-^3» y.,y ",■ _/,:,JV'V7;;.'--;v>.V,-, 



Jlif-t t, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 





.-.'^-.T'?"^ 





^f*^r/. 





Uhy- . 



J: ■ ■ ^ 



/:y 



. \' ^ 



Growing Easter Lily Bulbs at Santa Ana* Cal. 



ripened and are ready to dig late in 

 August. 



A few of the stronger seedlings have 

 flowered for me in the fall, ten to four- 

 teen months from the time the seed was 

 sown. Several have had as many as nine 

 flowers. These bulbs all bloom again at 

 the regular time in the following spring. 



Many of the hybrid seedlings show ex- 

 treme vigor, throwing stout, well clothed 

 .stems and bearing fifteen to twenty-five 

 flowers^exceptional ones as many as 

 thirty and forty. This, remember, is in 

 the first time of blooming, twenty months 

 from seed. 



The industry is decidedly in its in- 

 fancy yet and may take a number of 

 years to get a good start, but I have 

 much faith in its final success. Much 

 work needs to be done first, however, in 

 selecting and fixing a proper strain, and 

 this takes time. 



I enclose, for reproduction in the Re- 

 view, two photographs of a small patch 

 containing 3,000 or 4,000 bulbs. A great 

 many had been cut and sold for the blos- 

 soms before the second picture was taken. 

 They were raised from seed sent to me 

 by Mr. Oliver, of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, and are the result of crossing 

 Lilium Harrisii and L. giganteum. I 

 have growing this year some nice young 

 plants from seed which Mr. Oliver sent 

 me last fall, a cross between L. gigan- 

 teum and L. multiflorum. From the even- 

 ness of growth I have hopes they may be 

 more uniform in type, but I shall be 

 unable to tell much about that until they 

 bloom next May. 



The Santa Ana Easter Lily Co., near 

 here, is transplanting many thousands of 

 strong seedlings. Several parties are in- 

 teresting themselves in this work and 

 may do something another year, but this 

 firm is so. far the only one I know grow- 

 ing the bulbs in commercial quantities. 



Fred Eafterty. 



GERMAN IRIS DISEASE. 



I have a lot of iris which are badly dis- 

 eased. A sort of rot seems to set in 

 pretty well up the stem where the new 

 growth is coming out, then goes down to 

 the crown and in a short time, a couple 

 of days or so, the whole stalk falls over, 

 rotted off at the rhizome. Some of those 

 having hard, stiff foliage, such as Mme. 

 Chereau, aurea and Sans Souci, do not 

 seem badly affected, but pallida Dalmat- 

 ica and Florentina are about ruined. 

 Last year the rot did not set in until 

 after flowering, but this year it com- 

 menced as soon as the buds began to 

 show, and I scarcely got any flowers, from 

 pallida Dalmatica and Florentina. I 

 sprayed with the ammonia-copper solu- 

 tion, thinking it might be leaf blight at 

 first, but this had no effect. Can you 

 suggest a remedy? H. H. G. 



Several years ago I had precisely the 

 same trouble. In my case the rotting 

 started in July and almost cleaned out 

 some clumps entirely, the shoots becom- 

 ing completely rotten just above the 

 rhizome. I was unable to get any in- 

 formation from experimental stations or 

 elsewhere in regard to the trouble, which, 

 however, I find is not uncommon in Eu- 

 rope, as well as in America, In 1902 I 

 feared that I would lose an entire col- 

 lection from this rot. Spraying was of 

 no avail, but instead of throwing away 

 the living remainder they were planted 

 in nursery rows in another part of the 

 nursery. The next season they bloomed 

 splendidly and did not have a trace of 

 disease. The conclusion I have come to 

 is that where plants are left in clumps 

 or masses for over two seasons the dis- 

 ease will attack them, but if replanted 

 every fall, or even once in two years, the 

 trouble will practically disappear. Each 

 year we find a few shoots rotted above 

 the rhizome. This, however, causes us 



no worry, as experience has taught us 

 that replanting is the real solution of 

 the trouble. Pallida Dalmatica, Flor- 

 entina, Mme. Chereau, flavescens, aurea 

 and every other kind we grow are now 

 perfectly clean in the same ground where 

 rot was rife a few years ago. I do not 

 believe that spraying is of any avail, 

 once the rot starts, but replainting has 

 with us proved a sure remedy. C. W. 



HARDY YELLOW CARNATION. 



Hjalmar Hartmann & Co., of Copen- 

 hagen, Denmark, some time since found 

 an entirely distinct hardy carnation 

 growing in the garden of a small cot- 

 tager near that city, and of this they 

 procured the stock, believing that it 

 would prove a most valuable commercial 

 novelty. The name Comtesse Knuth has 

 been given it and sample plants have 

 been sent to Henry A. Dreer, Riverton, 

 and R. & J. Farquhar & Co., Boston. 

 Within the last week plants also have 

 been received by the Yokohama Nursery- 

 Co., New York, for planting out in some 

 public garden where those interested 

 may see them this summer. 



Comtesse Knuth is bright yellow and! 

 the large, well formed clusters of flowers 

 are carried on strong, stiff stems of 

 good length. The flowering season i» 

 from July until November. Hartmann & 

 Co. say the variety has proved to be "an 

 excellent merchandise on the flower mar- 

 kets of Copenhagen; cut flowers of it 

 have been in great demand and have ob- 

 tained a very high price." It is pei- 

 fectly hardy in that country. 



Mount Joy, Pa.— David Zerjrfiey ba» 

 had a better trade this year, botk in 

 plants and cut flowers, than ever before. 

 He says he is experimenting in seedling 

 carnations and now has about 300 of 

 them. 



