\S96 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



ArniL 11, 1907. 



cannot help but get the lettering in the 

 center of the place. 



The Finished Design. 



Now procure a few callas or Easter 

 lilies and arrange as in the illustration 

 on page 1595, of an unfinished design. 

 Fill in the balance of the space with 

 whatever is on hand, open roses, carna- 

 tions, azalea flowers, etc. It is not neces- 

 sary to pack these in tightly together, 

 but just close enough to cover well, as 

 they serve but for a background. Trim 

 with roses, sweet peas, lily of the valley, 

 hyacinths, etc., always letting the smaller 

 flowers project farthest. 



A pillow can also be made loosely of 

 one or more varieties of flowers, such as 

 roses and valley, or carnations and sweet 

 peas. When no lettering is called for, 

 just fill in the whole design with flowers 

 as described above, or fill in the piece, 

 inside the edging, solidly with carnations 

 and throw a spray of roses across the 

 center. H. S. 



BULBS FOR FORCING. 



[A paper by Paul F. Rlchter, of the Henry F. 

 Mlchell (>>., read before the Florists' Club of 

 riilladelphla, April 2, 1907.] 



Several months ago one of your en- 

 thusiastic members asked me if I would 

 not give a talk on something that would 

 interest the florists at this meeting. I 

 gave the matter some little thought, and 

 decided that a talk pertaining to bulbs 

 would be about the proper thing, espe- 

 cially at this season of the year, when 

 all of you will remember the different 

 successes and failures that you have had 

 with your bulbous stock. 



I am speaking now largely from the 

 experience of the seedsman, which, as 

 you probably know, is more or less 

 theory. However, we come in contact 

 with so many different florists, who all 

 grow different things and have different 

 ideas, that by careful observation, cor- 

 respondence and in other ways, we grad- 

 ually learn the many different ways in 

 which bulbs are handled so as to get 

 the best results from them. 



The Lily the Leader. 



Probably the most important of our 

 Easter flowering plants is the lily. Some 

 florists force the old type Harrisii ; again 

 you will find some using the multiflorum, 

 which is a Japanese product, as like- 

 wise is the giganteum. The two latter 

 sorts have come into great prominence 

 during the last few years because of the 

 apparent few failures that have occurred 

 with them. Many attribute this to the 

 fact that the bulb of the Japanese lily 

 is not diseased, while that of the Har- 

 risii is more or less diseased. 



I think you will all agree with mo, 

 that the most important thing for the 

 florists to watch is not to buy small-size 

 bulbs. It has been proven that wherever 

 disease exists, it is in the smaller bulbs, 

 as for some reason or other they gradu- 

 ally seem to outgrow any sickly condi- 

 tions if the bulbs are more mature or 

 aged. • The most profitable sizes of the 

 above mentioned lilies to force are the 

 7 to 9 size in Harrisii and the 9 to 10 

 size in multiflorum and giganteum. 



You all know quite well the charac- 

 teristics of the Harrisii lily, while you 

 do not all, probably, know the character- 

 istics of the multiflorum and the gigan- 

 teum lilies. The former produces a 

 greater abundance of bloom ; in fact, i.s 

 a very free forcer. It is a greeii-stommed 

 jilant, while the Lilium giganteum, which 

 does not force so readily, is a red- 

 stemmed plant, and likewise produces 



fewer flowers, although these are of a 

 gigantic size. 



Root the Bulbs Thoroughly. 



Many failures, particularly with lilies, 

 have been traced to the fact that the 

 bulbs have not been thoroughly rooted. 

 Many of you probably try to get the 

 very first shipments that arrive in the 

 country, pot them up and get them in 

 for Christmas. This is hardly necessary 

 nowadays, as very good cold storage 

 lilies may be had for this purpose, which 

 I will remark on later. 



Lily bulbs are handled by almost every 

 florist in a different manner, but we have 

 had occasion to observe that those han- 

 dled in the following manner have 

 bloomed most successfully, and have 

 shown the least tendency to loss through 

 disease: 



In potting the bulb you will find a 

 small layer of good, well-rotted cow 

 manure in the bottom of the pot very 

 advantageous; the bulb may then be 

 placed on this and the pot filled up with 

 soil. After they have been watered 

 thoroughly they should be placed out- 

 doors, say until the first part of October, 

 when the bulbs have been potted in 

 August. A covering of sand, leaves, or 

 some suitable litter on top of the pots, 

 to protect them from the ravages of the 



Paul F. Richter. 



sun, will be found of great benefit. 

