18 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



February 29, 1912. 



verize the soil just as much as possible. 

 Then, if cnoujih are to be planted so 

 that it would pay to work a horse, the 

 furrows should be three feet apart. 

 When the furrow is open it is a good 

 plan to go through with some sort of 

 leveler, to pulverize the soil still fur- 

 ther and to get a good, even surface. 

 The bulbs are then planted similarly 

 to onions. ]f they are planted in quan- 

 tity, it is advisable to cover about five 

 inches deep in the first instance, and 

 after the bulbs have been planted about 

 ten days or two weeks the weeder can 

 be used, which will accomplish two 

 things; namely, it will break up the 

 surface and destroy all young weeds 

 and will level down some of the soil, 

 which after three or four weedings will 

 be reduced at least one inch from the 

 original ridge. 



There is just one drawback that 1 

 see in the growing of gladoli for cut 

 flower purposes, and this is not really 

 serious. The bulk of the growers usual 

 ly come in crop during the month of 

 August, when, if we are depending on 

 the city trade, the prices are likely 

 to be at a low ebb, as the flower-buying 

 population is usually away from the 

 city, but if we can get in touch with 

 the large summer resorts, there is a 

 chance of supplying the blooms for the 

 decoration of hotel dining rooms, etc., 

 and they are fast becoming popular 

 for these purposes. While we can never 

 get a fancy price in the summer for 

 field flowers, we have a condition which 

 oflfsets it, and that is that we are not 

 bothered with the constant care of a 

 greenhouse, wliich needs watching 

 night and day, to say nothing of the 

 enormous coal bills that are to be met. 



The Profits from Gladioli. 



As to the prices we can expect for 

 the flowers, tliis will vary in different 

 parts of the country; for instance, dur- 

 ing the month of August in the city of 

 New York the flowers bring about 5^ 

 cents to .$1 per hundred, but the early 

 ones that reach market in July and the 

 late ones that reach there in Septem- 

 ber bring as high as 75 cents and $1 

 per dozen. Prices in Pittsburgh and 

 Chicago usually run somewhat higher. 

 The bulbs of the standard commercial 

 varieties sell at wholesale all the way 

 from .$l<t per thousand up to $50 per 

 thousand. .Some fancy varieties are 

 usually quite valuable, owing to the 

 limited quantity of stock, anci it is pos- 

 sible to get excellent prices from en- 

 thusiastic amateurs, even as high as 

 $25 per bulb in some cases. Of course, 

 this is the exception, but there are a 

 good many varieties that sell every 

 year as high as $15 to $30 per hun- 

 dred. It is usually the case, however, 

 that the high priced, fine varieties are 

 slow ]iropagators, so that it is impos- 

 sible to get a large stock. It is possible 

 to grow 40,000 or 50,000 large bulbs 

 to the acre. 



On the face of it, this may seem a 

 large return, but we must remember 

 that we are obliged to spread our ac- 

 count over three years, because it prac- 

 tically takes three years to get a sala- 

 ble bulb from the bulblet, and the ex- 

 pense of cultivation and care of gla- 

 diolus bulbs is somewhat greater than 

 of ordinary farm crops. 



As suggested before, gladioli are 

 among the easiest flowers to ship. I 

 have known a shipment to be packed 

 up on Saturday morning and shipped 

 by express to a distant city, and when 

 they were opened on Monday afternoon 



and put into water they revived splen- 

 di<liy, keeping in good condition for 

 exhibition purposes during the entire 

 week, and this was in the warm month 

 of August. 



Peonies. 



Now a word as to peonies. Where 

 is there a person who does not ex- 

 perience a thrill of joy when this noble 

 flower is mentioned.'' When you show 

 me such a person, I will show you one 

 that is not familiar with the peony of 

 today. They are such gems of beauty! 

 How I should like to be able to express 

 in words just what I feel when I think 

 of them! And I believe that when they 

 are generally known they will be 

 grown extensively. To be sure, har- 

 vesting the flowers of peonies is hard 

 work, as their season lasts only about 

 three weeks. The work usually comes 

 fast and thick during that time, if we 

 expect to realize on all of the blooms. 



Peonies have an advantage over gla- 

 dioli in that they are perfectly hardy 

 in almost any part of the country and 

 do not have to be lifted and planted 

 each year. In fact, to get the best re- 

 sults it is necessarv to leave them un- 



Ptychosperma Elegans. 



