24 



The Rorists' Revie>\ 



OCTOBIK «, 1921 



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BULBS FOR EASTER 



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FORCING TULIPS. 



We should like to get some advice on 

 forcing tulips. We have tried several 

 ways, but without success, as the flowers 

 are always too short-stemmed to be of 

 much use. This year we are growing, 

 among early single varieties, Mon 

 Tresor and Proserpine, and among early 

 double varieties, Couronne d'Or, Im- 

 perator Rubrorum and Salvator Eosa. 

 These we have potted and boxed and 

 placed in a cool place. Will it be neces- 

 sary to put these bulbs outside to freeze, 

 or can they be placed in a cool cellar 

 with a temperature above freezing and 

 still force well? How early should they 

 be placed in the heat to get early flow- 

 ers and what temperature should bo 

 maintained? 



In the case of Darwin tulips wanted 

 for Easter, which will be late next year, 

 should thev be planted now or later? 



R. & S.— 111. 



You are not growing a good selection 

 ■of tulips for forcing purposes. Both 

 Proserpine and Mon Tresor are better 

 for bedding purposes than for forcing. 

 If you had bought such varieties as La 

 Eeine, Yellow Prince, Flamingo, Eose 

 Luisante, Prince of Austria and White 

 Hawk, among singles, and Murillo, 

 Brimstone Beauty and Couronne d'Or, 

 among doubles, you would have had a 

 better variety for early work. Of 

 course, the kinds you are growing may 

 all be held back for an Easter even as 

 late as that of 1922. 



After the bulbs are potted or put in 

 flats, soak them well with water and 

 continue to soak them at intervals. Half 

 the failures in the culture of bulbs un- 

 der glass is due to a failure to give an 

 adequate water supply in the earlier 

 stages of growth. The plants need no 

 freezing and if you have a good cold 

 cellar, it will be an ideal place for them 

 over winter, far better than burying 

 them outdoors, where in severe weather 

 they are hardly accessible. 



It would not be advisable for you to 

 attempt forcing any of the singles be- 

 fore early in January nor the doubles 

 until two or three weeks later. At 

 that time the pots and flats should be 

 well filled with roots and top growths 

 one or two inches long. For extremely 

 early forcing, it is always advisable to 

 place the tulips in a warm frame, where 

 they can be darkened, or some place can 

 be provided below a bench where they 

 can be given a good heat to draw up the 

 stalks. This is, of course, unnecessary 

 for bulbs to be forced for Easter. 



As to Darwin tulips for Easter, they 

 should be kept in a cold cellar until 

 four weeks before they are wanted. 

 Give them an ordinary greenhouse or 

 even a coldframe with ample head 

 room. Weather conditions may make it 

 necessary to advance or retard them a 

 little, but the less artificial heat you 

 give them the more stocky will the 

 plants be. For early forcing you can 

 ^nve tulips 60 to 65 degrees at night. 

 Heat is necessary to draw them up. For 

 tulips to flower after March 15, only a 

 cool groenliousc temperature is neces- 



sary and after the early part of Febru- 

 ary they can be placed directly in the 

 light after leaving the cellar. This is 

 especially necessary with your stock. 

 For cutting, for which you want a good 

 length of stem, it would be better to 

 draw up the plants a little below a 

 bench or in partial darkness. C. W. 



HYACINTHS FOB EASTEB. 



In the case of hyacinths wanted for 

 next Easter, which will be late, should 

 the bulbs be planted now or later? 



E. & S.— 111. 



Hyacinths will be difSeult to retard 

 for Easter's cut, as they naturally 

 flower earlier than both tulips and nar- 

 cissi. Keep them in the coldest part of 

 your cellar and, if some frost comes in, 

 cover the pans or flats a few inches deep 

 with sand, fine coal ashes or even saw- 

 dust. It is a good plan to cover the re- 

 ceptacles with half an inch of sand to 

 keep the soil down and then to lay sev- 

 eral inches of sawdust over them. This 

 excludes frost and is easily removed. 



This procedure is particularly good to 

 follow when the bulbs are wintered in 

 coldframes, with tight sashes over them 

 to exclude rain and snow. This sawdust 

 keeps out severe frosts. 0. W. 



THE ENV-0-BIiANK. 



The Pittsburgh Cut Flower Co. is 

 using a device called the Env-o-blank, 

 by which orders can be mailed without 

 an envelope. The order blank, with 

 three folds, assumes the size and shape 

 of an envelope, and a gummed flap on 

 the side serves to seal it. On the face 

 of the envelope is the address of the 

 company. When it is received it is 

 merely slit open and the order filled. 

