouses 

 are empty during the summer and late 

 fall. How can I utilize these houses 

 during the time that they now stand 

 idle? Are there any plants that can 

 be grown here from June 1 to Novem- 

 ber 1? C. A. L.— Minn. 



There are several crops which may 

 be grown profitably in your green- 

 houses with little or no artificial heat. 

 Cucumbers are one good summer crop, 

 tomatoes another. I should say that 

 the last-named crop would be the best 

 summer crop to grow. If you could 

 l)lant such varieties as Improved Loril- 

 lard, John Baer, Victory or Comet in 

 time to start ripening in June, the crop 

 would carry you until well into Au- 

 gust. You could then, if you wished, 

 clean out the tomatoes, give the beds a 



liberal manuring and plant lettuce, 

 either the heading or the loose-leaved 

 type, and these could be cleared some 

 time before you want to start up your 

 houses. 



If flowers are preferred, chrysanthe- 

 mums would seem to be the best crop 

 to grow. They could be planted any 

 time in June, and even the latest va- 

 rieties would be cleared before Christ- 

 mas. The varieties to be planted 

 would, of course, depend upon the mar- 

 kets you had. If to be sold locally, a 

 large number of varieties should be 

 grown, but for shipping it would be 

 best to stick to a few good sorts. Good 

 pompon varieties would probably pay 

 you as well as, or even better than, the 

 larger blooms, which need disbudding. 

 C. W. 



BUSINESS EMBARRASSMENTS. 



Price, Utah. — W. F. Olson contem- 

 plates purchasing the entire stock of the 

 Carbon Floral Co. from Joseph Taylor, 

 who has been conducting the business 

 alone since his partner, Joseph R. Stark, 

 absconded with the cash February 14. 



Canton, O. — Fred G. Geltz, who oper- 

 ated a store at 522 North Market ave- 

 nue, is now in bankruptcy. 



Greenville, S. C. — Harold E. Eodgers 

 has petitioned for discharge from bank- 

 ruptcy and a hearing will be held by the 

 court April 10. 



C»CN UEXm^y^ KEADEIid 



MICHIGAN TUUP BULBS. 



We read with interest the article on 

 George Lawler's planting of narcissus 

 bulbs, in The Review of March 9. For 

 the last eight years we have grown 

 tulips in Michigan with good re- 

 sults, and have built up a nice 

 retail business. Tulips have always 

 been our specialty, though we also grow 

 narcissi, hyacinths, crocuses and other 

 bulbs. Of tulips alone we have about 

 four acres under cultivation. We still 

 ])lant them the Dutch way; that is, 

 bulbs four inches apart and rows four 

 inches wide. Should we plant them the 

 way gladioli are planted, we could cover 

 fourteen acres. One interesting fact 

 al)out Michig.'in-grown bulbs is that 

 they force more easily and much sooner 

 than the imported bulbs. We have 

 proved this by forcing each year some 

 of both. 



As to conditions being favorable in 

 Michigan to produce Dutch bulbs, we 

 would say that the climate of western 

 Michigan is almost identical with that 

 of the Netherlands. The soil we have 

 here, at Grand Rapids, is a sandy loam 

 and corresponds to that of the Holland 

 Imll) district. Owing to the wet weather 

 ill Holland, the bulbs when they ripen, 

 in May and .Tunc, soak up much 

 water. The Dutch grower usually "pre- 

 pares" his bulbs before he exports 

 them; that is, the bulbs are kept in a 

 drying shed under n fairly high tem- 

 ])eraturc. We soon found out this was 

 not necessary with Michigan-grown 

 bulbs, as the dry weather during the 

 summer months helps us during the 



ripening period. Our bulbs, therefore, 

 shrink somewhat more than the Holland 

 varieties, but this is the reason they 

 force from ten to fourteen days earlier 

 then the imported bulbs. 



Last year we advertised in The Re- 

 view, for the first time, some of our 

 2-year-old planting stock, hoping to get 

 other American growers interested in 

 the propagating of tulips. To indicate 

 how popular this idea was with the 

 growers, we might say that we were 

 forced to sell double the number that 

 we had calculated on, rather than dis- 

 appoint the many growers who had sent 

 in their orders. This year at least 200 

 American growers are growing bulbs for 

 propagating pur])03es, and it is our be- 

 lief that in a few years America will be 

 able to grow its own bulb supply. 



A. Kapstein, Jr. 



CONSIDER COSTS DEEPLY. 



In the issue of The Review for Feb- 

 ruary 2.3 I read the article, "Small 

 Grower's Costs." I think articles like 

 this are misleading to men who have not 

 had some business experience and train- 

 ing, and men are liable to be led to en- 

 ter the business with a vision of much 

 larger profits than are liable to be 

 realized. 



The editorial note added, which 

 somewhat qualified Mr. Ellis' state- 

 ment, is good, but does not go quite 

 so far, in my opinion, as it should. 



I have not had time to go into the 

 niatter carefully, but two of the items 

 that impress me as having been left 

 out are "insurance" and "deprecia- 



