April 30, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



into the soil with their pots. In this 

 way difficulties can be overcome, and it 

 is then possible to have free flowering 

 plants even in heavy soil and in shady 

 positions. 



I am pleased to see Lobelia Erinus 

 Kathleen Mallard being advertised so 

 much already in American trade journals. 

 I am quite certain, too, that American 

 gardeners will not be slow to notice and 

 appreciate the commercial value of this 

 good plant, and that it will soon be made 

 use of as a bedding plant in private and 

 public places of the United States, be- 

 sides being grown a great deal as a ^ot 

 plant for the market. It can easily be 

 propagated by cuttings and is a quick 

 and strong growing plant; it offers no 

 cultural difficulties whatsoever and will 

 undoubtedly find friends everywhere, 



Erfurt. -^ W. H. 



A RAkE AGAVE. 



Can any correspondent of the Eeview 

 give any information or experience as to 

 where th,e agave described below is a 

 native, etc.? I think I have seen plants 

 of it occasionally ii^ collections of suc- 

 culents, but do not remember ev)6r seeing 

 it in the trade. The plant in^ question 

 came into my possession about twenty- 

 five years ago. It was then about two 

 feet high above the pot and scant three 

 feet across to the extreme points of the 

 leaves. The foliage got badly damaged 

 last fall, which almost reduced it to a 

 stump. Last summer, before the dam- 

 age was done, it had increased in spread 

 about four inches and in height from 

 four to five inches. It had made this 

 growth in twenty-five years. Early in 

 March it began to show signs of flower- 

 ing. It now has a flower stem of about 

 two inches caliper and about five feet 

 high, with a joint about every three 

 inches. Now, April 22, four bracts or 

 branches to the main stem are visible, 

 with apparently three or more to come. 



From the small progress this plant 

 has made in the last twenty-five years it 

 is easy to fancy it was seventy-five years 

 old when I first saw it. It is different 

 from all other agaves of my acquaint- 

 ance. It has never shown a sign of a 

 sucker. Under cultivation, most likely 

 it could be propagated by the same means 

 as are often used to propagate dracse- 

 nas, or the same as are sometimes used 

 with pineapples of shy suckering varie- 

 ties. I should think that in a state of 

 nature it would seed freely. If not, it 

 is no wonder it is scarce. We have all 

 heard, even as children, of the century 

 plant, the Agave Americana, which has 

 the credit of being peculiar in this re- 

 spect, but I have known the Agave 

 Americana to flower before it was thirty 

 years old, and in that time it made suck- 

 ers enough to plfint a city lot. 



S. Taplin. 



TO RID GREENHOUSE OF MOLES. 



In answer to Augustus Caspers' in- 

 quiry in the Revibw of April 23, I will 

 say that my way of ridding the green- 

 house of these pests is to purchase at 

 the druggist's ,one half-pound can of 

 carbon disulphipe (carbon bisulphuret). 



After finding an open hole, drop into 

 it a piece of cotton saturated with the 

 liquid, covering it over immediately with 

 earth, to keep the fumes down. Carbon 

 disulphide, when exposed to the air, 

 forms a heavy gas, which settles down 

 into the moles' hole and smothers all 

 animal life there. 



This is also effective in killing moles 

 and gophers in the garden and field. 



Floral Fountain for a Washington Store Opening. 



(Designed by A. Qude & Bro. Co.) 



The operator must be careful not to 

 breathe too much of this gas. In using 

 in the greenhouse, put it in at night, 

 so that you will not need to be in the 

 house for a few hours afterward. Also 

 keep well corked and away from children. 



I have always found this a sure death 

 for moles and gophers, as it kills every 

 animal in the hole where it is put. 



Harold C. Keats. 



LIUUM PHILIPPENSE. 



The Philippine lily, Lilium Philippense, 

 is an old variety to which attention was 

 attracted a season or two ago by the 

 efforts of a Boston seed house. It has 

 been tried by a large number of grow- 

 ers for forcing under glass, but it has 

 appeared in only one or two wholesale 

 markets, and then only in occasional 

 lots. While the trumpets are enormous 

 and the plant is easily handled, growers 

 do not seem to see in it any advantage 

 over the longiflorum types when consid- 

 ering it as a market crop, either as cut 

 flower or pot plant. It has, however, 

 one advantage which should recommend 

 it to those who grow lilies for their own 

 local trade ; it may be forced season after 

 season for winter bloom, the bulbs seem- 

 ing to gain strength each season if al- 

 lowed to mature in the natural man- 

 ner after flowering. The trumpets are 

 larger and longer than tliose of any other 

 of-the. white flowered lilies, but the plant 

 is more attenuated in its growth, both 

 stem and foliage and the base of the 



trumpet being thinner than in the longi- 

 florum types. 



E. H. Cushman, of Sylvania, O., has 

 discovered that the Philippine lily is also 

 suitable for summer garden culture, 

 which is thought to be an entirely new 

 use for it in this country. The plants 

 grow vigorously under ordinary garden 

 conditions, the immense snow-white trum- 

 pets, nearly nine inches long, being sup- 

 ported on slender stems two feet high, 

 thickly clothed with narrow foliage. The 

 perfume is rich and powerful, and the 

 blooms themselves rather more lasting 

 than those of Harrisii and longiflorum. 

 Mr. Cushman gives the following direc- 

 tions for the garden treatment of this 

 interesting species : 



"In the garden or border no lily is 

 easier to grow. Select a place in full 

 sunshine, if possible, away from trees 

 or tall plants that might take the mois- 

 ture and light. Plant in May not less 

 than four inches deep in loose, mellow 

 soil. Beware of fresh manure or acid 

 fertilizer. Give plenty of water when 

 growing; in their native mountains they 

 are deluged nearly every day during the 

 growing season. In cutting the flower 

 stalk be sure to leave enough foliage 

 to develop and ripen the bulb. When the 

 foliage ripens in October, dig the bulbs 

 and store in dry sand or earth. With a 

 light mulch the bulbs seem fairly hard^ 

 but they are so easily kept in <"• 

 it seems advisable to lift and 

 ing winter." 



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