598 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



August 18, 1904. 



Narcissi. 



Paper white narcissi, Roman lij'a- 

 cinths, and other French bulbs are ar- 

 riving, and if early bloom is desired 

 there should be no delay in getting them 

 into the flats. Remember that the Ro- 

 man hyacinth, although withstanding 

 some freezing without harm, if allowed 

 to thaw out in a cool shed, will not en- 

 dure anything like the hard freezing 

 that is harmless to the Dutch hyacinths 

 and tulips, and the paper whites want 

 no frost at all. 8o. when you later box 

 up your main lot for flowering at the 

 holidays and on, the flats should be in 

 such a position that when winter comes 

 they can be protected with sash and 

 shutters, besides the covering of soil or 

 tanbark and four or five inches of stable 

 litter. 



People who go into the bulb business 

 very largely may have a specially con- 

 structed root house or cellars. If so, 

 they would, after winter set in, have to 

 lie kept near the freezing point. We 

 have never found any ])lace so good as 

 out of doot-s for the flats. 



Tulips. 



A few years ago a son thought that 

 for the first batch of tulips, a few thou- 

 sand that we wanted in flower in early 

 January, such as La Beine, Vermilion 

 Brilliant and Yellow Prince, that if 

 planted in the flats directly they arrived 

 aiid the flats placed under a cool bench 

 and covered with two inches of soil, it 

 would save the trouble of putting them 

 outside and they could be kept moist 

 more easily. It was a mistake and a 

 failure. ITiey made no stem, while those 

 brought in from outside in the same 

 heat made stems of eight to twelve 

 inches. I remember cutting Cbrysolora 

 on December 27, with ll-inch stems, but 

 it took a lot of shade, heat and moisture 

 to do it. However, for these hyacinths 

 and paper whites that you expect to cut 

 in November and December, no frost is 

 feared and no covering, except three 

 inches of soil, will be needed. Get some 

 into flats at once. We never found any 

 size of flats better suited for the pur- 

 pose than one of 12x24 inches and three 

 inches deep and this same flat is useful 

 for many seedlings in the spring, as 

 well as to deliver a load of bedding 

 plants, and where wo know just how 

 many plants a bed will take, whatever 

 size flat we use for your bulbs, we have 

 them uniform. 



c 



Soil. 



No specially prepared soil is necessary 

 for these hyacinths and narcissi, but it 

 should not 1m* heavy. 'The soil from 

 the carnation bench that you threw out 

 in June will be just the thing. Don't 

 waste room with these bulbs. You can 

 put them in flats, almost touching. 

 Press them firmly into the soil, leaving 

 top of bulb and surface of soil even 

 with edge of box. 



We like to put some old strips of 

 wood on the ground for the flats to rest 



on, as they lift cleaner and better. 

 Then cover the flats with three inches 

 of soil, but water thoroughly before cov- 

 ering. All that remains to be done for 

 the next two months is never in a dry 

 spell neglect soaking the beds at least 

 once a week. If the soil in the flats is 

 allowed to remain long dry, no good 

 roots will be made. Heavy rains maj' 

 help you out, but remember it takes a 

 heavy rain to wet down three inches, 

 and also remember there is no moisture 

 arising from the earth which keeps alive 

 and nourishes the roots of plants with 

 their roots in the ground. The bottom 

 of the flat stops all that. 



Varieties. 



Those who grow but a few hundred 

 Dutch hyacinths or a few thousand tu- 

 lips buy their bulbs of one of our seed 

 houses. It is to the interest of the seed 

 house to recommend only varieties that 

 are known to be the most satisfactory to 

 force, which is doubtless usually done, 

 but it is well for the grower, however 

 small, to know what to order. 



In tulips there is no demand for a 

 great variety and the best forcing varie- 

 ties are proved and established. Omit- 

 ting the Due Van Tliol varieties, which 

 are the earliest but not worth growing, 

 the standard varieties are La Reine. for 

 white, in some soils and after being out 

 a few days it assumes a beautiful sliade 

 of pink; Cottage Maid and Kose Gris- 

 de-lin are both fine pinks; Yellow 

 Prince is all that is desired in yellow: 

 Vermilion Brilliant is the finest scar- 

 let, but rather expensive; if too expen- 

 sive then order Waterloo for scarlet : 

 for a gay, big tulip of yellow and red, 

 buy Kaizerskroon. and for a magnif- 

 icent flower distinct from any other 

 color, grow a few Proserpioe, very early, 

 carmine rose in color. The queen of all 

 double tulips for either cutting or pans, 

 particularly for Easter is Murillo, which 

 is white when first expanded and then 

 turning to a soft satiny pink. Another 

 useful doulde lulip is Tournesol, red 

 and yellow, and that's about all the tu- 

 lips you want to bother with. 



