10 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



JCLY 23, 1908. 



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STATE STUDIES 



^ 



FOR FLORISTS 



FOREIGN EXPERIMENTAL WORK. 



Results of Investigations at Urbana. 



The study of European experiments in 

 tlie forcing of etherized plants, as report- 

 ed, in tlie last issue of the Review, have 

 ..een supplemented at Urbana by compar- 

 isons of the use of different anesthetics. 

 Among other results these comparisons 

 brought out the fact that tetrachloride 

 of carbon can be substituted for ether 

 or chloroform with the advantage that 

 it is less expensive and is not inflamma- 

 ble. It is stated to give nearly as good 

 results. 



An Italian gardener has shown that 

 a succession of flowers can be had on the 

 same forced lilacs by grafting in bud- 

 boaring branches from plants in the open 

 as soon as the flowering of the plant it- 

 self is completed. The buds grafted in 

 begin to develop in from ten to twelve 

 days and open in about twenty days. 



In experiments by Ledien simultaneous 

 removal of leaves, as practiced to force 

 autumn flowering, and etherization gave 

 quite different results with different va- 

 rieties. Plants etherized with the leaves 

 on held their leaves and put out a sec- 

 ond crop of flowers promptly. "When 

 the leaves were stripped off, the leaves 

 were somewhat injured by the treatment, 

 but "secondary buds under" were form- 

 ed promptly and made flowers. But some 

 varieties will not force in summer, wheth- 

 er the leaves are stripped off or not. 



Plants may be defoliated and forced 

 any time after the new buds are formed, 

 wliich at Dresden is about the end of 

 July. 



It has been shown, further, that a 

 close, moist, warm air may be substituted 

 for etherization and that the plants 

 force as quickly. Plants may be taken 

 from the field any time after the buds are 

 fonned. Most varieties must be defoli- 

 ated. Plants left in the drier air out- 

 doors, but otherwise similarly treated, 

 did not blossom. 



The same investigator has further 

 shown that lilacs which have once been 

 etherized and forced can be successfully 

 subjected to the same treatment the 

 second time, provided they are heavily 

 fertilized in the interim, but not trans- 

 planted. 



Forcing After Cold Storage. 



Cold storage as a means of forcing is 

 being experimented with somewhat. 



Villebenoist has made »»eh experiments 

 with lilacs. Plants put in an ice-house 

 at a temperature of 1 to 2 degrees C. for 

 eighteen days made flowers iq another 

 eighteen days. Ten out of eleven flower 

 buds made good clusters. Cheek plants 

 were eight days later in blossoming, the 

 flowers were weak and small and only one 

 bud out of ten ever opened at all. In 

 fact, these, taken with other recent ex- 

 periments in Germany, indicate that li- 

 lacs can be forced earlier by cold stor- 

 :ige than by etherization. 



Experiments With Valley. 



It is found that cold storage is es- 

 pecially desirable for lilies of the valley 

 in seasons Avhen the fall has been wet 

 and the pips have not ripened up well. 

 In cold storage they get dried out and 

 rested. 



Various experiments in forcing lily of 

 the valley pips are reported. Pips should 

 be kept cold until they are planted. 

 Start them at a low temperature and 

 keep them shaded and very moist. 



As soon as the first flowerlets begin 

 to bend over, the pots should be trans- 

 ferred to a cooler place. 



Considerable investigations have been 

 made on the growing of pips, especially 

 for forcing. Soil is found to have a very 

 considerable effect on forcing quality. 

 On light, rather poor, dry soil early flow- 

 ering pips are produced which are easily 

 forced. These are liable to make small 

 flowerlets, however. 



A heavy or humus and moist soil 

 makes large pips, which do not always 

 yield a satisfactory proportion of flow- 

 ers. They force slowly, but the number 

 and size of their flowerlets are gener- 

 ally very large. 



Experiments have been made in forc- 

 ing with electric light, especially for 

 lilacs. In experiments by Harancourt 

 an electric light of 18 candle-power run 

 through the night produced flowers in 

 fifteen days, whereas the check required 

 twenty-four days. In this experiment 

 no reflector was used. In a later experi- 

 ment, with a reflector, still more marked 

 results were obtained. 



(To be continued.) 



BOSTON. 



The Market 



A little improvement is noticeable in 

 the flower market this week, not due to 

 any increased demand but rather to a 

 slackening off in supplies. Outdoor flow- 

 ers were a good deal damaged early in 

 the week by torrential rains, asters suf- 

 fering the most in this respect. Of these 

 latter some good blooms are now coming 

 in. Sweet peas have been helped by late 

 rains and are a little better in quality. 

