The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-03-24
LILIES OFTHE VALLEY.
How Florists Pretraet Their season
Of Blooming.

There is an interesting and curious
trade between Germany and this
country in the lily OF the valley.
Many thousands Of those lily pips, "
as they are called, the roots, each
with a single tight-wrapped bud, are
imported at this season earlier and
later. As the habit OF the plant is
well known, and it may be counted
upon TO flower in from nineteen to
twenty-five days after the pip has
been planted in sand and placed in a
forcing house, the importers COM
mC.aly make their contracts in ad-
vance with florists, and order in ac-
/ cordance with these contracts. The
pips come over in the holds Of the
| great steamers, twenty-five punched
together, tied with vegetable fibre
and wrapped in moss. They are thus
delivered TO the florists, and then
transferred to the forcing house. In
five or six weeks from the time when
the meaningless looking pips have
left their native German soil the ex-
qusite spray Of dropping white bells,
and the sheaf Of green leaves is adorn-
ing the jacket OF some young woman
as she trips down Broadway
When the pips are first planted in
sand they must be placed over steam
pipes for the sake Of the bottom heat,
and kept continuously in a high tenn
perature until the blossom is pretty
well advanced. They are then re-
moved from the pipes in order that
the time Of blooming may be prolong-
ed. They are ordinarily planted in
rough, shallow pine boxes, and spray
after spray is clipped off as it is need
ed for bouquets, or roots and all are
transferred in clumps for potting.
The plants in the original pine boxes
are much less attractive than the
blossom when made into a bouquet.
Many thousands of these lilies are
cultivated in the open air. They
may be set out just as they arrive
from Germany at almost any time Of
year, and they resist frost with per-
feet hardness. The outdoor lilies
bloom in the spring, and continue
the season for the florists after the
crop Of the forcing houses has been
exhausted. When these out door
bloomers are exhausted, the florists
have another resource in reserve.
Thousands Of lily pips, on arriving
from Germany, are at once placed in
cold storage, and kept there at low
temperature for weeks or perhaps for
months. The development of the
plants is thus arrested, and some
weeks before the time when the out
door bloomers will have been exhaust
ed, part of the pips on cold storage
are brought forth and either forced
indoors or permitted to develop nor
mally in the open air. In this way
the season is further extended.
Florists find that the lily Of the val
ley is most difficult to manage for
autumn towering. The period of de-
velopment is then at least twenty
days, and the flowers are upon the
whole less satisfactory than in win
ter and spring.
Beautiful as the flower is it is not
expensive. The pips may be bought
at retail in November at from 30 to
40 cents per dozen, or about Sl.5O
per hundred. The price to the inn
porters is far below this, and the rate
to florists is such that there is a hand
some profit in the plants when the
cut flowers retail aS low as five cents
per spray. As each pip produces
only one set of blossoms and the per-
centage Of loss is reasonably uniform,
florists know pretty we'll what to
count on in forcing the lily Of the
valley New York Sun.