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12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



January 23, 1908. 



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and the winter temperature is not too 

 low, the seedlings thrive well. At 

 Loomis, a few miles northeast of Sacra- 

 mento, the soil and climate are well 

 adapted to their needs. Some areas in 

 that vicinity are nearly frostless, and 

 the lilies come into flower as early as 

 anywhere in the state, with the possible 

 exception of the foothills near Los An- 

 geles. So far, none of the seedlings 

 have been grown at Loomis, but judg- 

 ing from the growth made by mature 

 bulbs sent for seeding purposes and 

 comparing it with that made in other 

 sections the advantage lies with the^ 

 Loomis locality. Very little disease was 

 apparent in the foliage, and the flowers 

 were open several days in advance of 

 those from bulbs planted at the same 

 period in the valleys of the southern 

 part of the state. 



At several places south of San Fran- 

 cisco BClected for experimental work, it 

 was impossible to secure the carrying 

 on of the work necessary for the rais- 

 ing of bulbs from seed. The seed would 

 germinate well, but when it came to 

 planting out the seedlings in spring the 

 farmers and florists could not be brought 

 to believe that it was possible in twelve 

 months' time to raise a flowering plant 

 from a seedling not more than two 

 inches high. One firm had 70,000 seed- 

 iings in fine condition two years ago, 

 but not one was put out in the field. 

 Fortunately, however, a few capable 

 men were found who carried out the in- 

 structions of the Department, but even 

 then another diflBculty was encountered, 

 for wlien the lilies came in flower twelve 

 months after planting the seedlings the 

 price offered by retail florists for the 

 blooms was a temptation which few 

 could resist. One florist cleared $250 in 

 the spring of 1907 for flowers from 



measured nearly eleven inches in cir- 

 cumference, while a bulb three years 

 from seed measured fourteen and one- 

 half inches in circumference when har- 

 vested, grown at Santa Ana, Cal., by 

 Edgar A. Metcalf. The bulbs secured 

 from these sources force well, and be- 

 ing almost free from disease the loss on 

 this account is small. 



At Ventura, Cal., the conditions are 

 extremely favorable for the production 

 of strong, healthy growth, but the bulb 

 mite put an end to the experiment in 

 that section the second year. It should 

 be mentioned, however, that the soil in 

 which the bulbs were planted had been 

 used for calla lilies for several years. 



At Longbeach, Cal., the growth made 

 by the seedlings before planting out was 

 very favorable, and probably a little 

 distance from the shore in good soils 

 the lilies would thrive well. At Yuma, 

 Ariz., the growth made from mature 

 bulbs planted for seeding promises well, 

 and it is probable that the bulbs can 

 be grown there to mature quite as early 

 as those from the Bermudas. 



In the extreme southern part of Texas 

 the possibility of producing good bulbs 

 would seem very encouraging, but the 

 facilities for testing have been anything 

 but satisfactory. The farmers are men 

 who grow crops on a large scale as a 

 rule and a few hundred Ulies are apt 

 to receive but scant attention at critical 

 periods, especially when staple crops are 

 being attended to. 



At Brownsville, Tex., one can see in 

 the old Spanish gardens very healthy 

 longiflorums in bloom during the first 

 half of April. The growth is very 

 strong and absolutely free from even a 

 trace of disease. January 15, 1907, some 

 bulbs of the Harrisii variety planted 



Bulbt of Lilium Harrisii x L. Loneiflorum Grown from Seed witliin Ten Months. 



seedlings on a space 25x45 feet, and 



this was only for the flowers he did not 



want for seed. The removal of flowers 



and stems, of course, results in bulbs 



, of an inferior grade. 



. ' .ThQse florists who have grown the 



'. seedlings for the bulbs alone are more 



than pleased with the results. This has 



been done in the vicinity of Santa Ana, 



where the soil and climatic conditions 



are evidently very favorable. Many of 



the bulbs harvested were of the 7 to 9 



inch grade. Some two-year-old bulbs 



near Brownsville had made a strong 

 growth, averaging seven inches in height. 

 These bloomed about the end of March 

 and seeded fairly well. 



Unfortunately, the temperature in the 

 southeastern part of Texas is not very 

 favorable, judging from the records sup- 

 plied by the Weather Bureau. Some 

 years the crop will turn out satisfac- 

 torily, but there always exists a danger 

 of low temperatures, on account of 

 which it would be unsafe to attempt cul- 

 tivation on a large scale. 



Best Varieties to Grow. • . 



During the past three seasons in Cali- 

 fornia the best success has been with 

 seedlings which were obtained by cross- 

 ing the red-stemmed Lilium longiflorum 

 giganteum with Lilium longiflorum Har- 

 risii. The progeny is remarkably strong 

 and in some localities totally free from 

 disease. In the open fields they come 

 into flower about a week later than the 

 true Harrisii. These seedling lilies of 

 the parentage mentioned are composed 

 of four distinct types: Long-leafed 

 and short-leafed green-stemmed plants, 

 and long-leafed and short-leafed red- 

 stemmed plants. All show a remark- 

 able freedom of bloom. Fred Eafferty, 

 of Santa Ana, Cal., bloomed a large 

 number of them in the spring of 1907. 

 Although the seedlings were only about 

 three inches high when planted out in 

 June, 1906, some of them had'^ twenty- 

 eight flowers to a single stem in June, 

 1907. Two years ago at Ventura, S. 

 Cole had some two-year-old seedlings 

 of the same cross, one of which had 

 thirty-five flowers to a stalk. 



On the farm of the Santa Ana Easter 

 Lily Co. during May, 1907, hundreds of 

 plants had twenty or more flowers to a 

 stem. 



The only well-known variety which 

 has been tried by the Department in 

 California and Arizona is the Harrisii 

 variety from bulbs imported from Ber- 

 muda in 1906. These bulbs were 

 planted in order to produce seed after 

 being artificially pollinated. All of the 

 stock grown turned out to be more or 

 less diseased and most of the plants, 

 although grown from good-sized bulbs, 

 produced very poor flowers and a very 

 low yield of seeds. A small lot of this 

 variety grown from seed has turned out 

 fairly well, but by this method of in- 

 crease there are several distinct types, 

 showing that it can not be depended 

 upon to produce plants true to the orig- 

 inal type. It would seem, however, that 

 many reliable growers in the east think 

 there does not exist the same necessity 

 for the Harrisii variety as an early 

 forcer as there was a few years ago 

 when cold storage bulbs were compara- 

 tively unknown for early forcing. If 

 this is true, then there is but little need 

 for haste in getting the Harrisii variety 

 into the American market, when in real- 

 ity the bulbs should still be ripening in 

 the fields. If the greenhouse men could 

 use only the cold-storage supply for the 

 production of flowers during the early 

 part of the year, the fresh bulbs' would 

 then get an opportunity to ripen thor- 

 oughly before being taken from the 

 ground. It would seem advisable to 

 grow types from seed alone and propa- 

 gate these for one or two seasons asexu- 

 ally, but only from bulbs and not by 

 the scale method, using seeds instead of 

 scales to increase the supply of bulbs. 

 But when we have types which come 

 absolutely true from seed there will be 

 little likelihood of a necessity arising 

 for saving even the smaller bulbs for 

 replanting. 



Advantages of Seedlings* 



The seedling method of propagation 

 not only has its advantages in so far as 

 the elimination of disease is concerned, 

 but it is also a much quicker method 

 than propagation from scales or even 

 from small bulbs. The seedlings one 

 year after planting very often show as 

 many as twenty flowers to the stalk. 

 During the past season (1907), as al- 



