20 



The Florists^ Review 



Februabt 18, 1915. 



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Easter Lilies. 



With the arrival of Lent, it is neces- 

 sary to give the lilies the best possi- 

 ble attention. If the buds are now 

 showing and can be counted, well and 

 good. If they are not, the plants will 

 need all possible heat to flower on time. 

 The temperature can be 65 to 70 de- 

 grees at night; it must not be below 60 

 degrees. Use the hose freely on them 

 and keep the atmosphere humid. If 

 they are growing in a special house, 

 close it up early in the afternoon to 

 send them along. A few days of this 

 treatment will make a surprising differ- 

 ence to the plants if we have clear 

 skies. The trouble with most of the 

 giganteums of late years has been that 

 they are too dwarf. The best way to 

 draw them up is to shade the house 

 where they are growing. This will 

 draw them up appreciably and make 

 them more salable. 



For Formosa lilies hard forcing is 

 not usually necessary. This variety is 

 naturally much earlier than giganteum; 

 it also grows a good deal taller. While 

 perhaps "not quite so good as a pot 

 plant on account of its height, it is the 

 lily par excellence for cutting. It is 

 clean, and anyone who has grown it 

 once wants more of it. 



Lilium candidum will not stand forc- 

 ing like the giganteums or Formosas. 

 The buds should now be visible and, if 

 so, they will be on time in an average 

 minimum of 50 degrees. If given much 

 more heat than this, the flowers will 

 come much undersized and will be lack- 

 inf; also in substance. Be sure to keep 

 aphis down on all lilies, either by fumi- 

 gating or spraying, and, as the plants 

 in any batch will never flower all to- 

 gether, considerable moving around will 

 be necessary to time them to a nicety. 



Azaleas. 



Azaleas should now be placed in a 

 temperature of 45 to 50 degrees at 

 night and sprayed freely on all clear 

 days. They will need no forcing, but 

 will flower on time in a comparatively 

 cool house. Pink and other colored va- 

 rieties of late years have sold better 

 than whites. Niobe, one of the best 

 late varieties, creamy white in color, 

 was hard to sell a year ago. 



Spiraeas. 



Spiraeas should now be under way, 

 and, if they have made a little growth, 

 will be all right. They stand plenty of 

 heat and like an abundant water sup- 

 ply, with liquid manure in addition 

 when the pots are full of roots, which 

 does not take long. Be careful not to 

 fumigate heavily where they are grow- 

 ing, as the foliage is tender. The old 

 Japonica as a pot plant is now dis- 

 placed by such superior kinds as Glad- 

 stone, grandiflora and astilboides. S. 

 Queen Alexandra does not come at its 

 best for Easter, but both this and the 

 new forms of S. Arendsii, which come 

 chiefly in lavender, rose and pink 

 shades, make beautiful Easter plants. 



Bhododendrons. 



Start rhododendrons now in any or- 

 dinary greenhouse temperature. Spray 

 freely. If they seem slow in starting, 

 place them in more heat and move back 

 into cooler quarters as tire flowers ex- 

 pand. The most popular, but not the 

 cheapest rhododendron, is Pink Pearl. 

 The White Pearl, which, however, is 

 not pure white, is also fine. All the 

 hybrids of Catawbiense are good for 

 forcing. 



Bougainvilleas. 



Give the bougainvillea plants a night 

 temperature of 60 degrees, and if the 

 flowers are starting to show color move 

 them to a cooler house. This will as- 

 sist in holding their color. They can 

 be subjected to quite hard forcing, but 

 it is better to keep them in a cool 

 house before sending them out. 



Genistas. 



The genista must not be forced at 

 any time. Plants placed in a tempera- 

 ture of 45 degrees at night now will be 

 on time. It is a mistake to trim the 

 plants into symmetrical forms, as many 

 persist in doing each year. More natu- 



rally grown plants are far more pleas- 

 ing and will be preferred by customers 

 who are at all critical. Have you re- 

 membered to put in a batch of genista 

 cuttings? If not, place them in sand 

 at once. Use short cuttings rubbed off 

 with a heel; a bench which roots carna- 

 tions will be ideal. 



DOUBLE CROP WITH RADIUM. 



So many wonderful results have been 

 related of experiments with radium 

 that some of us have come to designate 

 Missouri as our native state whenever 

 that magic substance becomes the sub- 

 ject of discussion. But this comes from 

 a veracious gardener, with an exceed- 

 ingly good photograph as ultimate evi- 

 dence. 



C. E. Gysemans, now gardener for 

 Jules E. T. Ehlers, at Evansville, Ind., 

 last summer was in charge of the ex- 

 periment gardens of the Standard 

 Chemical Co., at Piftsburgh, Pa., the 

 object of which was to determine the 

 effect of radium on growing plants. 

 The accompanying illustration shows 

 what he and radium did in one in- 

 stance. In a bushel basket filled with 

 soil was planted a potato of the Early 

 Ohio variety. When the plant was 

 five inches above the soil, Mr. Gyse- 

 mans grafted on the potato stalk a 

 tomato slip. The illustration shows 

 three large tomatoes, as well as some 

 blossoms near the top of the plant, 

 and Mr. Gysemans says he had some 

 good-sized potatoes at the other end 

 of the plant. 



The grafting was done by inarching, 

 and a good union was obtained in 

 fifteen days. Although the rafiia, the 

 only binding material used, was re- 

 moved at the end of this time, the 

 plant had to be tied to a stick to pre- 

 vent the graft being blown off by the 

 wind. To show the nature of the stock, 

 five shoots were left on the potato 

 plant, just below the graft. These 

 were pinched back constantly, so as 

 not to weaken the tomato graft. 



A most surprising fact was that, 

 although the potato stock was Early 

 Ohio — emphasis on the early — when 

 other plants of this kind were drying 

 down at the beginning of August this 

 one was given no rest, as the tomato, 

 growing vigorously under the action of 

 the radium, drew constantly upon the 

 potato stock, so that it could not rest, 

 but was still growing in September. 

 When this remarkable plant was on 

 exhibition at the Federal street seed 

 store of W. C. Beckert, in Pittsburgh, 

 for a few days, it attracted the atten- 

 tion of many people. 



CINCINNATI. 



Tomatoes Above, Potatoes Below. 



The Market. 



St. Valentine's day business was the 

 best this market has ever had for that 

 day. Sweet peas and single violets 

 cleaned up readily, while lily of the 

 valley and double violets sold well. Red 

 roses and red carnations also cleaned 

 up quickly. Practically all lines of 

 stock are moving briskly in the market, 

 while prices are good. 



Both roses and carnations are rather 

 short of actual requirements. Enough 

 lilies, including Easter lilies, callas and 

 rubrums, are coming in to take care of 

 the actual calls for them. Bulbous of- 

 ferings are becoming more plentiful and 

 the supply is steady. They are selling 

 fairly well. Other offerings include 