Seldom does the commercial florist 

 grow anything but single Dutch hya- 

 cinths. They make a larger sjiike than 

 the double varieties, and here again a 

 limited number of varieties is all that's 

 necessary. Here are a dozen that will 

 fill the bill; Red and pink — Gertrude, 

 gigantea. Moreno, Norma. White — 

 Baron Von Thuyll. I^ Grandesse. L'ln- 

 nocence, Mme. Van der Hoop. Blue, 

 light and dark — Charles Dickens, Czar 

 Peter, King of tlie Blues. Kegulus. 



In narcissi, the double Von Sion is 

 always popular and so is the Trnnipet 

 Major. Three other single narcissi tliat 

 force well and sold well the last few 

 years are Emperor. Empress and GoMen 

 Spur. The French-grown Trumpet Ma- 

 jor can be forced easily for Christmas. 

 It is not as fine as the Holland-grown, 

 but its earliness makes it valuable. 



William Scott. 



PLANTS FOR CEMETERY USE. 



What plants and shrubs are used for 

 cemetery planting? I have calls for 

 "something to plant at the cemetery" 

 and would be glad to know what would 

 be most suitable for that purpose; also 

 what hardy shrubs should be planted on 

 school grounds to give blooms as much 

 as possible through the year. 



What would be a reasonable charge 

 for seeding or sodding lots at the ceme- 

 tery? I have inquiries and hardly know 

 what would be considered a fair price 

 per square ro<l or yard. L. R. A. 



To take up the cemetery question first, 

 a definite answer cannot be given unless 

 we know under what rules your ceme- 

 tery is governed, and these rules vary 

 greatly in different cities and communi- 

 ties. In small, rural cemeteries, the lot 

 owner is usually allowed to plant what- 

 ever he sees fit. One lot will have a 

 small cluster of geraniums, another will 

 have at the foot of a grave a'lNIme. Plan- 

 tier rose, another a root of peony, and 

 still another a Swedish juniper; each 

 one, doubtless, thinks his lot most taste- 

 fully adorned, but the general effect is 

 poor indeed. 



Again, in some of the great cemeteries 

 of our eastern cities, where the lot 

 owner is also allowed to embellish his 

 plot of ground any way he chooses, yon 

 will see a most extravagant display of 

 flower gardening, elaborate designs of 

 carpet bedding, as well as l)eds of gera- 

 niums, coleus and all our other common 

 bedding plants, and the.y are often pre- 

 cwled in early spring with gay and cost- 

 ly displays of tulij>s. hyacinths and 

 other bulbous flowers. We have seen 

 cemeteries in the vicinity of New York 

 and Boston that we considered vastl.v 

 overdone, and in this respect they had 

 long passed the point of beauty and 

 good taste. Still, if I happened to be a 

 florist near one of these cemeteries and 

 my living largely depended on this cem- 

 etery trade, it is not likely I should tell 

 my patrons mat they were overdoing it. 



There is another order of cemeteries, 

 mostly associations of lot owners and 

 governed by a board of trustees. The 

 superintendent is, or should oe. a man 

 of taste with a knowledge and practice 

 of landscape art and planting. He 

 plants a group of hardy shrubs in ap- 

 propriate spots, an elm or an oak or 

 maple here or there, where it is nee«led. 

 a cluster or bell of evergreens, Norway 

 sj)ruce, Austrian pine or Picea pungens, 

 where a dense background is most suit- 

 able. 



In many of our eastern cemeteries, 

 land has In-en acquired that was natur- 

 ally very undulating in surface and the 

 large native trees left standing have 

 been of the greatest service in landscape 

 ♦•ffects. 



In the cemetery that I am l)est ac- 

 quainteil with, and which 1 have yet 

 faile<l to see eqimle<l for real beatity, rest 

 and peacefulness to the eye and senses, 

 the lot owner has only the right to erect 

 a monument and place an iron or stone 

 vase or wire or rustic basket on his lot. 

 The cemetery authorities do all the rest 

 and the consequence is that if the nion- 

 innents and vases were removed it would 

 be a well laid out. well ])lanted and well 

 maintijined park. 



Now, if the inquirer is doing business 

 with one of those cemeteries which al- 

 lows the lot owner to plant what he 

 chooses, then anv of the ordinarv sum- 



