The Weekly Florists* Review. 



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JULT 15, 1909. 



As to the salt harming any crop, I 

 suppose one could use it too strong, al- 

 though I have yet to see an instance of 

 it, and I have used it for a good many 

 years. I do not think one would be apt 

 to use an excess, as the most of land 

 will stand more salt than it gets. 



Bight here happens an odd corrobora- 

 tion of what I have been recommending. 

 A man (whose name I do not know) has 

 just been in to buy some celery plants, 

 and he said that I advised him a year 

 ago to use salt, telling him quite fully 

 about it, and that he had been doing so 

 ever since with much success. He said 

 he would not be without it. I at once 

 asked him how much he had been troubled 

 with the white grubs and cutworms, as 

 they are so bad this year, and he said he 

 had only lost five strawberry plants out 

 of all this season's planting, and he 

 grows this in quantity, as he is growing 

 small fruits and garden truck for a 

 business. This is practically no loss at 

 all, in the hundreds of plants he sets out. 



As to the lime, lacking a chemical ex- 

 amination of your soil, I should advise 

 you to try some and note results. The 

 most of soils will use some to good ad- 

 vantage, especially if a little heavy and 

 wet or if inclined to be sour or to mold 

 or get mossy if not turned over often. Of 

 course you do not want to use such soil 

 anyway, if anything better can possibly 

 be secured, but if you have some such 

 soil you can frequently put it in good 

 shape in two or three years by working 

 it over as often as possible, adding lime. 



burning and so losing the most of its 

 value. Brine from pork barrels and from 

 ice cream freezers, etc., is excellent, and 

 it is well to procure it whenever one can 

 do so conveniently and reasonably. 



E. E. Shuphelt. 



TIME TO FLOWER BULBS. 



Will you kindly tell us how many weeks 

 it takes to force cold storage valley and 

 giganteum lilies and French and Dutch 

 trumpet narcissi? We live in the state 

 of South Carolina. B. F. C. 



Cold storage lily of the valley requires 

 from three to four weeks to flower, ac- 

 cording to temperature and other condi- 

 tions. It is an advantage not to force it 

 too hard, in order to give the flowers 

 more substance and secure some foliage 

 with it. Four weeks is ample time to 

 allow, 



Lilium longiflorum giganteum takes a 

 little longer to force into flower than the 

 ordinary longiflorum or the variety multi- 

 florum. Much, of course, depends on the 

 time you want to start your bulbs. 

 Potted in the middle of July, you should 

 have them for Thanksgiving, although a 

 few may come later. For Easter flower- 

 ing the bulbs should be potted not less 

 than twenty weeks, six weeks of this 

 being allowed from the time buds are 

 showing until the flowers open in. an 

 average temperature of 60 degrees. 



French Trumpet Major narcissus, if 

 placed in flats as soon as received, usually 



Leatherman's Semi-double Shasta Daisy. 



charcoal dust, salted manure, etc., and 

 leaving it well exposed to the winter 

 frosts. 



But, to recapitulate, use salt and use it 

 liberally, in the stable when it is cleaned, 

 if possible, but if you cannot do this, as 

 soon after as possible, as it is much bet- 

 ter used at a late date than not at all. 

 The more promptly it can be used, the 

 better the results, especially, as I said 

 before, in preventing horse manure from 



in early August, can be flowered by 

 Christmas, but is better in January. 

 Dutch Trumpet Majors arrive later, and 

 cannot be forced as early as the French 

 bulbs. Started in September, they will 

 flower from the third week in January 

 onwards. Each of these narcissi should 

 be allowed from sixteen to twenty weeks 

 from starting to flowering, according to 

 the temperature given. In your state the 

 shorter period should suffice, C. W. 



A SEMI-DOUBLE SHASTA DAISY. 



At this time, when the Shasta daisy is 

 so fine and is selling so well in flower 

 stores, it will be of interest to note that 

 an Indiana grower, D. W. Leatherman, 

 of Anderson, has what he calls a double 

 form. This he has named the Ostrich 

 Plume Shasta, "on account of its grace- 

 ful appearance and because it closely re- 

 sembles that grand aster, Ostrich 

 Plume." Mr. Leatherman thinks he has 

 one of the most usefiil novelties the hardy 

 perennial class has produced in recent 

 years. This plant was found in the au- 

 tumn of 1907, and in June of 1908 pro- 

 duced fourteen fine flowers on strong 

 stems twenty-four to thirty inches long. 

 Quite a few seeds were harvested in 1908 

 and the plants are now in bloom, but 

 they all revert to the original type of 

 Shasta. The illustration is a poor one, 

 the photograph lacking detail, but serves 

 to give an idea of the style of flower. 

 The center is rich gold. The petals are 

 narrow and fold over the center grace- 

 fully. 



USEFUL HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 



Alstroemeria Aurantiaca. 



Alstrcemeria aurantiaca is one of the 

 most useful herbaceous perennials, either 

 for massing effects or cutting, flowering 

 in early July. The alstroemerias or 

 Peruvian lilies, as they are commonly 

 called, are tuberous rooted subjects, be- 

 longing to the family amaryllidacese and, 

 being looked upon as somewhat tender, 

 are not much seen in the hardy border. 

 There is no special difficulty in culti- 

 vating them successfully, if a warm, 

 sloping bank or border is chosen for 

 them, and a good coating of leaves or 

 straw furnished when the ground freezes. 

 On perfectly level ground, unless sandy 

 and well drained, they are liable to rot. 



Propagation may be effected either 

 by root division in September or early 

 October, or from seed, which should be 

 started under glass in early spring, trans- 

 ferred to flats and later to the open 

 ground. The plants do not like much 

 root disturbance and it takes a year to 

 properly establish them. A. aurantiaca 

 carries strong spikes, two to three feet 

 high, of showy, yellow, lily-like flowers, 

 which are tipped green with brown 

 spots. Fifteen to thirty flowers are car- 

 ried on each umbel. These alstroemerias 

 are splendid for cutting and last for sev- 

 eral days in water. A. Chiliensis is 

 also grown to some extent in America. 

 Its flowers vary in color from rosy white 

 to orange red, and like A. aurantiaca, it 

 blooms practically the whole summer. 



Aster Sub<oeruleus. 



Aster 8ub-coeruleu8, the early flower- 

 ing aster, has only been in commerce a 

 few seasons and has already won a host 

 of admirers. It is distinct in habit 

 from the bulk of the aster family, throw- 

 ing up a quantity of leafless flower stalks 

 in June and* early July, which each carry 

 a single large violet blue flower with a 

 yellow center. The flowers average 

 three inches in diameter and for cut- 

 ting are excellent. Flowering, as it 

 does, so much earlier than nearly all 

 other members of the family, it is spe- 

 cially useful. Propagation may be ef- 

 fected either by root division or seed. 

 The latter germinates readily and if 

 started now, nice flowering plants can 

 be had for next season. The flower 

 stalks average eighteen to twenty-four 

 inches in height. 



