Sim-BUBBR 29, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



THE FORCING OF BULBS. 



[A paper by Alex. R. Wllkle, of Outremont, 

 .Montreal, Can., read at a meeting of the Mon- 

 ireal Gardeners' and Florists' Club, March 7, 

 1910.] 



To force bulbs successfully, we want 

 the right compost or soil. Three parts 

 f^food loam to one part dried cow manure, 

 imd a dash of sharp sand to keep the 

 whole open, is a good mixture. Of course, 

 old carnation soil or mum soil, with a 

 little fresh loam mixed, will answer the 

 purpose if difficulty is experienced in 

 >retting the first mentioned compost. 



Next we must have good bulbs. Good 

 bulbs are half the battle. Do not get 

 <heap varieties and think you are making 

 a bargain. We cannot expect to get 

 first-class flowers from third-sized bulbs. 

 There is not a great difference between 

 first and second sizes ; you can get nearly 

 as good blooms from seconds as you can 

 from firsts, but avoid No. 3, if you wish 

 to be successful and have a creditable 

 show for your money. 



I shall speak first of daffodils, narcissi, 

 tulips and hyacinths. They all come 

 along together, as it were, and the same 

 sort of treatment will answer. We gen- 

 erally get our bulbs in from Holland dur- 

 ing October and the early part of No- 

 vember. 



Treatment on Arrival. 



Where some people make a mistake 

 right at the start is by leaving the bulbs 

 lying around for days, and perhaps 

 weeks, before getting them potted or 

 boxed. They ought to be handled as soon 

 as they arrive. Then, after being potted 

 or placed in flats, they should be given 

 as much water as the soil will take, and 

 kept moist until stored away in cold- 

 frames or bulb sheds. My purpose in 

 watering thoroughly as soon as potted is 

 to plump up the bulbs and put them in a 

 good growing condition. 



Now the question follows, what is the 

 best method of storing bulbs for forcing? 

 Different growers have different opinions 

 about this, but I should advocate the 

 coldframes, or, better still, digging 

 trenches and covering with wood and lit- 

 ter, to keep them dark until the root 

 growth has advanced far enough to be 

 able to supply food to perfect the blooms. 

 It takes about four weeks to root nar- 

 'issi, tulips and daflFodils, and a little 

 longer to root hyacinths. 



A Succession of Hyacinths. 



French grown Boman hyacinths can be 

 had in bloom during November, until 

 Christmas, with the Dutch Boman minia- 

 tures, in different colors, to follow. Some 

 good doers are: L 'Innocence and La 

 (Jrandesse, white; Gigantea and Ger 

 trude, pink; Charles Dickens, Grand 

 Maitre and Czar Peter, blue. The dou- 

 ble varieties come in well afterward, such 

 as Prince of Orange, Princess Alexandra 

 and Frederick the Great, red ; La Grand- 

 ewe, Princess Alice and Miss Night- 



ingale, white; Lord Wellington and Bem- 

 brandt, blue; Bouquet d 'Orange, Goethe 

 and Ophir d'Or, yellow. 



Paper White narcissi are the earliest 

 of their class and can be had nicely in 

 flower by the first week in December. 

 They do not like too strong a heat until 

 the flower spikes are showing. After that 

 they should have a temperature of 60 to 

 70 degrees until showing color; then the 

 temperature should be reduced to 50 or 

 55 degrees, or they will get leggy and 

 will not have much substance. Paper 

 White is about the only narcissus that is 

 forced in quantity before New Year's. 



Tulips and Daffodils. 



In tulips, Proserpine (pink), Yellow 

 Prince and Chrysolora can be got in for 

 Christmas fairly well. Then follow King 

 of the Yellows, White Swan, White 

 Hawk, Eembrandt (scarlet). Belle Al- 

 liance, La Eeine (pink), Murillo (double 

 pink), Ophir d'Or, Salvator, etc. 



Daffodils for succession from January 

 1 are: Trumpet Major, Von Sion, 

 Golden Spur, Bicolor Victoria, Empress, 

 Horsfieldii and Emperor. I may mention 

 that Narcissus poeticus ornatus does not 

 force successfully before the third week 

 in January. 



All the aforesaid can be forced inside 

 three weeks from the time of putting 



Easter Lilies. 



A few words now about liliums. At- 

 tempts have been made over aad over 

 again to keep Ulium bulbs im cold 

 storage until November ani then 

 force right from the start. Some 

 growers seem to think that by so 

 doing they prevent the disease from hav- 

 ing time to develop, but neither do the 

 plants have time to develop. Lilium 

 bulbs, to get the best results, must be 

 permitted to take their own time for the 

 first six weeks, more or less. To allow 

 for this, the bulbs must be potted up as 

 soon as received in September, and put 

 into a coldframe until well rooted. Then 

 you can weed out all showing signs of 

 disease when housing. 



This plan gives you the chance to put 

 in a cold storage batch of bulbs to make 

 up your number, if the early potted lot 

 are not up to the standard. The early 

 batch can be brought in for Easter, say 

 the first week in April, in a temperature 

 of 50 degrees, while the cold storage lot 

 require a temperature never under 60 

 degrees, and up to 90 degrees, to get 

 them out for the same time. Now, it 

 stands to reason that the bulbs treated 

 naturally and brought along gently will 

 be the best at the finish, while those 

 forced in a high temperature will be weak 



Bulbous Stock in Flats, Ready for Shipment. 



them in the heat. All bulbs should be 

 finished in a temperature of 50 to 55 

 degrees, as they thus have more sub- 

 stance and healthier foliage. Pink col- 

 ored tulips gain a richer color by being 

 shaded from the light after first shpwing 

 color. 



and leggy, and the blooms will be small 

 and of questionable quality. 



The Black-stemmed Variety. 



The black stemmed bulbs are coming 

 into favor rapidly, owing, no doubt, to 

 the shorter season of growth and their 



