24 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 11, 1897, 
||ints for ||mateurs. 
Retarding Lilies of the Yalley.—Most amateur 
gardeners know of the practice so commonly put in 
force of forcing Lilies of the Valley for the purpose 
of supplying cut flowers at various seasons of the 
year, but to many of them the idea of retarding the 
plants with a view to the more easy timing of the 
period of blooming comes as a surprise. Two or 
three amateurs to whom we have mentioned the fact 
received it in this way, and the return question 
invariably was " how long is it since such a system 
was invented." For the benefit of our readers who 
are of the same mind it may be stated that the idea 
is not a new one, although it is only of late years 
that it has been put into extensive practice. Even 
now it is not at all common, and, to quote the words 
of an eminent grower, is not generally understood, 
and less believed in by the amateur gardener. 
The whole subject is a most interesting and im¬ 
portant one — interesting because it is a break away 
from the methods of culture usually employed, and 
important because the results thus obtained are 
brilliant successes. An article on the forcing of 
Lily of the Valley that appeared in the last issue of 
The Gardening World gave the method of quick 
forcing, but did not deal with the question of re¬ 
tarded crowns. Now a very little thought will con¬ 
vince one that under ordinary conditions it would 
not be possible to have Lilies of the Valley in bloom 
all through the year, for while the crowns or clumps 
would remain dormant through the winter and early 
spring, if placed in cold frames, just as their relatives 
out-of-doors do, they would break into growth with 
the advent of the warm weather, and no amount of 
shading or of keeping cool in the ordinary way would 
prevent the flowers from opening. By placing the 
plants in a frame having a north aspect, airing them 
freely, and keeping them shaded from all the sun's 
direct rays an extension of a few weeks in the flower¬ 
ing period may be obtained. The remainder of the 
summer would thus be a blank. In September and 
October again it would not be possible to get ordi¬ 
nary crowns in bloom, for they would not have com¬ 
pleted their growth in time. 
Here it is that the retarding process proves itself to 
be of such value, and it is by taking advantage of it 
that modern cultivators have been able to do such 
great things with the popular Lily. Wiiting on the 
subject quite recently, Mr. T.Jannoch, of King's 
Lynn, Dersingham, Norfolk, our largest, and one of 
our most successful cultivators, said :—" As in most 
things connected with horticulture, Nature has here 
taught us a lesson. I, for one, took Nature as my 
guide, and yet, 25 years ago, when I mentioned to an 
eminent horticulturist that horticulture was quite in 
its infancy, and that what we accomplished by heat 
then would one day be done by cold, I was laughed 
at. My words have already come true to a certain 
extent, but this is only the commencement. Every 
plant that has a natural period of rest may be re¬ 
tarded, and already we are treating in this way 
Liliums, Spiraeas, Lilacs, Gladioli, and hosts of 
other things, besides Lily of the Valley." 
Mr. Jannoch grows an enormous quantity of Lilies 
of the Valley, and retards the crowns by placing 
them in a huge refrigerator, from whence they are 
taken as they are required. The refrigerator is 
opened as seldom as possible for obvious reasons, the 
1st and the 15th of each month being the days set 
apart for so doing. In the summer and autumn 
months there is absolutely no skill needed to obtain 
bloom from these crowns. All that is required is to 
pot or box them up as soon as they have arrived at 
their destination. No artificial heat of any kind 
should be given, particularly bottom heat. Do not 
keep them in the dark, but expose them to the full 
light at once, no matter whether they are placed in 
a frame, in the greenhouse, or in an ordinary dwell¬ 
ing room. In a space of two or three weeks, under 
ordinary conditions, they will have opened their 
flowers, and developed fine vigorous foliage, and this 
without practically any trouble at all, whilst the 
expense is not a very formidable matter. 
In late autumn, winter, and early spring, when 
temperatures all round are very low, artificial heat 
will be a necessity, but even then it will be found 
that crowns which have been frozen for a time start 
away better than others which have not been sub¬ 
jected to the low temperature. 
