J7I6 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



November 16, 1906. 



PIPS FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES. 



Selecting; the Samples. 



The season is now at hand for florists 

 to choose their bulk samples of lily of 

 the valley for whatever purpose they are 

 required. Tliese purposes may be divided 

 into five different categories: Early forc- 

 ing, commencing say at Christmas or 

 just before; later forcing, commencing 

 say at the end of February and contin- 

 uing until April; retarding for use dur- 

 ing the first six months of storage, say 

 from April till September ; retarding for 

 use during the last half of storage, say 

 from September till the end of January, 

 and lastly, samples for decorative use, 

 in pots, such as will produce fine, deep- 

 colored foliage and long, upstanding 

 spikes produced well above the foliage. 



This time of the year will, I think, be 

 an acceptable one for growers on your 

 side of the water to glean a little in- 

 formation as to what samples are good 

 to buy and to what purpose to put 

 them when they receive the bulk. 



My experience of exporting to Amer- 

 ica is that the majority of importers in 

 that country make a great error in choos- 

 ing samples, nearly everyone endeavor- 

 ing to obtain the crowns with long, light, 

 fibrous, bushy roots, expecting thereby to 

 obtain the ideal crown for every pur- 

 pose. A greater mistake could not be 

 made or one more attendant with disas- 

 trous consequences. 



Kinds of Samples. 



The samples usually submitted to a 

 buyer by the German exporter may 

 be divided into six different sections, 

 as far as roots are concerned, all of 

 which are good and useful if put to their 

 respective purposes, and subjected to the 

 treatment best suited to particular re- 

 quirements. Short, bunchy roots; 

 short stubby roots; heavy, thick and 

 abundant fibrous roots; light, thin, 

 fibrous or fluffy roots; long, trail- 

 ing roots, and roots which are little else 

 than one thick, long tap-ioot. 



Then again there are the different 

 soils on which they are grown, which con- 

 siderably alter their value and character- 

 istics for any particular purpose. These 

 may be divided into six different sec- 

 tions: viz., light loam, heavy loam, 

 heavy clay, black peat, black sandy peat, 

 and rich, heavily manured, sandy loam. 



Then, again there is much difference 

 in the flowering owing to a wet or a 

 dry growing and maturing season in 

 Germany. 



In connecting the various soils with 

 the different appearances of the roots, it 

 may be here remarked that short, bunchy 

 roots are the product of heavy loam; 

 short, stubby roots, the product of rich, 

 medium clay, or rich, heavy loam; heavy, 

 thick and abundant fibrous roots, the 

 product of rich, heavily manured, sandy 

 loam; light, thin, fibrous or bunchy 

 roots, from light, sandy loam, and roots 

 that are little else than one thick, long 



tap-root, from rich, damp, heavy clay. 



Samples from black peat (which I 

 omitted to mention in the above six 

 sorts of roots) are usually medium to 

 heavy, fibrous roots with little substance 

 in them when pulled between the finger 

 and thumb and usually rot with the 

 slightest oversupply of water when 

 torced. If any other samples are obtain- 

 able, to the ordinarily experienced grow- 

 er, black peat samples should be entirely 

 avoided. 



It may be taken for certain that the 

 more bunchy and abundantly fibrous the 

 roots, the lighter and <irier the soil in 

 which they are grown, and the thicker, 

 coarser and shorter the roots are, the 

 more a thick, heavy tap-root is in evi- 

 dence, the heavier and richer the soil in 

 which they were grown. For instance, 

 crowns with abundant, fibrous and 

 bunchy roots, with little tap-root, would 

 never be produced upon heavy, rich clay 

 or loam, but on light, sandy soil only. 



Kind for Early Forcing. 



Now as to the various purposes to 

 which these different samples are most 

 suited. For very early forcing, such as 

 are required from Christmas onward, 

 valley pips with bunchy and abundant 

 fibrous roots, are the most suitable. Be- 

 ing grown on light soil, they ripen or 

 mature quickest, and are, therefore, un- 

 suitable for anything but early work un- 

 less the season has been cold and wet, 

 with little sunshine, in which case they 

 would not ripen sufficiently for early 

 forcing unless by artificial process. 

 After a season of that kind, they would 

 be suitable only for retarding, for up to 

 about August, and would not be so suit- 

 able for earliest forcing, for, having rip- 

 ened later, the foliage would be pro- 

 duced at the expense of the bloom. 



