Deckmbeu 19, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



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Reld of Semple's Late .Branching Aster^ Gtown by C. F. Raef» Salem^ Oregon. 



ture. Mr. Ruef has a good, rich soil 

 and gives plenty of water during the 

 growing season. This season he ran the 

 water down canals between the rows of 

 plants, but next season he intends to sub- 

 irrigate the fields. 



FORCING ULY OF THE VALLEY. 



At a meeting of the Philadelphia Flo- 

 rists' Club, November 5, Walter P. 

 Stokes delivered an interesting informal 

 talk on forcing lily of the valley. Mr. 

 Stokes' remarks were almost wholly ex- 

 temporaneous, which will account for the 

 shortcomings of the following notes, 

 taken from memory: 



"I have come here at the request 

 of the essay committee, not so much to 

 tell you what I know about forcing lily 

 of the valley as to learn something that 

 I do not know. I will tell you gladly 

 all the little that I know without re- 

 serve, and I hope that you will straighten 

 out some of the points that have trou- 

 bled me and give me your experience. 

 When I took up valley forcing about 

 six years ago I did it with a definite 

 aim, to produce a maximum amount of 

 money from a minimum amount of 

 glass. It seemed to me that I could 

 do this better with valley than with 

 anything else. When I started I knew 

 nothing whatever about forcing the pips, 

 and I had no man who knew anything, 

 either. There was therefore only one 

 thing to do; that was, to begin. What 

 I know I have learned by experience. 

 I think the first year's experience cost 

 me $500 or .$1,000; since then I have 

 secured results. 



"The selection of pips is the first 

 and most important matter in valley 

 forcing. I have found it impossible 

 to secure good valley from cheap pips; 

 so I buy only the best. I am told that 

 other growers are able to secure good 

 valley from cheap pips; I should like 

 to be taught how to do this. I endeavoT 

 to secure only the best Berlin valley, 

 selected stock, securing part from im- 

 porters, but importing the greater part 

 myself. The great difficulty in pips as 

 they are bunched todav is that the strong 



pips with heavy, vigorous roots are put 

 on the outside row, while in the center 

 of the bunch are pips of a lower grade, 

 with poor roots. An honest valley grower 

 should never allow his pips to be bunched 

 in this way. Selected pips are of course 

 scarcer than second or third grade stock, 

 for on securing these pips depends the 

 quality of the flowers. 



"My aim has been to have valley 

 the entire season through,, and for this 

 purpose I depend on cold storage stock 

 for a great part of the year. When 

 the pips arrive in November I make a 

 point of having them taken out of the 

 cases and repacked before they go into 

 cold storage. We use for this purpose 

 ten bales of sphagnum moss, dampened, 

 and four cartloads of sand, in addition 

 to the packing already in the cases. The 

 object of this is that when the pips are 

 taken out of the cold storage they will 

 be crisp and fresh, whereas were they 

 to dry out and shrivel the percentage 

 of loss would be much larger. 



"It has been claimed that valley im- 

 ported in November can be forced success- 

 fully for Christmas, but this I find is too 

 expensive, the percentage of loss being 

 much greater than when these pips are 

 carried over until January 15 or later. 

 Care is required in calculating the time 

 of forcing, especially when valley is re- 

 quired throughout the year; this time 

 differs with the age of the pips. Pips 

 taken out of cold storage in January 

 require four weeks to force; in March 

 and April this time is reduced to three 

 weeks; in July it is decreased to sixteen 

 or eighteen days, while in October two 

 weeks is sufficient. When a case of pips 

 is brought out of cold storage and al- 

 lowed to thaw, we find they are soft; it 

 is of great value to allow these pips to 

 remain in the case in a warm tempera- 

 ture for twenty-four hours, in order to 

 harden them before placing them in 

 heat. This decreases the percentage of 

 loss. 



"I would estimate the cost of forcing 

 valley as follows: Original cost of pips 

 per thousand, say $12; average cost of 

 cold storage, $1 ; average waste, say 

 eight per cent, 95 cents; commission for 



selling, say fifteen per cent, $3.45; ex- 

 pressage, 50 cents; labor, fuel and bench 

 room, say $2; total cost to produce, 

 $19.90. With an average price of $3 

 per hundred for select stock and $2 for 

 ordinary, it will be seen that there is a 

 fair profit, provided this important item 

 of waste is kept down. 



"The forcing methods of valley are 

 so well known that I will only say that 

 we use sand, though sifted ashes or 

 sphagnum moss will do just as well, 

 changing it every four months to keep 

 it sweet. The bottom temperature ia 

 kept at 75 or 80 degrfees, the top cooler. 

 A heavy green duck is used for cover- 

 ing the forcing pips during the first two 

 weeks; after that a lath shade is ex- 

 cellent. Full light may be admitted 

 during the hardening process, providing 

 the sun be excluded. We place our 

 rows of pips about four inches apart, 

 packing as closely in the row ae pos- 

 sible; 150 to a 5-foot bench is the aver- 

 age. Our aim is to be able to cut all 

 the flowei-8 at once from a given batch, 

 as it does not pay to go over them sev- 

 eral times. 



"It is said that valley can be grown 

 anywhere. While this is true, I think 

 the quality of my valley has been im- 

 proved by growing it in my new houses, 

 i)uilt by the King Construction Co. They 

 are light and airy, fully twelve feet to 

 the ridge and twenty-eight feet wide, 

 without a post throughout." 



Mr. Stokes exhibited two bunches of 

 valley, one bunch containing long, slen- 

 der pips with heavy roots, denoting 

 vigor; the other containing short pips 

 with scrubby roots; the one select, the 

 other ordinary. He also exhibited two 

 bunches of his fine Floracroft valley, 

 one bunch in Philadelphia style (each 

 spike of bells with its foliage attached), 

 the other in the New York style (with 

 the spikes pulled loose and bunched 

 • above their foliage). In answer to a 

 question, Mr. Stokes said that. Hamburg 

 valley could be secured for $2 per thou- 

 sand less than Berlin pips; also that the 

 Hamburg were grown in heavier soil, 

 but he had no experience with them. 



Phil. 