Very few amateur growers have the proper con¬ 
veniences for freezing the crowns themselves. Those 
who can boast of the possession of an icehouse may 
easily do it, however, by potting up the crowns in 
the usual way, and simply storing them away in the 
icehouse, on the top of the ice. In their natural 
condition all Lilies of the Valley growing outside 
must be frozen through and through during periods 
of frosty weather, and the degree of cold which they 
are called upon to bear must in the majority of cases 
be much greater than they would be subjected to in 
the icehouse, for the clumps lie close to the surface 
of the soil — a fact which any amateur may easily 
verify for himself. When the ground is covered 
by a coating of snow, on the other hand, a sort of 
blanket is spread over the plants which shields them 
from a good deal of the rigour of the cold. 
In a few words, therefore, the system of retarding 
may be summed up. It is but taking advantage of 
the fact that the plants need an annual rest, which 
is given to them in the course of nature during the 
winter time, when low temperatures prevail. During 
this stage in their life's history the plants are capable 
of withstanding easily enough a degree of cold that 
would kill them at any other time. The skilful gar¬ 
dener steps in, and simply lengthens the resting 
period, by extending the conditions that are asso¬ 
ciated with it, and which in reality have caused it. 
While it would not be possible to keep the crowns in 
a dormant state for aa indefinite period in the same 
way as the fabulous mummy wheat, still no evil 
results accrue from a moderate extension of the rest¬ 
ing period such as Mr Jannoch and other growers 
induce in the cases of the Lily of the Valley, and the 
other plants which have been mentioned. 
Before leaving the subject of th e discussion we may 
with advantage speak of the value of the plants for 
decorative purposes after they have been forced into 
bloom. At this stage they may be easily transferred 
from the pots or boxes in which they have been 
forced, and employed to fill ornamental receptacles 
of all kinds. They should be gently shaken out of 
the soil and replanted in cocoanut fibre. In this 
way the dinner table may be made to look magnifi¬ 
cent. A capital plan that we have seen adopted 
with marked success is to procure cone-shaped wire 
cages of about a foot in height. These may be lined 
with moss and filled with cocoanut fibre. The 
bottom should consist of a piece of board cut to fit 
so that the rim of the cone at the bottom rests on and 
is supported by the board. In such a contrivance 
the dormant crowns may be placed if desired, and 
forced thus. This plan, however, has the disadvan¬ 
tage that the plants all draw up straight, and thus we 
prefer to force the crowns in the ordinary way and 
furnish the wire frames with them afterwards. This 
idea may furnish individual taste with hints for other 
contrivances for dwelling room or table decoration. 
Hanging baskets, similarly furnished, will at once 
suggest themselves to some of our readers as likely 
to be effective. We remember only to have seen 
one of these, but it was at least a marked success, 
and the wonder is that the idea has not been exten¬ 
sively copied. Probably it arises from the fact that 
not a few think that Lilies of the Valley, Hyacinths, 
and other forced flowers of that class will not trans¬ 
plant. We trust that such persons have by this 
time found out their mistake.— Rex. 
- -K 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
Anyone may give additional or more explanatory answers 
to questions that have already appeared. Those who desire 
their communications to appear on this page should write 
“ Amateurs' Page " on the top of their letters. 
Lilium auratum.—A bulb of Lilium auratum that is 
growing in a border along with a miscellaneous 
collection of plants has this year produced a large 
head of rather small blooms, there being no fewer 
than ninety-three flowers on the one head. Is this a 
common occurrence? The bulb when purchased 
was a large one, but not larger than some others 
which have borne only five or six flowers . —Uriah 
Heep. 
Fasciation of the flower stem, such as has occurred 
in this case, is comparatively common in Lilium 
auratum, for scarcely a season passes but we hear of 
several instances. Ninety-three flowers seem a lot 
to have on one head, but it is not by any means the 
record, as we occasionally hear of heads carrying 
well into the second hundred of flowers. 
