12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Apbil 7, 1910. 





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FORCING LILIES 



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FOR EASTER 



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No Easy Task. 



I do not suppose there is anything 

 more uncertain or requiring a greater 

 amount of skill and attention than the 

 lily, especially the growing of good lilies 

 for Easter. To make this paper inter- 

 esting it has been suggested that I take 

 up the entire subject of forcing lilies, 

 from years ago to years to come, to il- 

 lustrate my subject by samples of well 

 grown and diseased plants; in fact, to 

 enter upon a long and learned discourse 

 and kick up such a lot of dust and be- 

 muddle my subject to such an extent that 

 you would have to catch on to my coat- 

 tail in order to follow me. But in this 

 I saw no use. The diseased plants you 

 all have seen enough of; you have had 

 a heart's scald of them — the good ones 

 are all sold. 



Two Varieties to Grow. 



As far as my experience goes, there 

 are only two varieties of lilies worth 

 attempting for Easter, the giganteum 

 and the Formosa lily. To grow in quan- 

 tity and to produce good, even results, 

 there is at present only one lily, the 

 giganteum. This is a variety almost per- 

 fect. It comes true to its name; for 

 health it is all that could be desired. 

 This year out of 13,000 bulbs I did not 

 have to throw out ten plants from dis- 

 ease, but as far as health goes I can 

 give the Formosa an equally good char- 

 acter. 



Now to get down to business, the grow- 

 ing of lilies for Easter, let us suppose 

 there is only one variety, the giganteum. 

 The first essential is to get good bulbs. 

 I do not think it makes any difference 

 from whom you procure them; any house 

 of repute can supply you. My bulbs 

 this year came in three separate lots. I 

 saw no difference; they were all in per- 

 fect condition. Just as soon as you re- 

 ceive your bulbs get them potted. 



A New Way to Pot. 



I have a way of potting that may in- 

 terest you, as I never knew anyone else 

 to pot in the same way. It is a quick 

 and cheap way of doing what vroxxld. 

 often, in the ordinary way of potting, 

 be a slow and worrisome job, especially 

 when you grow in quantity. A few days 

 before we receive our bulbs. wiB have a 

 large space cleared on the ground near 

 the soil pile. We then cover this space 

 with 2,000 to 2,500 empty 6-inch pots, 

 say twenty to twenty-five pots wide to 



■ 100 long ; then have a man fill the pots 

 about two-thirds full of soU. We are 

 then re^dy for the bulbs. When the 

 bulbs arrive, another 2,000 to 2,500 pots 

 are placed on the floor. The bulb cases 

 are then opened and sorted, selecting all 

 the best bulbs in the case, the cullings 

 being kept separate. The good bulbs are 

 for growing on in 6-inch pots; the cull- 

 ings we place two bulbs in a pot. Then 



A oaoer by Henry I. Fanst, Merlon. Pa., 



■ read before the Florists' Oub of Philadelphia 

 April 5. 1910. 



we take a 16-foot board to, place upon 

 the top of the pots to stand, or rather, 

 kneel upon, and start to plant, two men 

 planting and two following up to fill 

 the pots with soil. 



In filling the pots we throw plenty of 

 soil on top, leveling it with the back of 

 a rake. In this way we have often been 

 able to use up 10,000 pots in three days, 

 and last fall we did 10,400 pots in three 

 days. 



I think you will, acknowledge this to 

 be a much more expeditious way of get- 

 ting your lilies potted than the usual 

 way of potting at a bench. 



Forcing. 



The lilies now being potted, all the 

 work of selecting the bulbs and -plant- 

 ing being done at a minimum cost by two 



Til* Bdltor !• pleased 

 wben a Bea«S«r 

 presanta hit Idea* 

 on any subjeot traatad In 



tVP^ 



Aa-axpartanaa !■ the best 

 teaoher, so do we 

 leam fastest by an 

 axcbanBa of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 are brouBbt out 

 by discussion. 



Oood penmaDBhip. spellinE snd 

 Krsmmsr, tbouRh deeirsble, sre not 

 necesssry. Write as yoa would talk 

 when doing your beat. 



