10 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JCLT 30, 1908. 



ASPARAGUS SPRENGEEL 



I would like to know from some reader 

 of the Review which is the proper 

 method of growing Asparagus Spren- 

 geri; for instance, old plants which 

 have been benched one year and are too 

 thick. How should they be handled? 

 Would it be all right to take them out 

 and put in fresh soil and give them 

 more room? Also what temperature 

 should they be grown in, and will they 

 do well in a solid bed? In harvesting 

 the crop, should they be cut or pulled? 

 I met a man recently who always pulls 

 each spray out from the roots and does 

 not cut them. Is this good for the 

 plants? M. R. K. 



While transplanting old stock of Spren- 

 geri gives good results, still we prefer 

 to replant with nice young pot plants 

 and grow right along in a temperature 

 of 60 to 70 degrees. The more heat 

 you give the faster they grow, A solid 

 bed suits them admirably as far as 

 growing is concerned, but you get much 

 nicer sprays out of a hanging box or 

 basket. It seems to make no difference 

 to the plants whether you cut or pull 

 the sprays. Albert F. Amlinq. 



UNLOVELY PECKY CYPRESS. 



Much has been said and pubUsbed 

 about pecky cypress, but so far nobody 

 has told the florist plainly the truth 

 about the appearance of it, and many 

 people have refused shipments because 

 they thought the lumber was rotten and 

 unfit for use. 



Pecky cypress is the poorest and 

 worst looking lot of lumber you ever 

 saw and at the first sight of it anybody 

 not being acquainted with cypress would 

 pronounce it unfit for anything but to 

 build a fire with. The boards are full 

 of holes and sometimes there are so 

 many of these holes that the board is 

 weakened until it breaks in handling, 

 from its own weight. Such boards, of 

 course, cannot be used and should be 

 thrown out, but you must expect to get 

 a few pieces of this kind when you buy 

 a carload. The cavities in the lumber 

 are filled with a dust-like substance that 

 accumulated while the tree was growing, 

 but these cavities, or holes, do not get 

 any larger or increase in size after the 

 tree is cut down. What caused the 

 cavities, known as the "peck," scien- 

 tists and lumbermen have been unable 

 to find out, and it is not known whether 

 they came about through the working of 

 insects or through lack of nourishment 

 when the tree was young. Whatever the 

 cause, the fact remains that pecky 

 cypress is full of the cavities and is a 

 tough-looking lot of stuflf to be called 

 lumber. 



You must expect to get lumber that 

 looks to be absolutely rotten, but, as 

 long as it is strong enough to hold up 

 the soil in the benches, the more rotten 

 it looks the longer it will last, says one 

 of the authorities. The best boards are 

 the ones that have a large number of 

 cavities, for the "peck" is the thickest 

 in the heart of the tree, and these 

 boards are nearly always free of sap. 

 The durability of pecky cypress cannot 

 be questioned, for it has been used in 

 trenches in New Orleans, La., for fifty 

 years without decaying and will outlast 

 any other lumber known. Pecky cypress 

 is just as durable, if the right kind of 

 pecky cypress, as the grade from which 

 the greenhouse sashbars and construction 



material is made; it is superior to all 

 other grades of cypress in durability, as 

 all other grades have sap in them and 

 sap will surely rot. 



There is just one thing against pecky 

 cypress and that is its strength. If you 

 set your bench posts not over four feet 

 apart (three feet six inches would be 

 better) the lumber will be strong 

 enough. Don't put any stock in any 

 other grade of cypress for benches out- 

 side of pecky, as it will not prove to be 

 the lumber you wanted. Pecky is the 

 best thing for the purpose, but don 't 

 expect to get nice sound boards or you 

 will be much disappointed. When you 

 ask for prices, tell the firm you buy from 

 to send a small sample of the lumber. 



Any cypress lumber that can be sold 

 for the price of pecky cypress, or for 

 half again as much, is an inferior grade 

 of cypress, as far as durability goes, 

 and will not last. ^ 



LILIES FOR FALL BLOOMING. 



Will some kind reader of the Review 

 inform us as to the forcing of cold 

 storage lilies, so as to have them in bloom 

 the latter part of September and Oc- 

 tober? We have a small retail place 

 and wish to have some white lilies for 

 funeral work. What is the proper kind 

 and a few points on treatment of samef 



T. G. B. 



For flowering at the time you speak of, 

 the several varieties of Lilium speciosum 

 will be better for you than L. longi- 

 florum or Harrisii. These lilies may be 

 grown either in pots or the open ground. 

