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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mabch. 23, 1905. 



WATER LILIES FROM JAPAN. 



[A paper by Wm. Trlcher, read under the 

 general heading. "Our Horticultural Indebted- 

 ness to Japan," before the Germantowu Hor- 

 tkultural Society, March 13, lfl06.] , 



Among water plants none can rival the 

 Nelumbium speciosum, commonly known 

 to us as the Egyptian lotus. It is no 

 more Egyptian than American. It has 

 been imported from Japan several times, 

 although some of the first to become es- 

 tablished in the United States came by 

 way of France, but it is of immense 

 value in Japan as an economic plant. 

 The tubers, or large fleshy rhizomes, are 

 an article of diet with the Japs and the 

 Mongolians, and are grown extensively 

 for this purpose. In Japan several forms 

 are known, varying in color from a pure 

 white to pink and deep rosy carmine, but 

 no yellow, although this will doubtless 

 be well known there in the near future. 

 I consider this very significant and mark- 

 ing definitely America as the home of 

 Nelumbium luteum, the yellow lotus. 



The Japanese varieties, besides being 

 varied in color, are varied in size; there 

 are giant forms much larger than any 

 exported from Japan, and which are 

 probably considered more sacred to the 

 Japanese. As my informant assured me, 

 they were grown in temple gardens. 

 There are also pigmy forms, very beauti- 

 ful, flowers about the size of an ordi- 

 nary tulip, both white and pink, single 

 and double, and only growing about 

 eighteen inches high. The choicest in 

 cultivation in the United States, with 



. one or two exceptions, came from Japan ; 

 one is claimed to have originated in Cali- 

 fornia, another from imported seed. 



A singular instance is the fact that 

 Japan has but one nymphsea, or pond- 

 lily, as known in the United States. This 

 is Nymphaea tetragona or Nymphsea 

 pygmyea. This is the smallest of the 



-water lilies; the flowers, pure white, are 

 about the size of a silver dollar. This 

 is of great interest, being so diminutive 

 and distinct from all others. Considered 

 of little account, it has proven of im- 

 mense value to the hybridist and is one 

 of the parents of some of the choicest 

 water-lilies in cultivation. 



Japan has also its Nuphar or spatter- 

 dock, which doubtless fills its mission in 

 Jap&n as does our native variety in the 

 Delaware river and elsewhere. 



A very interesting aquatic plant is 

 Trapa bi-spinosa, the water chestnut, the 

 seeds of which are offered by fakirs on 

 our streets in spring and exposed in 



. jars of water with a bit of green as evi- 

 dence of sure growth, but which inevi- 



- tably is sure death. 



Sagittaria Sagittaefolia, double and 

 single fiowered, are both ornamental and 



• useful plants ; the single form is identical 

 with our own. The tubers, which are 

 a culinary dish among the Japanese, are 

 here a choice morsel with the muskrats. 

 There are other aquatic plants all 

 more or less of great value among the 

 Japanese. Scirpus and Juncus communis 

 are purely ornamental plants with us, 

 but largely used for mats and packing 

 material. Zizania aquatica, commonly 

 known as reed grass and occasionally 

 used as an aquatic decorative plant, is 

 of great value to them. 



Another industry to which we owe the 



. Japanese mu(!h is the culture of gold 

 fish. There are large quantities of fish 

 imported every year and an immense 

 quantity raised annually in the United 

 States. Where aquatic plants are culti- 



■ vated it is necessary to have fish in the 



water, and it is of no greater trouble 

 or care to raise twenty-five-dollar fish 

 than it is twenty-five-cent ones, but you 

 can take your choice. 



PLAN FOR PIPE HEATING. 



We have four houses running east 

 and west. No. 1, with thirty inches 

 of glass in the south wall, is 20x66, 

 and connected with it without a wall is 

 No. 2, 18x50, both for carnations. No. 

 3 stands two feet from No. 2, is 14x55 

 and used for propagating. No. 4 is 

 also detached, 16x60, and used for roses. 

 Nos. 1, 2 and 4 are ten feet to ridge, 

 No. 3 eight feet to ridge. All walls 

 are four feet. The east end is covered 

 by the shed; the west gable is glass. 

 How should these houses be piped for 

 steam f What size of tubular boiler will 

 be needed for weather conditions of 

 western New York? We use soft coal. 



M. L. H. 



House No. 1, 20x66 feet, if piped 

 with a 2-inch flow under the ridge will 

 need ten 1^-inch returns, whether on 

 the side walls or under the benches. 

 House No. 2, which is connected with 

 house No. 1 and which is 18x50 feet, 

 will require a 2-inch riser under the 

 ridge and seven 1%-inch pipes on the 

 side walls or under the benches. If the 

 piping is to be placed on the walls it 

 will be well to place six of the ten 

 pipes of house No. 1 and five of the 

 seven pipes of house No, 2 on the out- 

 side walls. This will leave seven pipes 

 to be placed on the posts under the 

 common gutter to houses No, 1 and 2. 