WK SHALL BC GLAD 

 TO HKAR VBOM TOU 



laboring men and not interfering at all 

 with our regular work, the bulbs are 

 now ready to wheel inside to be placed 

 under a bench. It is just as well to 

 leave .^jtbem outside, covering carefully 

 and bringing in later, or at your con- 

 venience. We mostly leave ours out un- 

 til we are rid of the chrysanthemums, 

 although it does not hurt to bring them 

 in at once if it suits your convenience 

 to do so. We always like to have our 

 ■lUies inside on the bench by December 

 15, and that reminds me of the great 

 difference in forcing a lily for Easter. 



Years ago, when we commenced grow- 

 ing lilies, we grew Harrisii and got our 

 bulbs in August or early September. We 

 would pot at once and have them two 

 or three inches high when brought inside, 

 but we always had trouble in getting 



them in bloom for Easter. Of late years, 

 since the Japanese bulbs have been 

 grown, although we do not get them until 

 November, and often late November, we 

 have no trouble, although, as in this 

 year, we often are needlessly anxious. 



■ Now we come to the growing. We al- 

 ways start the lilies off at a cool tem- 

 perature and hold them in this tem- 

 perature according to the date of Eas- 

 ter. The longer they stay at a cool tem- 

 perature in the early stage, the better. 

 After we see they are well rooted and 

 starting to grow, the temperature can be 

 increased up to any reasonable extent, 

 untU they show evidence of making buds; 

 then you had better go slow. From the 

 time that they start to make bud to the 

 time the bud is well developed is what 

 might be called the critical period; 

 stunted plants or blasted buds may easily 

 be your lot. All that can be said of this 

 period is to exercise the greatest care. 



Heat and the Hose. 



In growing a lily for Easter t^e credit 

 is due to two people, the fireman and the 

 man at the hose. There is no plant that 

 loves syringing more than does a lily, 

 yet no plant resents more quickly an 

 oversupply of water at the roots. On a 

 bright day I often syringe two or three 

 times, and Lave frequently at night gone 

 into the houses and given them a good 

 syringing, wetting down the paths, and 

 also the steam pipes. I think syringing 

 is very beneficial in growing lilies, es- 

 pecially if you have an apparatus for 

 heating your water. We have an ar- 

 rangement for tempering the water that 

 enables us to have a constant flow of 

 water at a temperature of 70 degrees and 

 upwards. This water heater is a simple 

 apparatus; anyone who uses steam heat 

 could, at the expense of a few dollars, 

 so equip himself. 



After a Uly is in condition to stand it, 

 I believe the quicker it is grown the bet- 

 ter, only, of course, remembering to 

 gauge the growth and development ac- 

 corfing to the date for Easter. 



As far as growing lilies for Easter, I 

 must say this year was one calculated to 

 try men's souls. We did not get our 

 bulbs until November 18, and, on account 

 of the late chrysanthjemums, could not 

 get them on the benches until December 

 24. Out of 10,000 pots, I do not believe 

 twenty-five showed growth above the soil. 

 Then came the month of anxiety and 

 worry. How slowly they seemed to growT 

 How quickly the weeks flew by! A con- 

 stant fluctuation between hope and fear; 

 cloudy weather seemed our portion, and 

 still the few short weeks we had to Eas- 

 ter were being rapidly counted off. 

 "Eight more weeks," we anxiously said 

 to ourselves; then seven, then six, then 

 five. 



How Loag Does It Take ? 



It is usually calculated that it takes 

 six weeks for a lily flower to develop 

 from the time the bud first shows. It 

 can be done in less. I would prefer to 

 have six weeks to do it in, rather than 

 attempt to do it in four, yet it can be 

 done in four. Just to satisfy myself how 

 long it would take, or rather how quickly 

 a lily could be brought into bloom, this 

 year I marked a few plants. 



February 22 I selected a few plants, 

 marking them * ' No buds in sight. ' * Feb- 

 ruary 25 buds could be seen on several 

 and two days later all showed bud. We 

 were then running a night temperature 

 of 70 degrees, or a little over, letting the 

 day temperature with sunshine run high- 