Pips for Late Forcing. 



For later forcing, from February until 

 April blooming, short, bunchy or stub- 

 by roots are the most suitable. Being 

 grown on a heavy, damp soil (of which 

 the nature of the roots is a guarantee) 

 they do not ripen early; neither is their 

 growth at any time so rapid. Conse- 

 quently they make a coarser, thicker root 

 growth, which causes many buyers to 

 pass them by as useless; but for late 

 work these may be depended upon as 

 in every way satisfactory, usually pro- 

 ducing spikes long and stiff and larger 

 bells, probably, and more numerous, 

 than a fibrous-rooted sample when forced 

 early in the season. 



Such samples as ihese also may be 

 used with every success for retarding 

 until the end of the season, as also may 

 the samples in which a thick, coarse, tap- 

 root predominates. Such crowns as these 

 will practically stand twelve months of 

 ice storage as, on account of their slow- 

 ness in making growth and coming to 

 maturity, when they have made their 

 growth it is of course more solid and 

 firm. They are more adapted to with- 

 stand the deteriorating effects of cold 



storage than the thin, fibrous-rooted sam- 

 ples, and growers will find that, although 

 both roots and pips, on account of their 

 coarse appearance, look like producing a 

 coarse, ungainly spike, this is not the 

 case, and a first-class spike will be the 

 result, as the weakening process of re- 

 tarding effectually tones down any 

 coarseness there may be. ' 



For Cold Storage. 



For retarding purposes during the 

 first half of the year, these samples also 

 may be used to a certain extent; but 

 for this purpose they are better to pos- 

 sess a little more fiber, a medium sample 

 between the late forcing and the bushy 

 rooted, early forcing being perhaps the 

 most suitable, but in a dry year, in the 

 growing districts, such samples as are 

 described above for late forcing or late 

 retarding, also may be successfully used 

 right through the retarded season; that 

 is, from April until the following June. 



The long trailing-rooted samples per- 

 haps would be the nearest approach to a 

 medium sample suitable for early re- 

 tarded use, although this is a sample of 

 which little bulk is usually harvested. 



For Pot Work. 



Valley, to be flowered and sold in pots, 

 requires a big crop of foliage with a cor- 

 responding lot of strong, large-belled 

 spikes, thrown well above the foliage. 

 Perhaps the most suitable for this pur- 

 pose are the samples with heavy, thick, 

 abundant, fibrous bushy roots such as 

 grown on rich, heavily-manured, sandy 

 loam, but the question of getting the 

 spikes well above the foliage, will de- 

 mand more skill in growing, than the 

 aid of any particular sample, as such 

 result depends above all upon light, air 

 and temperature during blooming. 



Samples to Avoid. 



The big bud and the black, peaty sam- 

 ples must also be mentioned; the former 

 are those pips which have a slight swell- 

 ing or shoulder toward the top of the 

 pip caused by a premature grown bell or 

 bells that have slightly swelled during 

 the dormant state. Such growths appear 

 in full bloom, during forcing, some days 

 before the whole spike is developed. If 

 the growth be acute, it will rot away 

 and not develop further, causing a lot of 

 cleaning of the lower bells when bunch- 

 ing for market and thus causing the 

 spike to be only second-rate, although 

 the remaining bells are usually of excep- 

 tional size and quality, as the fact of 

 the premature growth occurring is only 

 the result of excessive vigor in the crown 

 and roots. These big bud pips are found 

 only on the heavy, rich clay or loam- 

 grown samples, and such as have thick, 

 stubby roots. The swelling need never 

 be mistaken for the natural plump form 

 of a good crown, as it will be found on 

 one side only, and will give the crown an 

 unshapely appearance. Some experts can 

 handle these big crowns so as to make 

 a first-class spike after the rotten bot- 

 tom bell is cleaned off, and of course 

 they are fine where a large quantity of 

 foliage is required, but they are best left 

 to an expert. 



"With black, peaty samples it is diffi- 

 cult to name their most useful purposes, 

 although some experts can make good 

 spikes of them, but many growers in 

 England avoid them entirely, and like 

 the former samples, they are best left to 

 an expert. In a dry season like the 

 present they will probably be successful 

 for late forcing. 



