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12 



The Florists' Review 



April 1, 1915. 



little bottom heat, all the better. Drain 

 the flats well and put the cuttings in 

 sandy loam. Keep them sprayed over 

 several times a day. Give little air, 

 close early in the afternoon and be sure 

 that the glass is well shaded. 



When the cuttings are nicely cal- 

 loused, air more freely, and early in 

 September remove the sashes entirely. 

 By fall some varieties will have made 

 a veritable network of roots; others are 

 slower. Keep the flats in a coldframe, 

 packed in dry leaves, over winter. 

 Transplant carefully into nursery rows 

 in spring. The second season the plants 

 will be of suflScient size to sell. Advan- 

 tages of own-root plants over grafted 

 ones are that they are equally vigorous 

 and every shoot made is sure to be true, 

 while with grafted plants, if suckers are 

 not removed, the stock may eventually 

 displace the grafts. Any florist can root 

 lilacs if he will take the wood before it 

 gets too firm and follow the sugges- 

 tions given above. Wood from forced 

 plants can also be propagated in the 

 same way. 



Comparatively few people appreciate 

 the wonderful wealth of lilacs we have, 

 thanks, in large measure, to those great 

 European hybridists, Lemoine & Son, 

 Nancy, France, whose nurseries are 

 right on the Franco-German firing line. 

 The earliest varieties to bloom are ob- 

 lata and hyacinthiflora plena. These are 

 sometimes in flower the first week in 

 April. Following these come the numer- 

 ous fine forms of Syringa vulgaris, 

 which are the most beautiful and pop- 

 ular of the lilacs. 



Varieties of Value. 



As there are 150 or more lilacs in cul- 

 tivation, I append a boiled-down list 

 of really good ones. Single white: Marie 

 Legraye, Frau Bertha Dammann; dou- 

 ble white: Mme. Lemoine, Mme. Casimir 

 Perier; single pink: Macrostachya, Prin- 

 cess Alexandra; double pink: Belle de 

 Nancy, white eye; Lemoinei; single 

 blue or lilac: Geheimrath Heyder, Go- 

 liath; double blue or lilac: Doyen Kete- 

 leer, Michael Buchner; single red: 

 ' Charles X, Marlyensis; single purple: 

 Philemon; double purple: Charles Joly, 

 Comte Horace de Choiseul. The forego- 

 ing are all splendid sorts, and there are 

 many more almost equally good. 



Apart from the varieties of the com- 

 mon lilac, S. vulgaris, the following are 

 valuable, and their use will consider- 

 ably prolong the season: S. villosa, late 

 blooming; S. pubescens, graceful, small 

 trusses, but free blooming; S. Chinensis, 

 also called Rothomagensis, the Roman 

 lilac; S. Persica, or Persian lilac, and 

 S. Josikaea, a native of Hungary. 



The latest flowering of the lilac fam- 

 ily is S. Japonica, or Japanese tree lilac. 

 This is a rapid grower, has handsome 

 foliage and produces immense panicles 

 of yellowish white, feathery flowers in 

 late June or early July. This makes a 

 handsome lawn specimen, attaining a 

 height of twenty-five to thirty feet. 

 S. Pekinensis grows fifteen to twenty 

 feet high, is rather wide spreading and 

 has large panicles in the way of S. Ja- 

 ponica. 



Here are a dozen lilacs which will give 

 two months of bloom if planted; they 

 include both single and double varieties 

 and contain a fine range of colors: 

 Marie Legraye, oblata. Mine. Lemoine, 

 macrostachya, Philemon, Michael Buch- 

 ner, Charles X, Emile Lemoine, Persica, 

 Chinensis, villosa and Japonica. 



In planting lilacs give therti good soil. 



Lilac Abel Carriere, Large, Blue; Reverse of Petals Rose. 



Tell your customers to cut the dead 

 trusses away before seeds form, as these 

 will much weaken the plants. Also tell 

 them that cutting away mature wood 

 means cutting away the flowers for the 

 coming season. The time to prune is 

 directly after flowering, and all that is 

 necessary is to head back any runaway « 

 shoots and remove dead or weak wood. 

 Young plants need practically no prun- 

 ing for several years. 



Many thousands of visitors annually 

 admire the wonderful lilac displays 

 in such noted places as the Arnold 

 Arboretum, Boston, and Highland park, 

 Rochester. Nearly all of these peo- 

 ple have gardens at home and room 

 for a few lilacs, as have hundreds of 

 thousands more, and it is up to the flo- 

 rists, at least in some measure, to see 

 that lilacs are planted at thousands 

 more of American homes. 



FEEBLE OEOWTH OF HYACINTHS. 



I am sending some hyacinths under 

 separate cover and should like to know 

 what is wrong with them. 



F. S.— Ohio. 



Either you have been keeping your 

 bulbs far too dry at the roots, or, what 

 is more probable, they were heated in 

 transit from Holland. A combination 

 of the two causes may be accountable 

 for their wretched condition. When 

 bulbs get overheated, the flowers in the 



embryo are killed. When plants are 

 kept too dry at the roots before forcing, 

 they make a sickly, feeble growth, 

 such as yours have made. 



C. W. 



CARBYINa OVES CYCLAMENS. 



Will you please give me advice in 

 regard to the care of 1-year-old cycla- 

 mens, mostly in 4-inch pots, from now 

 ont I wish to carry them over. 



M, B.— N. Y. 



Give the plants a good water supply 

 and a position on a bench or shelf in 

 a cool but sunny house after flowering. 

 We often see them stored away in 

 sheds or under dripping benches. It 

 is useless to expect any results from 

 plants thus treated. After the middle 

 of May remove them to a coldframe. 

 The foliage will be starting to die 

 away by that time. Gradually reduce 

 the water supply and keep them nearly 

 dry until signs of new growths appear. 

 Then shake out the corms and repot 

 in as small pots as the corms can con- 

 veniently be got into. Use a compost 

 of flaky leaf-mold, well decayed cow 

 manure and loam, with a good dash of 

 sharp sand added. After potting, keep 

 the plants in a coldframe. The plants 

 can be laid on their sides, if frame 

 space is needed for other crops, and 

 kept outdoors for a couple of months. 

 Usually growth starts and repotting 

 can be done about the middle of July. 



C. W. 



