302 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



DBCBftiBKU 21, 1905. 



having other views on the matter. Is it 

 encouraging to the art or can it be con- 

 sidered a retrogression? Eight thousand 

 carnations were used in the construction 

 of the tracks and ties, Felix. 



FREESIAS. 



We have a lot of freesias growing iu 

 flats and what we want to know is, will 

 they need any more watering after they 

 get done blooming, or just let them dry 

 off all at once? B. & S. 



We would certainly say that if the 



freesia corms are to be kept for future 

 forcing they should not be dried off * * all 

 at once." It is against nature and 

 reason. Some plants seem to endure a 

 sudden arrest of growth, but with bulb- 

 ous plants it is at the time of flowering 

 and fullest leafage that they are storing 

 up the strength for future flowering, in 

 many cases forming the embryo bud. 

 Put the flats where space is not valuable, 

 but where they will gradually ripen their 

 foliage and water to avoid extreme dry- 

 ness. W. S. 



Forcing Single Tulips. 

 It is now time to bring in your earliest 

 planted tulips, which will bring them 

 into flower about the third week of Jan- 

 uary, when they will be looked for and 

 be in satisfactory condition. The beauti- 

 ful Proserpine is the earliest of all, but 

 rather short-stemmed unless well man- 

 aged. Then comes Yellow Prince, the 

 most profitable tulip of all. Then there 

 is Chrysolora, another good forcing yel- 

 low; Vermilion Brilliant, the finest scar- 

 let; the useful La Beine, white but often 

 assuming beautiful shades of pink 5 Bose 

 Grisdelin and Cottage Maid, both fine 

 pinks. All cf the above will now force. 

 It would pay you to examine a box of 

 each variety. If they are just peep- 

 ing through the soil in the flats don't 

 attempt to force them, but if the 

 growth is two or three inches above the 

 soil they are sufficiently rooted to make 

 a stem and flower. 



Necessary Conditions. 



The conditions to force the earliest 

 tulips are just the reverse of those for 

 forcing lily of the valley, which needs 

 warmth at the roots and moderate tem- 

 perature for leaf and flower. The tulips 

 require a strong top heat, but only a 

 mild heat at the roots. In fact, much 

 heat would scorch the roots and that 

 would be fatal. Most of you have a side 

 bench beneath which are the steam or 

 hot water pipes and this is, or should be, 

 three or four inches from the wall. 1 

 say should be, for you still occasionally 

 see a bench nailed up to the wall. Of 

 all idiotic things this is the worst, in- 

 cluding rot and murder. Now, if you 

 will tack up a piece of cheese-cloth, or 

 oil-cloth is even better, to the wall a foot 

 or two above the bench and let it hang 

 down the front of the bench below the 

 level of the pipes you will confine the 

 heat around the tulips; 80 degrees top 

 heat is not too high for the earliest. The 

 little he.at that comes through the boards 

 will not hurt. 



In this strong heat they will want one 

 or two sprayings daily, but only ordinary 

 moisture at the roots. The shade is, of" 

 course, applied to induce length of stem. 

 The treatment is all right until the 

 earliest flowers show color, when the 

 shade can be thrown back or the flats re- 

 moved to another bench, but not to a 

 very cool house or the later flowers will 

 just stand still. As the season advances 

 less shade and heat are required, until we 



reach March, when little heat and no 

 shade are necessary. Spring has come 

 to waken them into growth, as it does all 

 animated nature. 



Some few years ago we thought it ad- 

 visable to bring into the house a num- 

 ber of flats of early tulips and put them 

 under a cool bench, where they could go 

 on making roots without being forced. 

 It did not work. They were a failure 

 when we put them in the hot box and 

 we think tulips brought in and im- 

 mediately given heat is still the best 

 plan. 



Von Sion Narcissi. 



There is, however, an exception with 



an important bulbous flower and we only 

 observed that wrinkle last winter. Never 

 get so old or petrified that you cannot 

 grasp a new idea, no matter from what 

 source. A youthful employee may stop 

 forward with a suggestion. Listen and 

 weigh it over. In his close association 

 with the plants that he is constantly * 

 watching, he may have observed some- 

 thing that escaped you. 



Von Sion narcissi can be brought in 

 in December or later, on favorable occa- 

 sions, and stored beneath the benches 

 and they will go on advancing toward 

 flower and the most forward can be 

 brought up to force as you need them. 

 With the Von Sion it worked quite the 

 reverse from the tulips. 



Don't touch a double tulip for two 

 months yet. I have seen Tournesol in 

 flats with the flowers sitting on the soil 

 like mushrooms and the ignorant florist 

 blaming the dealer. How many things 

 the poor seedsman has to bear from the 

 ignorance of the so-called gardener! He 

 is easier to reach than the real cause of 

 failure. 



Stevia. 



Albert Mauff, of Denver, called on us 

 about Thanksgiving. He remarked that 

 their stevia was much earlier than ours. 

 He was cutting at that time and would 

 get another crop of shorter spikes in 

 January. We never thought a second 

 crop, if it came, would be of much qual- 

 ity or profitable. Considering that it 

 need occupy the benches but two months 

 and a very cool house is all it asks, we 

 think it can be made profitable at $1.25 

 per hundred, which it will always bring 

 during December, and a little more dur- 

 ing the holidays. William Scott. 



Prize Basket of Plants Exhibited at the Chicago Show. 



(Arranged b.v C. H. GebharUt, Gardener for H. G. Selfridge.) 



