Makch 30, 1922 



The Florists^ Review 



61 



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TRIO TALK ON BULBS 



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BOSTOMTANS DISCUSS BULBS. 



Why and How. 



At ii meeting of the Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club, of Boston, Mass., March 

 ■Jl, bulbs and their culture were dis- 

 cussed by three able growers, Herman 

 II. Bartsch, manager of the W. W. Ed- 

 ■^iLT Co., Waverley, Mass.; Walter H. 

 (iolby, superintendent to Mrs. Edward 

 (). Clark, Jamaica Plain, Mass., and 

 \V. N. Craig, of Boston. 



In his lecture Mr. Bartsch said that 

 of the three most important of the so- 

 called Dutch bulbs, hyacinths, narcissi 

 and tulips, the last-named were the 

 most difficult to do well. Hyacinths 

 ;iiid narcissi were comparatively easy 

 to do well, he said, but the man wanting 

 really good pans of tulips which were 

 not too tall, too weak or too tight, had 

 to do considerable studying. There 

 were various methods of culture for 

 tulips. For some years, he said, he had 

 placed chief reliance on good, tight 

 frames; they furnished nice stock, but 

 sometimes mice would eat about half 

 the bulbs and frost would break many 

 pans, in addition. The best place to 

 store bulbs was under cover, where they 

 wore frost-proof, and he now used a 

 large storage shed and stood the pans 

 on decks fifteen inches apart and ten 

 tiers deep. About an inch of sand was 

 placed below the pans. This caused the 

 roots to reach downwards and not uj)- 

 wards. The sand was kept moist; bur- 

 lap was hung around the decks of liulbs 

 and sprayed once or twice a day to give 

 necessary moisture. Treated thus, bulbs 

 would not start so early as when cov- 

 ered with loam, sand or ashes, but gjive 

 satisfactory results. The storage shed 

 was kept cool. On severe nights a lit- 

 tle frost might get in; not sufficient, 

 however, to harm anything. 



Tulip pans, Mr. Bartsch said, were 

 more favored than any other bulbs. The 

 Darwins, which started to come into fa- 

 vor ten years ago, had made great 

 strides. William C. Rust, of Brookline, 

 about twelve years ago started the forc- 

 ing of Darwins and showed fine Pride of 

 Haarlem late in January. Darwins in 

 jians could be had in fineVondition from 

 February 1.1 onwards and the retailers 

 call for more and more each year. They 

 last much longer than the early tu- 

 I'l's, ;ire more showy ;ind in every way 

 more satisfactory. ' Some varieties of 

 l>arwin cost no more than the early va- 

 rieties. Bartigon, lie said, was a splen- 

 did commercial Darwin of sturdy habit, 

 of a fine color, and responded well to 

 forcing. He started to grow William 

 Pitt seven years ago; in February it 

 <li<l not come on well, but it had ample 

 '^tein later and the color was fine. Pride 

 •if Haarlem was not now so popular; it 

 came too tall in March. Farncombe 

 ganders was a good sor.t for late forc- 

 ing and proved to be a splendid Easter 

 »ort. Forcing T.I.OOO tulips in pans, as 

 "IS firm did, necessitated a lot of work. 



Among the early tulips, Mr. Bartsch 

 •''aid, he was trving out Brilliant Star 

 and It went far ahead of Vermilion 

 "i-ilhant. Couleur Cardinal was good; 

 also Flamingo and Mon Tresor. Cardi- 



nal Ham])olla, orange, was fine; also 

 Pink Beauty, Rose Liiisante, Yellow 

 Prince, Prince of Austria and White 

 Hawk. Pelican w.is a beautiful sort 

 and White Beauty was sujierb. 



Some fine doul)les for forcing, Mr. 

 Bartsch said, were Couronne d'Or, Mu- 

 riilo, (iolden C^ueen, Imperator Rubro- 

 rum. Tea Rose, Toreador, Tournesol, La 

 (irandesse and Murillo. The last named, 

 a popular soit, came of a beautiful pink 

 color if j)laced in a cool, dark place for 

 :i wt'ek when opening. He saitl that 

 some other good Darwins for pan cul- 

 ture, in addition to those already 

 named, were: (Jlara Butt, always popu- 

 lar with the best class of retiiilers; 

 Dream, Gretchen, Salmon Queen, Mme. 

 Krelage, William ("opelaiid, Loveliness 

 and Massachusetts. 



The finest and most expensive tulips, 

 Mr. Bartsch said, jn-ove the least jirofit- 

 able to the grower. Few retailers were 

 willing to pay anything extra for novel- 

 ties and the margin of profit at whole- 

 sale was small. The bulbs for a good 

 ]()-inch pan would cost ti."j cents to 7^) 

 cents and, when wholesaled as at i)res- 

 eiit, at $1 jier ]iaii, the profit was too 

 small; $1.2.") would leave a re:ison;il»le 

 l)rofit. Mr. Bartsch likes ;i jilaii he had 

 seen a<lopted in Chicago, where the 

 grower was jiaid so much per flower 

 and not ])er jian. 



Kegarding a suitable soil for tulips, 

 he said he found a black, muck-like 

 soil containing plenty of sand was 

 good. One year he tried old chrysan- 

 themum soil with some manure. The 

 results were unsatisfactory. 



Among hyacinths Mr. Bartsch said he 

 found Gertrude still the best seller. 

 Lady Derby, however, was of a fine 

 shade. L 'Innocence was the best 

 white, although some still preferred La 

 (irandesse; Queen of the Blues as a 

 light blue, and King of the Blues, dark 

 blue, were fine still. He said there 

 were several good ycdlows, including 

 City of Haarlem, ^'ellow Hammer and 

 Prince of Haarlem. (Jaribaldi, Bis- 

 marck and Marconi were other good va- 

 rieties of hyacinths. 



Mr. Bartsch stated that among the 

 narcissi Golden Spur still had a large 

 sale in pans; Cervantes came in some- 

 what earlier. Princeps and Trumpet 

 Major were all right to cut, but did not 

 make good pans. King Alfred was a su- 

 perb daffodil, but proved too tcall for 

 [laii culture. It could not be forced 

 early. If it could be flowered as early as 

 Golden Sjtur, it would bring fancy 

 jirices in January. The old double Von 

 Sion was still favored by many, al 

 though it looked coarse alongside of 

 the single narcissi. \'ictoria, popular 

 for cutting, does not make a particu 



H. H. Bartsch. 



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