8 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



September 30, 1909. 



yield, during putrefactiou, gases and 

 soluble substances that are taken up by 

 the roots of plants. That this is the 

 case affords no cause for wonder, be- 

 cause animal matters and vegetable mat- 

 ters are alike compounded of carbon, 

 hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, with a 

 small addition of saline matters. 



The simplest method of preparing this 

 material for fertilizing purposes would 

 be to make a compost, using about 

 twenty times the bulk of the material of 

 good, rich loam and adding lime in the 

 proportion of one peck to each cubic 

 yard of compost. This should be turned 

 over several times during decomposition. 



RiBES. 



COLD STORAGE LILIES. 



Kindly give us cultural directions for 

 cold storage giganteum lilies. -Our gi- 



ganteums have usually come fifty per 

 cent blind and we want minute directions 

 as to their culture and the length of time 

 it takes to have them ready. What is the 

 best size of bulbs to get and can they 

 be used after forcing? B. F. C. ' 



The sizes of longiflorums usually 

 grown are 7 to 9. For early forcing with 

 Harrisii 5 to 7 are frequently grown, or 

 preferred to the larger size. The smaller 

 bulbs appear to force more readily than 

 the larger sizes. I have not used any 

 giganteums from cold storage, but have 

 not had the trouble you appear to have 

 had with either Harrisiis or multiflorums. 

 Probably your bulbs have been kept too 

 solidly frozen and the buds killed in the 

 embryo shoots. 



After potting cold storage lilies, stand 

 them on the floor of a cellar or pit. 



Soak with water and cover with stra.,, 

 hay or some similar material. Wat r 

 sparingly until the pots are full of roo s. 

 Remove to a frame when the tops a e 

 two or three inches high. Shade for a 

 few days if the sun is hot, as the you; 'i 

 growths are tender. Do not house un/a 

 the pots are full of roots and the plan s 

 nicely sta,rted to grow. Give a nig it 

 temperature of 60 to 65 degrees if yi u 

 want to hurry them, but they will do Q 

 degrees cooler if not wanted in a hurr.. 

 Bulbs potted early in August will be ell 

 right for Christmas and those start» I 

 during October will be right for Eastt 



W. C. 



Hartfoed, Conn. — John Brodrib h; s 

 leased the Cone street greenhouses, foi- 

 merly conducted by the late Jani.s 

 Young. , , 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. 



V 



Amongr the Early Sorts. 



The early varieties are turning in more 

 rapidly now, Monrovia, Polly Rose, 

 Rosiere, Pacific, and October Frost all 

 being in evidence in the wholesale mar- 

 kets. Some growers who are late are 

 making frantic efforts to push their flow- 

 ers along by using heat in the houses, 

 but the mum is a plant that will not be 

 forced by artificial means. The time to 

 figure for the early flowers is when the 

 buds are being selected. A night tem- 

 perature as high as 70 degrees will not 

 bring the flowers out a day earlier than 

 they will open in a natural temperature 

 of 45 to 50 degrees, with abundance of 

 air. The use of nitrate of sada or 

 sulphate of ammonia will hasten to some 

 extent the development of the flowers, 

 but either will render the flowers too 

 soft if long continued. 



All the best flowers of Golden Glow 

 are cut and little but the culls remain 

 of this variety. It is early — no question 

 about that, but as a money-maker it will 

 not displace Monrovia with me. The 

 latter is now, September 25. very fine, 

 and with a better market in sight than 

 we had two weeks ago, will turn in more 

 money from a given space than did 

 Golden Glow. One advantage with 

 Golden Glow -^s that anyone can handle 

 it easily if he does not start it too early 

 and Monrovia needs more care to get 

 it right, but even that advantage works 

 against it from a financial point of view. 

 Many florists throughout the country 

 who sell their own flowers can make fine 

 money out of Golden Glow, but the large 

 wholesale houses will not have so many 

 to handle another year, judging from 

 the growers' talk generally. 



Temperature. 



The frosty nights are due now and 

 one must pay some heed to the tempera- 



ture in the houses. Do not close up the 

 house in the late afternoon, just before 

 the sun goes down, with the idea of 

 bottling up enough sun heat to hold the 

 house overnight. It is the poorest kind 

 of economy. If the night looks like 

 being frosty, reduce the air to an inch 

 or so on the top. Then, if the tempera- 

 ture in the house goes down to 45 de- 

 grees, run a little steam through. This 

 will keep the air dry and buoyant and 

 prevent the moisture from settling down 

 on the petals and causing damping. 



Another cause of damping is sunlight 

 and this must be looked out for. If one 

 has not fed his flowers at all they will 

 not need shading, but good quality stock 

 will damp, and damp badly, unless 

 shaded from the sun. As soon as the 

 buds all show color nicely, it is the best 

 policy to scatter a shading over the 

 glass. The shade serves another good 

 purpose, by holding back the flowers 

 and giving them a chance to develop 

 more slowly and naturally. The mum 

 came originally from a country much 

 cooler and moister than ours and where 

 the sun in October has little power, while 

 here we occasionally get days as hot as 

 midsummer and the mum is out of its 

 element entirely. 



Flowers grown for exhibition, there- 

 fore, need to be shaded in order to bring 

 them to their highest development, both 

 as regards size and color. 



Fumigatiog. 



Be sure your plants are clean now. 

 before they flower. Vain regrets in three 

 or four weeks are of no avail. The time 

 to get busy is now. The black fly and 

 green fly will succumb to i)ersistent 

 fumigation. Remember, it is far better 

 to fumigate several times with safety 

 to the plants than to give them a strong 

 dose and ourn the foliage. Personally, 

 I have never found anything cheaper or 

 better than the prepared tobacco dust. 



for use now or at any other season of 

 the year. 



Look out for red spider also. This is 

 much worse to handle than the fly, be- 

 cause it is under the leaves and fumiga 

 tion does not hurt it. If the plants have 

 been kept properly syringed during the 

 summer, they should be perfectly clean 

 now, but spider is often present when 

 least suspected. So go over your plants 

 carefully, because the spider weaves a 

 web over the buds and spoils the flowers 

 in an incredibly short space of time when 

 the house is being kept dry. Many 

 flowers are lost every year for lack of 

 a careful watch just at this time. 



Chas. H. Totty. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Examining Committees. 



President Elmer D. Smith has an- 

 nounced the committees to examine seed- 

 lings and sports on the dates as follows : 

 October 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30, and Novem- 

 ber 6, 13, 20 and 27. Exhibits, to re- 

 ceive attention from the committees, 

 must in all cases be prepaid to destina 

 tion, and the entry fee of $2 should be 

 forwarded to the secretary not later 

 than Tuesday of the week preceding the 

 examination or may accompany the 

 blooms. Special attention is called to 

 the rule requiring that sports to receive 

 a certificate must pass three committees. 



Boston, Mass. — E. A. Wood, chairman; 

 •lames Wheeler, William Nicholson. Ship 

 flowers to Boston Flower Market, care 

 of John Walsh. 



New York. — Eugene Dailledouze, chair- 

 man ; William Duckham, A. Herring- 

 ton. Ship flowers to New York Cut 

 Flower Co., 55 Twenty-sixth street, care 

 of chairman, all flowers to be on hand 

 by 2 p. m. on day of examination. 



Chicago. — J. B. Deamud, chairman; 

 George Asmus, W. H. Kidwell. Flowers 