House No. 3, which is 14x55 feet, I 

 have piped so as to maintain a tempera- 

 ture of 70 degrees. A 2-inch flow under 

 the ridge and eight 1%-inch returns 

 under the benches or along the side 

 walls, preferably under the benches, will 

 serve the purpose. It will be a good 

 plan to place valves at each end of two 

 of the lines of pipe on each side of this 

 house, as during mild weather the pip- 

 ing will be too heavy. 



House No. 4, which is stated to be 

 16x60 and which is to be used for roses, 

 should be piped for 70 degrees. A 2- 

 inch flow under the ridge and ten 1^- 

 inch returns will be suflScient to carry 

 this temperature unless the house is 

 exposed to hard winds, in which event 

 it would be well to place eleven 114- 

 inch returns in the house. 



The precaution noted for house No. 

 3, i. e., to place valves on four or more 

 of the returns in each of the houses, is 

 a good one, as it will simplify the prob- 

 lem of firing and of meeting sudden 

 changes in the weather. If no imme- 

 diate addition is contemplated a boiler 

 containing about 160 to 175 feet of 

 heating surface will be ample for your 

 needs. Such a boiler would be rated 

 as twelve or fifteen horse-power and 

 would be about thirty-six inches in di- 

 ameter and eight feet long. For set- 

 ling such a boiler see Florists' Ee- 

 viEW, February 16, page 705. 



L. C. C. 



A PROMISING MUM. 



The floral committee of the French 

 N. C. S. has held during the past sea- 

 son a number of meetings at Lyons and 

 at Montpellier, where many new seed- 

 lings, etc., were exhibited. The raisers, 

 in many instances, are nardly known by 



name to most of our growers but we can 

 never tell what good thing may come 

 from unexpected quarters. One of the 

 ecxhibitors gained a certificate for a 

 sport from Madame Paolo Badaelli, 

 which appears to be a good thing. The 

 raiser describes it as ochre-yellow, 

 washed and striped with red, reverse 

 paler yellow. The name of the novelty 

 is Madame Guillaume Bidol. The par- 

 ent is such a popular favorite with the 

 English exhibitor that there is every rea- 

 son to suppose the sport will be equally 

 valued. — Gardeners ' Magazine. 



HENRY ECKFORD. 



While no one can take exception to the 

 nam«s of the three persons who have just 

 been selected as Victorian Medalists of 

 Honor in Horticulture, I am led to 

 greatly wonder why the name of the vet- 

 eran Henry Eckford, of Wem, is so con- 

 stantly passed over; a horticulturist who 

 has put in some sixty years of most use- 

 ful practical work, a keen florist, culti- 

 vating, exhibiting and raising dahlias a 

 half century ago, improving the zonal 

 pelargonium, the verbena and other flow- 

 ers ; always industriously and intelligently 

 experimenting with culinary peas and oth- 

 er vegetables, but whose great work has 

 been improving the sweet pea, and by 

 which he has given touches of exquisite 

 beauty to every garden, not only in al- 

 most or quite every part of the British 

 Empire, but in very many foreign lands 

 also. The name of Eckford is known 

 far and wide, and he is still at his favor- 

 ite work. His name could have fittingly 

 headed the list of the hundred medalists 

 originally selected. Veteran as he is, he 

 cannot be said to have outlived his rep- 

 utation, for his name appears in every 

 seed catalogue and Is in every one's 

 mouth who loves his garden. — Richabd 

 Dean, in H. T. J, 



ANNUAL HOLLYHOCKS. 



It may interest your readers to hear 

 that I make a specialty of growing 

 the new type, which are annuals. The 

 quick and luxuriant growth of the plants 

 is not favorable to the establishment of 

 the fungus. The seeds may be sown 

 about the end of March, but if sown 

 later of course they will not commence 

 flowering so soon. Young plants trans- 

 planted about the beginning of May 

 will commence to bloom about the end 

 of July. They will remain in flower 

 until late in the autumn. The branches 

 that have borne flowers must be cut 

 away, otherwise all the energy of 

 growth will be devoted to the ripening 

 of the seeds. It is also worth while men- 

 tioning that the plants are • just as 

 hardy as those of the other types of 

 hollyhocks, therefore plants may stand 

 another year, but I prefer to grow 

 them year by year. It is necessary to 

 mention that the double strain is still 

 not yet so perfectly double as those of 

 the best varieties of Chater's Prize 

 strains, but nevertheless the flowers 

 are pretty nearly double, and ultimate- 

 ly I trjst to have a strain that will 

 compare with the best of any type of 

 the biennial class. — Frederick Roemer, 

 Quedlinburg, in Gardener's Chronicle. 



WELL SATISFIED. 



All rubbers^ are sold for the present; 

 please discontinue the advertisement; we 

 are well satisfied with the results. 



A. C, Oelschio ft Son. 



