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34 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Ai'iiii. 0, 1911. 



SEASONABLE NOTES ON LILIES. 



Forcing Out the Easter Flowers. 



But little more than a week remains 

 between now and Easter. The spring, 

 while moderately clear, has been cold 

 and plants have not advanced nearly so 

 rapidly as during the same period a 

 year ago. No matter how dear the 

 skies are, if there is an average tem- 

 perature 'i to 10 degrees lower during 

 the day, and cold nights, flowers wiU 

 not develop on the lilies as with warm- 

 er weather. If the buds are not now 

 showing white, they are late and want 

 all the heat you can give them. It is 

 woith a little extra effort to try to 

 have at least one flov.er open on a 

 plant, as after Kaster prices are always 

 away down. Give any late plants the 

 warmest liouse you have; 75 degrees at 

 n'ght is too high for the majority of 

 plants, but for laggard lilies it is now 

 a necessity. Spray them freely and 

 bottle up plenty of sun heat in the aft- 

 ernoon and if they can be flowered on 

 time, heat and moisture, with old Sol 's 

 aid, will aceomplsh it. Often we get 

 spells of darkj cold weather near Easter 

 and such weather is distressing to 

 those whose plants are late. All we 

 <-an do under such conditions is to use 

 plenty of fire heat and moisture. 



Making Up Easter Lilies. 



There is always a considerattc sale 

 for largo | ots or pans of E ister lilies. 

 These should be uiaile un be ore IIk" 

 plants liavc too iikuiv flowers ex kukIim!, 



as there is then less probability of 

 their being bruised. Ten-ineh pots 

 with five stalks are often asked for and 

 are effective in churches. It is not 

 necessary to retain all soil about the 

 plants when making them up. Tearing 

 part of it away will not hurt them or 

 arrest the development of the flowers 

 in the least. Soak well with water 

 after making up the pots and do not 

 expose these plants to bright sunshine, 

 which might cause gome of the lower 

 foliage to take on a golden hue. It 

 may 1 e asked, why not use these large 

 pots for the bulbs when they are first 

 j)Ottedf The objections are, first, that 

 the bulbs do not make root so well in 

 l>ots containing a large body of earth, 

 and second, in a batch of lilies it would 

 be something of a novelty to find any 

 four or five bulbs which, if put in the 

 «ame pot, would flower s'multaneously. 

 Keep the pollen masses removed from 

 the flowers and, of course, make a point 

 of seeing that any stems which need 

 sujjports get them and that all pots are 

 scrupulously clean. Plants in flower 

 should have a cold house, pit or cellar; 

 4(1 (legrees at night in a cellar will hold 

 llu'iu in good shape, but even with lilies 

 do not take tlieni direct from 70 to 7') 

 degrees at night to so lov,- a tempera- 

 tuie. 



Lilies for Memorial Day. 



It is rot a long cry from Easter to 

 Aleii.orial day this year, only some six 

 weeks. I'ossibly if Easter were made to 

 occur on a given dav (A|)ril 14 is the 



(!:if(' s'.>lo( tod in F,ii;,^land), it wo;ild be 



A Pot of Good Lilies. 



in many ways an advantage, as these 

 early and late Easters are harassing 

 to the growers of Easter stock. The 

 British Parliament is to consider the 

 recommendations to have Christmas day 

 always come on Monday and Easter day 

 on a stated day, and it is possible' that 

 in a few years these movable feasts will 

 be changed. But to hark back to 

 Memorial day, quite a few lilies are 

 always grown for that holiday, and 

 everything in the flower line sells at 

 that time. It will be possible to give 

 these late lilies a little better bench 

 space, with Easter stock out of the 

 way. They should have their buds 

 peeping by the end of April and they 

 will be all right. If you have only 

 Easter lilies just showing buds, it is 

 better to let them come on naturally, as 

 funeral and other work always calls for 

 a certain number. Any with buds just 

 peeping at Easter can easily be held 

 back tor Memorial day in a cool house. 



LILIES TURNING YELLOW. 



Please advise me what to do in re- 

 gard to my giganteum lilies, as they 

 are turning yellow from the bottom 

 up. They 'w<?rte planted October 29, 

 1910, in (j-inch pots, and I put them in 

 a dark cellar with a temperature of 40 

 degrees. I watered them about every 

 two Aveeks, and when they were about 

 one inch above the ground I put them 

 in .'i greenhouse with a night tempera- 

 ture of 6.5 degrees. Having no stegm 

 heat, I put a large stove in the center 

 of the house. My lilies are now about 

 eight to eighteen inches high. When 

 the pots were well fitted with roots I 

 watered them every day, using a hose. 

 There are some worms in the soil, 

 which I th'uk have something to do 

 with the lilies turning yellow. What 

 is the best manure? I have not tried 

 any as yet. F. W. L. 



Starvation at the roots or an inade- 

 quate water supply may be the cause 

 of your lilies turning yellow. Any 

 worms in the soil will not do a great 

 amount of harm. You can easily get 

 rid of them by giving the plants some 

 lime water. Your treatment of the 

 giganteums seems to have been about 

 right. Spray them quite freely over- 

 head and remember that now, when 

 the pots are full of roots, not one, but 

 two and perhaps three waterings a day 

 may be necessary during clear weather. 

 Sheep manure water is good; so is that 

 obtained from cows. If your plants 

 look starved, water with weak nitrate 

 of soda water — a teaspoonful to a 12- 

 quart can at intervals of five or six 

 days. Two waterings should suffice, 

 but animal liquid manure twice a week 

 will be found helpful. The earliest 

 buds on your lilies should be showing 

 white early in April. If they do not, 

 you are late and must give the plants 

 all possible heat and moisture. 



C. W. . 



TULIPS NOT FLOWERING, 



Last fall I planted a number of tulip 

 bulbs in boxes. I kept them buried out- 

 doors until the first part of December 

 and then put them in a cellar. I brought 

 them to the light from January on, as 

 I needed them. I planted Keizerskroon, 

 Cottage Maid and other varieties, which 

 flowered nicely. 1 also planted a num- 

 ber of Chrysolora, yellow, but nol a 

 bulb flowered. They were planted in 