 Gypsophila is quite abundant and sells 

 fairly well. Quite a few outdoor gladioli 

 are also now arriving. They come in 

 useful for decorating store windows. 

 Roses, outside of Kaiserin and Carnot, 

 are of poor quality. For such Beauties 

 as there are, demand is light. Carnations 

 are small and gradually becoming less. 

 Ii will not be long, however, before flow- 

 ers from indoor grown stock will be 

 coming in. Of lilies there is a sufficient 

 supply. For valley there is little call, 

 while trade in green stock is quiet. 



Sweet Pea Show. 



There were fears that the prolonged 

 drought and heat wave would completely 

 spoil this interesting annual show. It 

 was therefore an agreeable surprise to 



find such a fine display at Horticjiltural 

 hall July 18. Edwin Jenkins, of Lenox, 

 was the largest exhibitor and captured 

 most of the first prizes. For twelve 

 vases, distinct varieties, his sorts were 

 Henry Eckford, Hon. Mrs. E. Kenyon, 

 Helen Pierce, Florence M. Spencer, Lady 

 Grisel Hamilton, Boreatton, Lord Nelson, 

 Bolton 's Pink, White Spencer, Queen 

 Alexandra, Flora Norton and a Spencer 

 sport. In this class Joseph Thorpe was 

 second and Thomas Howden third. For 

 fifty sprays white, E. Jenkins led with 

 White Spencer, Thomas Howden second, 

 W. A. Riggs third. Fifty light pink, 

 T. Howden first with Countess Spencier, 

 E. Jenkins second, W. A. Riggs third. 

 Fifty rose, T. Howden first with George 

 Herbert, W. A. Riggs second, Col. F. 

 Mason, E. L. Lewis gardener, third. 

 Fifty blue or purple, E. Jenkins first 

 with Duke of Westminster, T. Howden 

 second, Mrs. Lester Leland, E. E. Wet- 

 terlow gardener, third. Fifty lavender, 

 E. Jenkins first with Flora Norton, T. 

 Howden second. Col. Fred Mason third. 

 Fifty red or crimson, T. Howden first 

 with Queen Alexandra, T. Howden sec- 

 ond. Fifty orange or salmon, E. Jenkins 

 first with Evelyn Byatt, T. Howden sec- 

 ond. Fifty any other color, E. Jenkins 

 first with Primrose Spencer, W. A. Riggs 

 second. Col. F. Mason third. 



Mrs. Lester Leland made an extensive 

 display of named sweet peas, a smaller 

 one coming from W. Whitman, M. Sul- 

 livan gardener, and E. L. Lewis. Blue 

 Hill Nurseries once again captured both 

 first and second prizes for thirty varieties 

 of herbaceous plants; Bellevue Nurseries, 

 A. E. Poetsch manager, third. Harvard 

 Botanic Gardens had a good display of 

 gloxinias and.achimines. F. J. Rea had 

 a collection of herbaceous plants ; Mrs. 

 E. M. Gill, a general display including 

 the first dahlias of the season; W. Whit- 

 man, herbaceous plants; George Hollis, 

 a collection of phloxes; Mrs. F. Ayer, 

 George Page gardener, specimen Aspara- 

 gus Sprengeri, and R. & J. Farquhar & 

 Co., a large collection of lierbaceous 

 plants, also seedling amaryllis from the 

 open and several new lilies from north- 

 ern China, awarded honorable mention. 

 Among the latter, one with ivory-white 

 flowers of the size and form of L. aura- 

 tum was fine. Another carried flowers 

 the size of L. Brownii, but pale yellow in 

 color. 



Various Notes. 



Remember the Gardeners' and Flo- 

 rists' Club picnic at Pine Banks park, 

 Maiden, July 29. Electric cars from the 

 elevated railroad at Sullivan Square for 

 Melrose pass the grounds at frequent in- 

 tervals. The sports committee has se- 

 cured a handsome lot of prizes and noth- 

 ing but good weather is needed to make 

 the affair a pronounced success. The 

 sports will start at 10 a. m. sharp, with 

 the two baseball games. 



David Lumsden was in town last week. 

 He is now assistant professor of horti- 

 culture at the New Hampshire Agricul- 

 tural College. 



Our prolonged drought was broken by 

 a number of severe thunder storms July 

 19 and 20. The rains were of a torren- 

 tial nature and badly battered outside 

 flowers. 



The next show at Horticultural hall 

 will be August 8, when perennial phloxes 

 and annuals will be specialties. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' Club will 

 hold a field day at the New England 

 Nurseri<^s^'"^Bedford, September 5. Ar- 

 rangements to hold one at the Massachu- 



