The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-17
LILIES OF THE VALLEY.
How Florists Force Their Growth and Pro
tract Their Season Of Blooming.

How Florists Force Their Growth and Pro.
F, tract Their Season Of Blooming.
There is an interesting and curious
trade between Germany and this coun-
! try in the lily of the valley. Many
thousands of these lily ''pips," as they
| are called, the roots. each with single
| tight-wrapped bud. are imported. 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 forcing house, the i'm
porters commonly make their contracts
in advance with florists, and order in
accordance with these contracts. The
pips come over in the holds of
the great steamers, twenty-five
punched together, tied with a vege-
table fiber 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 exquisite spray of dropping white
bells and the sheaf of green leaves is
adjoining 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,
perature until the blossom is pretty
well advanced. They are then removed
from the pipes in order that the time
OF blooming may be prolonged. They
are ordinarily planted in rough, shall
low pine boxes and spray after spray
is clipped off as it is needed for bou-
quets, or roots and all are transferred
in clumps for potting. The plants in
the original pine boxes are much less
into a bouquet.
Many thou sands Of these lilies are
cultivated in the open air. They may
be set out just as they arrive from Ger
many at almost any time of year, and
they resist frost with perfect hardi-
ness. 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 outdoor boomers are exhausted,
the florists have another resource in
reserve. Thousands of lily pips, on ar
irving from Germany, are at once
placed in cold storage, and kept there
at low temperature, for weeks or per-
haps for months. The development of
the plants is thus arrested, and some
weeks before the time when the out
door boomers will have been exhaust
ed, part of the pips on cold storage are
brought forth and either forced in
doors or permitted to develop normal
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
than in winter and spring.
Beautiful as the flower is it is not ex-
pensive. The pips may be brought at
retail in November at from thirty to
forty cents per dozen, or about one dol
lar and half per hundred. The price
to the importers is far below this, and
the rate to florists is such that there is
a handsome profit in the plants when
the cut flowers retail as low as five
cents per spray. As each pip pro-
duces only one set of blossoms, and the
percentage of loss is reasonably uni
form, florists know pretty well what to
count on in forcing the lily of the val
ley.-N. Y. Sun.