,listurl)e(l for at h'ast three years; tliey 

 laii even be left six to ten years witli- 

 out any disadvantage, and they Avill in- 

 crease in size of bloom and plant each 

 year. Therefore the return from the 

 flowers will be greater each year, and 

 when you come to lift the plants for 

 dividing there will be a splendid in- 

 crease, as the 1 lumps can be cut up 

 into divisions containing two or three 

 eyes each. No flower loves care and 

 attention as does the peony, and the 

 more we feed it and cultivate it. the 

 more it will respond to our care. 



Planting Peonies. 



The planting shouM be done with 

 the greatest care and it is not enough 

 simply to dig a hole and drop in the 

 root, but the ground should be thor- 

 oughly prepared if one expects to real- 

 ize the highest quality in the flowers, 

 as well as the highest prices. If you 

 are planning to grow peonies, it will 

 pay to select your ground at least a 

 year in advance and begin to prepare 

 it by enriching the soil with a liberal 



quantity of well rotted manure, plow- 

 ing this under to allow it to becon.e 

 incorporated with the soil. The roos 

 should be planted in furrows at lea t 

 four feet apart and the plants shoui i 

 be three feet apart in the rows. ]', > 

 giving them this space you will be ei 

 abled to cultivate them thoroughly, am 

 they will not need to be moved ii i 

 four or five years or more. 



The best time to plant peonies 

 during the months of September an 

 October, as they are dormant at fh; 

 time and stand transplanting betr, 

 than at any other time of the ye;i 

 The eyes usually make so early a st;i 

 in the spring that it is with indififerc i 

 success that they can be planted i 

 that time, and if they are planted :: 

 September under good conditions th. 

 will give some flowers the first year. 



The Returns from Peonies. 



To realize the best prices for tl. 

 flowers we ought to get the earliest \ i 

 rieties, as they are recognized as tlu 

 principal flowers for Decoration (hiv 

 trade, and if we can be fortunar. 

 enough to have them in bloom on thai 

 day we can realize good prices. It i= 

 better to have a few standard varieties 

 than a large number, and the follow 

 inf list can be depended on: 



White — Festiva Maxima, that glon 

 ous white, with just a dash of crimsoi 

 in the center; Couronne d 'Or. Duchesst 

 de Nemours, ]\Ime. de Verneville an! 

 Queen Victoria. Pink — Edulis Superba, 

 Lady Braniwell, Livingstone and M. 

 .lules Elie, claimed by some to be the 

 finest of its color in size and form. 

 Ked — Adolph Rousseau, Felix <.'rous«c 

 and Officinalis Rubra. 



Everything about the flower business 

 is not rosy, as flowers, if anything, arc 

 more perishable than fruit and vegeta- 

 bles, and much depends on cutting at 

 the proper time, even to a day. Whii<' 

 some use is made of cold storage facile 

 ties, it is only on occasions that it 

 works out well to put them in storage, 

 for while they can be kept in fair con- 

 dition while in storage, they go dou;i 

 fast when taken out and it is far bett> r 

 to handle them as fresh flowers. 



Another point in favor of gladio . 

 and peonies from the fruit grower.-! 

 standpoint is that they fit in well as t ; 

 seasons of blooming. The flowers ot 

 the peonies come usually ahead oi 

 strawberries, and gladioli come ahea '■ 

 oi i)eaches, or will if planted earl 

 enough, Avliich is quite possible and d 

 sirable, both from the standpoint i 

 l)etter prices and getting them out > ■ 

 the way of other crops. 



PALMS AT LOS ANGELES, CAL. 



The accompanying illustrations wi 

 give eastern readers a good idea of th 

 tropical growth of palms and otht 

 plants in the favored clime of souther 

 •Jalifornia. The specimen of .Tuba 

 spectabilis is growing at the Horn': 

 Laughlin home at Los Angeles, an- 

 while it might not be safe to say tha 

 it is the finest specimen growing ou' 

 side in the United States, there ce" 

 tainly are few, if any, to beat it. ■ 

 spectabilis is a native of Chile and i 

 said to grow farther south than an. 

 other American palm. 



Ptychosperma elegans is perhaps be- 

 ter known to the trade as Seaforthi:^ 

 elegans and is of Australasian origii 

 It makes a handsome palm outdoors s' 

 Los Angeles, thriving best in partial 



