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NOVEMBEB 15, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists* Revtew. 



1715 



Patrick's day in the morning. The same 

 day ho visited the United States Nurser- 

 ies, Short Hills, N. J., and in the after- 

 noon left for Staatsburgh, N. Y., where 

 he was engaged by Thomas Emmerson to 

 take charge of the palms and stove plants 

 in the gardens of W. B. Dinsmore. 



Owing to poor health he resigned his 

 position there after two years and was 

 engaged as head gardener by Senator 

 S. W. Bobbins, of Wethersfield, Conn. 

 After three years in his employ he went 

 to England, and on his return was for 

 a few months assistant in the green- 

 houses of James B. Colgate, Yonkers, N. 

 Y., after which he removed to Lenox to 

 become foreman for J. F. Huss, at Vent- 

 fort hall. After serving two years in 

 that capacity he was engaged as super- 

 intendent by John Sloane, which position 

 he has now held for eleven years. 



Mr. Loveless is master of Evening 

 Star Lodge, F. & A. M., member of 

 Berkshire Commandery and Melha Tem- 

 ple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is ex-presi- 

 dent of the Lenox Horticultural Society 

 and an active member of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum Society of America. He is one of 

 the most successful cultivators of the 

 chrysanthemum to be found in the 

 country. 



CHANGING PLANT HABITS. 



Retardation and Acceleration. 



If plants of the present season's 

 growth refused to be forced again until 

 they had had a month or two of sleep, 

 why not retard those of the previous 

 year? Such was the reasoning that led 

 to the discovery that lily of the valley 

 crowns, Japanese and other lily bulbs, 

 also lilacs, deciduous azaleas, hydrangeas 

 and some other deciduous flowering 

 shrubs might be lifted and placed in 

 cold storage rooms, similar to those used 

 for the preservation of fresh meat, re- 

 tarding them until it was thought fit to 

 introduce them to heat and force them 

 into flower. This discovery alone had 

 the effect of enabling the market grower 

 to place lily of the valley flowers on 

 the market every day in the year. 



Retarding is now practiced in all gar- 

 dening communities and its commercial 

 value is beyond estimation. It must be 

 pointed out, however, that toward the 

 end of the autumn the plants that have 

 been in cold storage so long begin to 

 lose their vital power, for the sleep can- 

 not be indefinitely prolonged with im- 

 punity, and by the time the forcing of 

 the succeeding season's products can be 

 undertaken with success, the retarded 

 specimens have lost their commercial 

 value. 



Three Periods of Sleep. 



The next discovery in relation to the 

 forcing of plants was made in Denmark 

 by Prof. Johannsen, of Copenhagen. 

 This Danish botanist, after making a 

 prolonged study of the resting period of 

 plants, came to the conclusion that their 

 period of inactivity or sleep might be 

 divided into three stages, as follows: 

 First, the period immediately following 

 the fall of the leaf or a stage in which 

 the plant is going to sleep; secondly, a 

 similar length of time during which rest 

 is absolute, and thirdly, the period in 

 spring when, the sleeping stage having 

 passed, the tree continues to remain dor- 

 mant only because the weather is un- 

 suitable for growth. 



It was thought that it might be pos- 

 sible to hurry the plants through the 



Alfred J. Loveless. 



first two stages of rest into the third anil 

 it was obvious that if this could be done 

 they would at once be in a suitable con- 

 dition for introducing to the forcing 

 house. Prof. Johannsen by repeated ex- 

 periments found that in plants, as in 

 animals, the effect of ether and chloro- 

 f orm> is to cause every indication of sleep 

 and during the last three years the sys- 

 tem of etherizing plants to bring them 

 quickly through the resting periods has 

 been adopted commercially with extraor- 

 dinary success. 



Flower Twice in a Year. 



A lilac may be lifted from the ground 

 at the end of the summer while the 

 leaves are still upon it and removed to 

 a house, where it is treated for a few 

 hours to the influence of the fumes of 

 ether, and by this simple means such an 

 effect is produced in the tissues as would 

 not have taken place for several months 

 to come if left to nature. It is now 

 easily possible to flower lilacs twice , in 

 the same year, once naturally, in the open 

 ground in June and again in late autumn 

 or early winter by subjecting the plant 

 to etherization and subsequently forcing 

 it in a greenhouse. 



When plants are to lie etherized they 

 are brought first into a dry condition at 

 top and root before removal to a struc- 

 ture that can be made practically air- 

 tight. "When the door has been sealed 

 the ether is applied through a small hole 

 in the roof into a vessel in the house, 

 and the fumes, being heavier than the 

 atmosphere, they hang near the floor. 

 The exact length of time it is necessary 



to keep the plants under the influence 

 of these fumes varies according to the 

 species, and some are subjected to two 

 doses. Prof. Craig, of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, in making some recent experiments, 

 found that lilacs and spiraeas yielded the 

 best results after etherization and that 

 bulbs of Lilium Harrisii bloomed from 

 one to three weeks in advance of non- 

 etherized bulbs. 



Dries Up the Tissuei. 



The only explanation that science can 

 yet offer of this extraordinary influence 

 of ether is that it has the effect of dry- 

 ing up the moisture in the tissues and it 

 is believed that in the natural rest or 

 sleep which plants undergo there is also 

 a gradual drying process at work which, 

 for want of better knowledge, the culti- 

 vator describes as the ripening of the 

 tissues. 



BOUTONNIEHES IN LONDON. 



The wearing of boutonnieres among 

 men is on the increase in London. The 

 fashionable buttonhole this autumn is 

 either a single carnation or a bunch of 

 violets. Mr. Goodyear, the Bond street 

 florist, told the Daily Mirror that un- 

 doubtedly more men than ever are wear- 

 ing flowers in their coats this season. 

 "All kinds of carnations are favored," 

 he said, "and the cost of an ordinary 

 coat bloom is one shilling. The most ex- 

 pensive kinds are the malmaisons; they 

 cost as much as half a crown each." 

 Orchids are still worn, principally with 

 evening dress. 



