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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



1035 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



.<■:■"■■ The Dutch Bolb*. 



The florist's leisure time is over and 

 many are the important jobs that now 

 need your attention. The Holland bulbs 

 have arrived. This means the tulips, 

 narcissi and hyacinths. You will not 

 likely have the time to box all the bulbs 

 you force as soon as received, nor is it 

 at all necessary. Unlike the loose-scaled 

 lily bulbs, these tulips, etc.-, take no harm 

 from being kept out of the ground for 

 a month or more, providing you keep 

 them in a perfectly dry, cool shed or 

 room. 



Early Flowering. 



There is no longer a craze to have 

 tulips and narcissi at Christmas. We 

 have Eomans and Paper "Whites and the 

 French narcissi for that time and, with 

 the exception, perhaps, of La Reine tulip, 

 it is well along in January before there 

 is a paying demand. Yet to have good 

 tulips even the latter part of January it 

 is necessary to box some bulbs at your 

 very earliest opportunity. They must be 

 rooted or they will not force. Your trade 

 may require a few dozen boxes, or a few 

 hundred of each good variety. 



Soil for Boxing. 



I have for years maintained that * ' any 

 old soil" was good enough for these 

 bulbs. I still think the mechanical con- 

 dition of the soil is more important 

 ^han the quality, but from observation 

 last spring I am going to modify the 

 statement about "any old soil." Soil 

 f j^m a carnation or rose bench that was 

 (jjQptied out last June and has had one 

 (jif'.two turnings would be just the thing, 

 put if you have nothing but a light sand, 

 then add a fourth of sifted rotten ma- 

 nure. 



We know the thrifty Hollander covers 

 his land with cow manure to a depth and 

 weight in excess of anything we practice 

 here. Potatoes are grown the first year 

 but are not eaten in Holland. Oh! No. 

 They are sent to England and Germany. 

 The next year hyacinths are grown and 

 the next tulips, and then the manure 

 comes again. So what must their fields 

 be in a dozen years? This shows their 

 bulbs will stand a very highly manured 

 soil. The Hollander produces by intense 

 cultivation the splendid bulbs and em- 

 bryo flower. We only force it into 

 bloom, but yet a good, rich soil will add 

 to the size and quality of your tulips, 

 hyacinths and narcissi. 



Use Uniform Flats. 



I can only repeat that it is poor econ- 

 omy tc use every size and shape of box 

 or flat for forcing bulbs. Let them be 

 of some uniform size and depth. We 

 find a flat that is twenty-four inches 

 long, twelve inches broad and three 

 inches deep the most convenient size. 

 They fit op a bench without loss of space 

 and do not break the back of the man 

 who carries them in and out of the 

 houses. 



After filling the flat quite lightly with 



the compost you can squeeze the bulbs 

 into the soil until the top of the bulb 

 is about even with the top of the flat. 

 A little soil thrown in to fill up between 

 the bulbs and the job is done. Now 

 this is a job at which a man with a 

 helper, to fill and take away his flats, 

 can put in many thousands of bulbs in a 

 day. There are many light operations in 

 our business such as this. Making cut- 

 tings, moving over plants on a bench and 

 potting small plants must be done rapid- 

 ly or there is no profit and I am going 

 to say that if a man or youth does not 

 delight to have things pass quickly 

 through his hands he is no good for the 

 business. 



Put the flats outdoors on the ground 

 in beds of convenient length and breadth 

 and, after a good soaking, cover them 

 with three inches of soil. 



Planting Tulip Beds. 



Let me remind you who plant tulip 

 beds for your customers, and many of us 

 use up thousands of our importations in 

 that way, that it is a long month yet be- 

 fore these bulbs should be planted in the 

 beds. From personal experience, and 

 the opinion of some very able men, it is 

 proved that the later (within reason) 



these bulbs are planted in the fall the 

 longer and finer will be your display next 

 May. I have gone into the reason for 

 this at some length other years, so will 

 say no more now. 



Indian Azaleas. 



Another very important plant will 

 soon arrive, the Azalea Indica. The 

 quantity now imported is enormous and 

 they are so easily handled and brought 

 into flower that every florist, large or 

 small, who has a greenhouse, handles his 

 hundred or thousand of these showy 

 plants. With us they usually arrive in 

 most excellent condition, green as they 

 grew in the manure-saturated beds of 

 Belgium. Most of them are so heavily 

 rooted that it is necessary to trim the 

 roots so that they will go into a size 

 of pot suitable for the size of the plant. 

 If the ball, or mass of roots, is cut 

 down with a big, sharp knife, I never 

 saw the least harm come of it. 



The most important thing of all, which 

 only beginners can be unaware of, is that 

 after you. have trimmed the roots to the 

 desired dimensions to stand them in a 

 tub of water for a minute or so, or till 

 the soil and roots are soaked through. 

 Then in a few minutes you can pot them, 

 using a flat, blunt stick to ram down the 

 new soil. 



Simple as all this is, it is most import- 

 ant and years ago by its neglect many 

 an importer was blamed for that of 

 which he was entirely guiltless. Stanu 

 your newly imported azaleas in a cool, 

 shady house and keep rather close for a 

 week. Spray lightly two or three times 

 daily. They are slow to make new roots, 

 but quickly become established in their 

 new environments. William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES.-EAST, 



New Varieties, 



Some of the recently introduced vari- 

 eties will probably be among your as- 

 sortment, and it is but natural that 

 there should be anticipation of marked 

 improvement over older sorts, but we 

 must not expect too much on short ac- 

 iquaintance. 



Every variety has its peculiarities, 

 such as capacity for food, capability of 

 re-establishment after housing, suscep- 

 tibility to disease and a disposition to 

 favor a certain time to be propagated. 

 [Knowing the most suitable tempera- 

 ture, whether a light or heavy feeder, 

 rapid or slow grower, and such other 

 information as can be learned about a 

 variety, we have something to serve as 

 a partial guide; but one needs to sum- 

 mer and wiiiter with a variety to really 

 learn its likes and dislikes. 



Some of our most popular and now 

 largely grown sorts received but feeble 

 praise at the beginning of their careers. 

 Many of us recall the complaints re- 

 garding Lawson the first year it was 

 grown by the trade, how it burst and 

 gave only short stems until some time 

 .after the holidays. It was nearly two 



years before its proper night tempera 

 ture was widely known; then the prob- 

 lem was to produce good length of stem 

 by Christmas. 



I have always claimed that no variety 

 can be expected to show its real meri- 

 torious qualities until the plants are 

 produced wholly by the grower; that 

 is, cuttings taken from plants under his 

 care, the same being rooted and handled 

 through the various stages of cultiva- 

 tion at the grower's establishment. This 

 claim is made on personal experience, 

 observation and knowledge of methods 

 in disseminating new varieties, but ia 

 not in any sense a reflection on our 

 worthy introducers. 



Of course there are exceptions, but 

 the majority of new sorts rnay be con- 

 sidered as doing well if the first sea- 

 son their original cost and expense in 

 handling is returned. The gain on the 

 investment can be looked for in the 

 form of a thrifty lot of young stock to 

 plant out the following spring. 



It would be best not to attempt the. 

 production of many top-notchers from 

 the new ones this year, but let them 

 come along naturally, giving every care 

 due them, meanwhile making a study of 

 their peculiarities. A more general pur- 

 suance of this plan would result in bet- 

 ter appreciation of the hybridizers' ef- 