Solanum jaaminoides is a native of South 
America, Querist, having been introduced from thence 
in or about the year 1838. It will make a capital 
rafter or pillar plant for your greenhouse. 
Lifting Chrysanthemums — F. N. O. : You may, 
if you wish, lift Madame des Granges Chrysanthe¬ 
mums from the open and pot them up for the green¬ 
house with perfect safety. Keep the plants closely 
shaded for at least a week after lifting. All early- 
flowering Chrysanthemums may be treated in the 
same way, but it rarely pays to treat the later flower¬ 
ing ones thus. 
Celsia Arcturus is the name of the plant, a speci¬ 
men of which you send, Geo. IV. It is a very pretty 
and easily grown greenhouse plant, and a native of 
Candia. Propagation is easy enough. Seed sown 
in heat in spring will produce plants which will 
flower the following autumn. Cuttings of the young 
growths also strike freely. These may be taken now. 
Put four or five of them in a thumb pot, and pluDge 
in a gentle hotbed. When rooted, pot the little 
plants off singly into thumb pots, which size will 
carry them through the winter until spring, when a 
further shift may be given. Use a mixture of equal 
parts of loam and peat with sand. Small flowering 
specimens in 60-sized pots are better and more useful 
than larger ones. 
Freesias— M. F.: If the leaves of the Freesias are 
beginning to show above the fibre it is quite time 
they were uncovered. An inch of fibre was too 
shallow a covering ; we should have given at least 
2 in. or 3 in. 
Ardisia crenulata alba is not so frequently grown 
as the type, S. Hardy, but you may give it the same 
treatment. For our own part we think the red 
berries of the species more handsome than the white 
ones of the variety, but tastes differ. 
Chinese Primulas.—Please tell me why my 
Chinese Primulas are looking yellow. They are 
standing in a cold frame facing to the south, and on 
a bottom of ashes. The plants appear healthy but 
for the yellowness of the foliage .—Charles Osmond. 
We think the plants have been too much exposed 
to the sunlight, and that this is the cause of the 
yellow foliage. You must keep them lightly 
shaded on bright days until the end of the month. 
You do not say anything about manures, but we 
assume you are not giving any to them yet. The 
soil will be quite rich enough for the present. 
Tomatos .—James C. : Cut off the tops of the 
plants, and remove portions of the leaves where they 
are shading the fruit. In the two or three weeks of 
September during which we hope to be free from 
frost the fruit should make considerable progress. 
Outdoor Tomatos are at the mercy of the weather, 
and you must do everything both by stopping the 
growths, and by feeding to hurry the fruit along. 
Plums.— Marrow : We consider it a waste of 
valuable wall space to plant Victoria Plums against 
a south wall. The site is too hot and dry, and we 
are not surprised that you complain of the fruit being 
mealy. 
Stacking Loam.— Nathan : The turves should be 
stacked with the grassy side downwards. If desired 
a layer of fresh cow manure may be placed at inter¬ 
vals. When the stack is completed pat over it some 
cover calculated to throw off the rain. Loam thus 
stacked will be fit for use in a year. 
Berried Solanums.—I purchased a number of 
seedlings of the common berried Solanum and 
planted them out of doors at the beginning of the 
summer. They have flowered, but there are no 
berries on them. Will it be aDy use lifting them in 
the hope that they will produce berries after they 
have been potted up.— Anxious. 
You may lift the piants about the middle of the- 
month if you choose, but if they have not set berries. 
already it is rather problematical as to whether they 
will do so this year. Both Solanum Capsicastrum . 
and S.Pseudo-cap icum may be raised from seed easily 
enough, but such seedlings do not all fruit equally 
well, and hence when you depend upon seedlings to . 
furnish a slock of berried plants, it is advisable to 
plant enough of them in order that you may be able , 
to select those most freely berried. 