 To insure a succession of flowers it will 

 be as well to grow a few each way. The 

 bulbs usually arrive here about the end 

 of November. For outdoor culture se- 

 lect, if possible, a position where the 

 plants can be afforded a little shade. Do 

 not use any fresh manure when plant- 

 ing, and be sure no water stands in win- 

 ter on the land. Plant eight to ten 

 inches deep and give a mulch of leaves 

 or strawy manure. During summer, a 

 mulch of decayed manure is also of 

 great benefit. Should the ground be 

 frozen before your bulbs arrive, use a 

 bar to remove the frozen surface. A 

 better plan would be to spread some 

 protective material over the place where 

 the bulbs are to go, to exclude frost. 

 We have planted out various lilies in De- 

 cember for some years and results have 

 always been satisfactory. Spring plant- 

 ing I cannot recommend. These outdoor 

 speciosum will, in New Hampshire, start 

 blooming about the end of August and 

 last until October. They are perfectly 

 hardy and will last a number of years. 



By potting or boxing a number of 

 bulbs, keeping over winter in a coldframe 

 covered with coarse manure, and growing 

 along in a cool greenhouse after April, 

 you can get a splendid lot of these lilies. 

 They will come in during August and 

 September and will give you finer and 

 cleaner flowers than the outdoor stock. 

 One great advantage of having them in 

 pots or boxes is that you can move them 

 to a cool place and retard them at will. 

 Boxes six inches deep, a yard long and 

 a foot tpide will hold eighteen to twenty 

 bulbs. If in pots, use three in a 7-inch 

 and five in an 8-inch, rather than grow 

 them in small pots. Feed liberally when 

 the pots are filled with roots. Do not 

 allow aphis to secure any foothold, and 

 stake the shoots securely before the buds 

 begin to weigh them down. In humid 

 weather the flowers are liable to spot 



badly outdoors. If cut just as the first 

 flowers open, they will expand in water 

 and be cleaner in color than if exposed 

 to outdoor conditions. 



The most useful variety is L. speciosum 

 album. If colored sorts are desired L. 

 speciosum Melpomene, crimson spotted 

 and margined white; roseum, white spot- 

 ted rose, and rubrum, white heavily 

 spotted crimson, are all desirable. 



Should you, h6wever, prefer to grow 

 cold storage longiflorums, pot these at 

 the end of May or in the first part of 

 June. Use 5-inch pots for each bulb 

 seven to nine inches in size. After pot- 

 ting, water well and stand on a bed of 

 coal ashes in a coldframe. Cover the 

 pots with a mulch of moss or strawy ma- 

 nure. Do not put on any sashes, but 

 cover with board shutters. Tilt these at 

 top and bottom to admit some air. Ex- 

 amine the plants occasionally. Do not 

 water much until the pots are well filled 

 with roots. Remove the mulch as 

 growths appear and place on a bench in 

 a light, sunny house, or under coldframe 

 sash. Treat as you would lilies for Eas- 

 ter, forcing or retarding them as wanted. 



C. W. 



RUST ON GLADIOLL 



Will you please tell me what to do 

 with rust on gladioli? They seem to 

 do nicely while growing, but just before 

 they form the bloom they are attacked 

 with rust, which keeps them from bloom- 

 ing. Some die immediately; others re- 

 main all summer in that condition, nei- 

 ther growing nor dying. Will Bordeaux 

 mixture help them, and how strong 

 should the mixture be made? 



Last year I lost all the crop. I did 

 not plant in the same ground this year. 

 Is it necessary to tie them to a wire for 

 support? I plant two and a half inches 

 deep and some of them fall over. 



H, M. 



The rust which has attacked the stock 

 of gladioli to which you refer is seldom 

 found in our fields. Bulbs planted in 

 heavy soil, which during a wet season is 

 apt to hold too much moisture, and also 

 bulbs planted in low, wet soil, will show 

 inclination to rust, especially during a 

 very hot season. I attribute, however, 

 the most of this rusting to weakness in 

 the vitality of the bulb, for inbred and 

 chance seedlings are more affected than 

 other stock, even in the best of soil. 



I secured from Europe several years 

 ago a quantity of bulbs of a very beau- 

 tiful and expensive variety, which I gave 

 the best of soil and conditions possible, 

 but in three years I had hardly any of 

 this variety left, owing to its being at- 

 tacked by rust, which appeared just after 

 the buds were well developed and ready 

 to bloom — the same experience as H, M. 

 has had. It was a singular coincidence, 

 too, that the originator of this variety 

 reported crop failure the same year, 

 demonstrating to me that the vitality, 

 and not the soil or weather conditions, 

 was responsible. 



Where we find a variety affected in 

 this manner, unless we are positive it is 

 due to climatic or soil conditions, we dis- 

 card it entirely, no matter what its value 

 may be. While Bordeaux mixture may to 

 a certain extent help to check rust ap- 

 pearing on the gladiolus, yet I believe, 

 although I have had no practical experi- 

 ence in the matter, that the relief would 

 be only temporarO 



To grow gladioms bulbs successfully, 

 I sandy loam is quite essential, althougli 



