Januabt 23, 1908. 



ThcWeckly Florists' Rcvkw. 



it 



acre of ground from mother bulbs 

 planted the preceding year. The second 

 year's crop of bulbs of that size, whether 

 from seedlings or from bulbs, should 

 therefore bring from $1,000 to $2,000 an 

 acre. ^ 



Lily Bulbs in the United States. 



Diiring the past decade many attempts 

 have been made by seed firms and others, 

 including the Division of Botany of the 

 Department of Agriculture, to grow the 

 Easter lily commercially in the Caro- 

 Unas, Florida and other states. These 

 efforts were useful in pointing out places 

 where it was evidently impossible to 

 produce bulbs cultivated after the man- 

 ner now pursued in the Bermudas and 

 Japan. 



Both large and small imported bulbs 

 were planted at various places and re- 

 ceived the best of care, but in every 

 case the crop when harvested did not 

 warrant a continuation of the experi- 

 ments. All of these failures resulted 

 partly from unsuitable soils, but prin- 

 cipally from unfavorable climatic con- 

 ditions. It is reasonable to suppose that 

 the lily disease so prevalent in imported 

 bulbs played its part in making the ex- 

 perimental work a failure. 



Trials in California. 



The experimental work now being con- 

 ducted on the Pacific coast promises suc- 

 cessful results, but even in that region, 

 favored as it is with nearly ideal con- 

 ditions in the matter of soil and climate, 

 good results can not be expected by fol- 

 lowing the old methods of asexual propa- 

 gation practiced in the Bermudas. This 

 has been shown repeatedly in connection 

 •with several large lots of selected im- 

 ported bulbs planted out in widely dif- 

 ferent localities for seeding purposes. 

 These plants show the usual amount of 

 disease on the foliage, while the appar- 

 ently healthy plants propagated by divi- 

 sion and by scales also show the disease 

 to such an extent that it seems a difficult 

 matter to get rid of the trouble by 

 purely vegetable methods of reproduc- 

 tion from selected bulbs. 



Effort to Grow Seedlin^^s. 



A few years ago Dr. Albert F. Woods, 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in his 

 investigations of the lily disease discov- 

 ered that seedling plants were practic- 

 ally free from the disease. About the 

 same time E. M. Byrnes, then connected 

 with the Office of Public Buildings and 

 Grounds, but now with the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, found that the progeny 

 of crossed varieties were more vigorous 

 than either parent. 



At the instigation of Dr. B. T. Gal- 

 loway the writer grew a large number 

 of seedlings in the Department green- 

 houses, and from these several pounds 

 of seed resulted. This was distributed 

 on the Paci6c coast and in Florida. The 

 «eedlings grown in California showed 

 conclusively that with liberal treatment 

 first-class bulbs can be grown by this 

 method much more quickly than by asex- 

 ual propagation. The plants are al- 

 most free from disease. A few plants 

 show it here and there in first generation 

 seedlings, but in the second and third 

 generations it is difficult to find an af- 

 fected plant. These results have been 

 80 encouraging to practical men on the 

 coast that several are now engaged in 

 getting up a stock of seedlings upon a 

 large scale. 



Suitable Localities for Bulb Growing. 



Although enough has not been done 

 in an experimental way to ascertain all 

 of the localities where lilies can be 

 grown successfully, it may be stated 

 that the lily seedlings have shown great 

 vigor where the winter temperature does 

 not fall below 24 degrees. Below that 

 point the plants get a cheek to their 

 growth and the foliage pubjMittn an un- 

 desirable yellowish tinge, w^tdl remains 

 during the winter. 



In Florida, seed sent to persons who 

 undertook experimental work has not 

 given good results. The northern and 

 central parts of the state occasionally 

 get much too cold to insure strong win- 

 ter growth. In the southern part where 

 seed has been sent the reports of those 

 who were experimenting are not very 

 favorable. However, most of those who 

 grew the seedlings were absent during 

 the summer, in which season the grow- 

 ing plants need very close attention. It 

 is possible, therefore, that the failures 

 may be charged to want of attention 

 at critical periods. 



At Miami, Fla., the temperature is 

 neither too hot in summer nor too cold 

 in winter for growing bulbs. During 

 the period from September, 1895, to De 



cember, 1903, the temperature fell be- 

 low the freezing point on only two occa- 

 sions, the lowest being 29 degrees. 

 Under such circumstances the bulbs will 

 do well provided they receive the neces- 

 _sary attention. 



At Key West, Fla., the conditions are 

 ideal, closely approaching those at Ber- 

 muda, the extreme range of temperature 

 in thirty-three years being from 41 de- 

 grees to 100 degrees, and the extreme 

 range of precipitation 21.1 to 58.4 

 inches. On the large keys near the 

 southeastern coast of Florida the seed- 

 lings do remarkably well, but the cli- 

 matic and other conditions during the 

 growing season are such as to practically 

 prohibit good cultivators from locating 

 there. 



In the northwestern part of the State 

 of Washington the seedlings do not 

 stand the winter without protection. 

 However, bulbs planted deeply in the 

 fall make fine roots and develop w6ll the 

 following year, making excellent bnlbs 

 late in the season, but much too late for 

 early forcing. 



In Gdifomia. 



In many parts of California, especially 

 in the hot interior valleys, where good 

 soil and plenty of water are available 



