New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-12
FLOWERS IN PARIS.
-.,,ou GARDENS NEAR, FROM FAR PROV
ENCE AND FROM HOT HOUSES ALL
THE YEAR.
Paris, June 1.

~, street wear. ParlS is To-Day a Neri'ap" ivy
- flowers No Nation has done more for the scleh-
.'ao advancement of floral culture than France
,,s discoveries in horticulture and the increased
-.urood facilities and improved manner of trans
.-,at;on in the last ten years Paris owes its per-
p',ual rSgn of flowers. From May until No
Yr.rnher il supplies it's own market. The rest OF
,so year it depends upon Provence. The city
hos four hundred. gardeners. They are dlvloeu
80 two classes: open air and dollhouse Guilt
a,or The former (bourgeoise) cater 10 the
ali markets the streets, while the latter tscien-
siac cultivators) address the most exclusive pa
.,ons of the trade. The open air horticulturls's
ssek the flowers and the tools best adapted 10
choir resources, those which will yield most aoun-
dantly. One chooses the pink another the dahha'
Tho beconia or the chrysanthemum. Each plant
has its character exigencies and temperament each
gardener his speciality. Herein is the ST.
cret of the abundance, the perfection, OF french
horticulture To forced culture, however, Paris
OWES its floral supremacy.
Let us 90 first to the homes of the humolest
producers. They are a numerous popuia"oh'
Their implements are rude, their Investment
precarious A hotbed frame and a straw mat
are their stock-in-trade. Gardeners, sons OF
gardeners their knowledge of weather and Tune,
their subtle observations are based on haDlt ana
tradition "A population honest as that OF The sea,
which depends upon time and sky ana oeheVeS In
Providence. these humble gardeners, during a
plentiful rain following dry spell, may he heard
whispering TO the hOtbed sashes 1t rains hun
dred sous!n Suspicious of new processes, progress
never touches them Their life in winter is severe.
To these humble gardeners Paris owes the invasion
of bulbs of sonorous color which, in their little
pots. rutiled in white paper and pictureSquely
ba
delight the eye at the end of March or April.
The master of forced culture is NJ II. l.. de Viii
MORN. He estimates between four and five hun
dred gardeners devoted to forced culture They play
q great role in supplying the rich population OF
Paris. They are the superior part of the pro-
fession In the vicinity of the capital are twenty
producers of forced ilacs fifteen of roses, dozen
devoted to dubious plants, fifteen that cultivate
the fern, five who make a speciality of foliage
plants ten of the camellia, twenty of the azalea,
ten of the costly orchid, while one furnishes
orange-blossoms gathered from the tree in all
weather and at all hours
The process by which flowers are forced is very
interesting The heated process agitates and
advances the blOssoming of plant while the
forced method violates and eXasperates it, In
giving birth TO a flower the forced plant forfeits
its life. Needless TO say that forced flowers are
the luxury of the rich. The price TO produce
will ever keep them beyond the reach of the
masses. The operation is a French discovery
dating from the beginning of the century. The
discoverer was NJ. Matthew, a florist of Belle
ville formerly the country of lilacs. The centre
Of forced lilacs to-day is at Vitry-sur-Seine. In
this single district go hectares are consecrated
to the culture of plants necessary for forceage
These plants do not blossom until the fifth OF
o;0bt A civ IF nj (
operated at time and it leaves for forceage q
million plants. The vulgar lilac-the lilac OF
Morly-with veined flowers, is mos
susceptible TO forceage. The operation LAST
from twenty to thirty five days Nine months
they are subjected to heat, and six gather
ings are made in year. The lighthouses in which
the hlacs forced are buried in darkness. The
color, however. does not depend absolutely upon
the absence of light. The principal color cannot
be produced except between certain limits of ten.
perature The complete suppression of light turLs
q highly colored plant into white lilac and the
graGation of the light produces different de-
grees of color Forceage is gradually becoming
more general, and the hunblest florist, the market
gardeners. TO utilize the heat of their primitive
lighthouses dig the earth three feet under their hot
bed frames out of the reach of the light and there
by process which astonshes they simply deposit
root, and obtain in this way white lilacs Dainty
and fragile are these forced Partisan llacs, but
wanting in the rich odor of the lilac familiar to
our New-Engand byways.
The rose has always been forced. 1t requires
less effort than the lilac. All varieties of roses
will not yield TO the operation. The most apt
is La Refine, which always illumes the florists
windows The great specialists place La France
first in quality. Rich amateurs prefer il, and ii
is always in demand. The Neil ard JacqueminOt,
with their powerful color hold their own.
The lily-of-the valley has an enormous develop
ment and constitutes a fruitful industry. The
revenue from the sale of this dainty blossom in
1889 was estimated at $4,000. The forced
flower is not the lily of the woods, but cult
waited species that Genes from Berlin and Erfurt,
the great floral centre of Germany. The size
of the flower and the vigOr of it's foliage yields
readily 10 forceage and reach remarkable develop
ment. Partisan forceurs receive it in dry root.
1t is heated from October until April and de-
velopes with wonderful rapidity. The dry root,
submitted to forceage, flowers twenty days later
OF all cultivated plants it is the most rapid and
simple. The root is not even planted III the
earth. IL can be forced IN moss.
The violet of Paruse, useful for the toilet, per-
feet for a gift, always TO be offered, always TO be
accepted remains costly. From Toulouse and
BOurg-la- Rhine comes the violet TO the winter
markets of Paris. The sale of mignonette is
constant, the trade sure. The plant is heated
during the three vigorous months, and the rest
of the year it is concealed under the hot-bed
frame. In the culture of the orchid Paris was
once behind London and America. The problem
has been solved The orchid once mystery
rarity, a privilege, is now sold as a
win wi no
it is offered in a natural bamboo cup. Last
winter the orchid frequently appeared as a
boutOnnere. The names of the different varieties
are horrible, but the flower is marvellous, the
shades fndescribable The orchid has all tenn
peraments, grows in all regions, the coolest and
the warmest IL is found in its natural state in
the torrid zone, on the banks of the Amazon,
in Bolivia and the region of the equator The
nrinin az nnnh rnllN dnfnrminns its 1emnera-