 When they are brought in, say in Octo- 

 ber, they can be placed under the green- 

 house bench in a temperature of about 

 60 degrees and left there until there is 

 room on the top, or until they are to be 

 brought into warmer houses to force. 

 This method of treatment will invariably 

 produce strong, thrifty plants, which will 

 give you plenty of bloom. 



Speaking of Japanese lilies again, I 

 would like to call your attention to some 

 remarks made by one of our florist cus- 

 tomers in Akron, Ohio, who purchased 

 from us 4,000 Lilium giganteum, 9 to 11 

 size. His remarks are as follows: 



As Handled at Akron. 



"Upon arrival of biillis \vc pot them 

 fit once in 4-incli pols, using coarse, soft- 

 coal ashes for drainage in the bottom of 

 the pots, and giving them a soil com- 

 posed of sandy loam and well enriched 

 with about one-third well-rotted horse or 



cow manure. The pots are placed under 

 a dry bench in either a violet or carna- 

 tion house, soaked down with water very 

 heavily and after two or three days wci 

 cover the pots with two or three inches 

 of ashes. 



"When Easter is early, as it was this 

 year, we place the lilies on a bench after 

 January 1, giving them a temperature ol' 

 60 degrees at night and 70 degrees days 

 for about ten days, then 70 degrees; 

 nights and 80 degrees days until buds 

 can all be counted. 



"During this period we manure-water 

 them regularly once a week with the 

 following liquid: One bushel of fresh 

 cow manure and one 4-inch potful of 

 nitrate of soda to each fifty gallons of 

 water. Spray the foliage once a day or 

 twice a day in clear weather. We try 

 to keep the house moist, otherwise, by 

 spraying the walls and walks. It is also 

 important to never allow the soil to get 

 very dry, and we never feed unless the 

 soil is moist. 



"When the buds can all be counted 

 easily, we move them into houses where 

 we can get the temperature down gradu- 

 ally, and finally mulch them with either 

 a little sheep manure or bone flour, 

 which will be sufficient food until they 

 are ready for market. 



"Our experience with lilies, especially 

 Japan, has proven to us that the only 

 way you can get them good is to force 

 them quickly and not check them in 

 growth while the temperature is kept 

 high. As the root action becomes such 

 that they can easily be knocked out of 

 the pots' without disturbing the ball of 

 earth, we shift them either into 5-inch 

 or 6-inch pots, according to strength of 

 the stock. Drainage in the pot is also 

 of great importance when repotting is 

 done. 



"The 4,000 lilies obtained from you 

 this season are a fine lot indeed. It may 

 be well also to mention that we use 

 Nieoticide for fumigating." 



Cold Storage Bulbs. 



The cold storage lilies, which are now 

 coming into great favor, are confined 

 principally to the varieties of longiflorum, 

 multiflorum, and giganteum. The latter 

 variety, however, is much more desirable, 

 as it seems to stand forcing better than 

 the other two sorts. Longiflorum is the 

 next best, while multiflorum is probably 

 the poorest of the lot, as it is somewhat 

 soft, probably due to the fact that in the 

 green state it is the most free forcer of 

 the Japan lilies. 



To obtain the best results, cold storage 

 bulbs should be potted immediately upon 

 being received by the florist; and we 

 would suggest very much the same method 

 of potting as that applied to the bulbs 

 as they were handled by our florist 

 friend of Akron, Ohio, whom I mentioned 

 bcforo. They should be placed in a dark, 

 cool place; probably under the bench of 

 the potting house would be the best. 

 They should then be left there in a cool 

 tomperaturc as long as possible, until 

 the pots are well filled with root growth. 

 This can be determined sooner or later 

 by examining them. 



They should then be removed to a 

 greenhouse and started off at a tempera- 

 ture of about 50 degrees to 55 degrees 

 and kept at this temperature until the 

 bud parts, or flowers, set. Then the 

 warmth may be increased to 60 degrees 

 or 65 degrees to 70 degrees. This will 

 draw the plant to its proper height and 

 rapidly develop the buds and flowers at 

 the same time. 



Cold storage lilies should commend 