 All the florist does is to make out his 

 order, fold the blank and seal it, affix a 

 stamp and put in mail. Thus does the 

 high cost of doing business receive an- 

 other jolt. The price of an envelope is 

 saved the florist. 



Cleveland, O.— L. F. Darnell, of 6616 

 Lucerne avenue, is returning to Day- 

 tona Beach, Fla., for the winter. Mr. 

 Darnell expects to conduct a flower shop 

 at Daytona during the tourist season, 

 which generally begins about January 1 

 and runs until May 1. He was well 

 pleased with the success he had in grow- 

 ing gladioli and shipping the cut flowers 

 north last season, and will go into the 

 work more extensively this year. 



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BORER SPREADING 



CORN BORER QUABANTINE. 



May Be Extended. 



A formal hearing to consider further 

 steps necessary to prevent the spread 

 of the European corn borer, which is 

 said to threaten invasion of the corn 

 belt, will be held at Washington, D. C, 

 October 11 by the Federal Horticultural 

 Board of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. Federal quarantines 

 against the pest now exist in the states 

 of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New 

 York and Pennsylvania. Reports of 

 field investigations by government em- 

 ployees indicate a rapid spread of the 

 borer during the present season, with 

 new infestations in northwestern Penn- 

 sylvania and in northern Ohio, and the 

 survey is still incomplete. 



The insect is now so widely dispersed 

 that it is necessary to consider the 

 adoption of regional quarantiries, which 

 are to be discussed at the hearing, or, 

 as an alternative plan, the complete 

 abandonment of all quarantine action. 

 It is an open question whether the pro- 

 tection of noninfested areas that can be 

 secured through quarantine action from 

 now on will justify the expense of en- 

 forcement and the interference with 

 commerce. 



Affects Some Flowers. 



The hearing will take up this whole 

 question, which may result in a reshap- 

 ing of the board's policy in combating 

 the spread of the pest. It will cover 

 the application of any possible quaran- 

 tine to cut flowers or entire plants of 

 chrysanthemums, asters, cosmos, zinnias 

 and hollyhocks and also to cut flowers or 

 entire plants of gladioli and dahlias, ex- 



cept the bulbs without stems, and other 

 herbaceous plants likely to carry the 

 pest to new regions. 



Persons interested in the proposed 

 steps to be taken by the board may ap- 

 pear at the hearing and be heard either 

 in person or by attorney. Following is 

 the official call of the hearing: 



The Secretary of Agriculture has information 

 that the European com borer, Pyrausta nubilalis, 

 ft dangerous insect not heretofore widely preva- 

 lent or distributed within and throughout the 

 United States, and on account of which notice 

 of quarantine 43, which became effective March 

 29, 1920, quarantining the states of Massachu- 

 setts, New Hampshire, New Yorlj and Pennsyl- 

 vania, was issued, is now known to occur also 

 in Maine and Ohio. 



The European corn borer attacks com and 

 broom corn, including all parts of the stalks, 

 and breeds in and may be transported by sudan 

 grass, celery, green beans In the pod, beets 

 with tops, spinach, rhubarb, oat and rye straw 

 as such or when used as packing, cut flowers 

 or entire plants of chrysanthemums, asters, 

 cosmos, zinnias and hollyhocks, also cut flowers 

 or entire plants of gladioli and dahlias, except 

 the bulbs thereof without stenM, and many other 

 herbaceous plants. 



It seems advisable, therefore, at this time 

 to consider the establishment of a quarantine 

 extending from Lake Michigan southward along 

 the western border of Indiana to the Ohio river 

 and thence eastward along the Ohio and Potomac 

 rivers or some other line across the northeastern 

 states, in accordance with the plant quarantine 

 act of August 20. 1912 (37 Stat., 315), as amended 

 by the act of Congress approved March 4, 1917 

 I.S9 Stat.. 1134, 1165), and of restricting 

 or prohibiting the movement from these states 

 or from any infested districts determined therein 

 of corn and broom corn, including all parts 

 of the stalk, siidan grass, celery, green beans 

 in tlie pod. beets with tops, spinach, rhubarb, 

 oat and rye straw as such or when used as 

 packing, cut flowers or entire plants of chrys- 

 anthemums, asters, cosmos, zinnias and holly- 

 hocks, also cut flowers or entire plants of gladi- 

 oli and dahlias, except the bulbs thereof with- 

 out stems, and other herbaceous plants. 



Notice is therefore hereby given that a public 

 hearing will be, held at the Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C, room 11, Federal 

 Horticultural Board, at 10 a. m., October 11, 

 in order that any person interested In the 

 proposed extension of the quarantine may appear 

 and be heard either in person or by attorney. 



