Copyright, 1899, by 

 ll.iiliIMM IM Hl.lhlllX. CO., 520-535 Caxton Building. GtllCAGO. 



Vol. IV. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK, JUNE 22, J 899. 



No. 82. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 



Insects. 

 Insects are beginning to get in their 

 fine work and the cares of the mum 

 grower may be said to be fairly undeT 

 way. Black fly is generally the worst 

 pest, but this year it has not been as 

 bad as the yellow fly, which is very 

 numerous and disfigures the young 



tected on that account. We have an- 

 other lively little insect here that I 

 am not bugologist enough to know the 

 name of, but it destroys fly by whole- 

 sale. It is small, of a violet color 

 with two orange stripes. It deserves 

 another, the stripe of good conduct, 

 for I have seen a few of them keep 

 a bench clean for a whole season. 

 Caterpillars are another pest that 



View in the store of Volk & Stewart, Milwaukee, Wis. 



Foliage worse than the black fellow. 

 Being almost the color of the foliage, 

 they are not noticed so easily as black 

 fly, so look carefully right into the tips 

 of the plants. Tobacco in any of its 

 I onus, properly applied, will clean off 

 ;ill the varieties of fly. 



Remember too, that the lady bug 

 'iocs valuable work in the way of 

 keeping down fly, anil should be pro- 



nobly fulfills the Scriptural injunction 

 to increase and multiply. This would 

 seem to be one of their bad years. 

 Begin at the root of the evil and 

 pick the heads off all the butterflies 

 you catch in the houses, before they 

 have lime to lay their eggs. I don't 

 know how many eggs a butterfly lays 

 in a season. A hen is said to lay 

 about 300, but I guess a butterfly can 



give a hen several sittings and win in 

 a walk. The eggs are deposited in a 

 circle on the under side of the leaf. 

 and if you can catch the larvae be- 

 fore they spread over the plant, the 

 damage is slight but keep your eye 

 on them for their appetites are a cau- 

 tion. Every insect that comes along 

 seems to be on the visiting list of the 

 poor old mum, and the length of his 

 stay will be in accordance with the 

 reception you give him. Pretty soon 

 the grasshoppers will be on hand to 

 clean off what foliage the caterpillars 

 left. 



Some of the early planted stock is 

 now "making its first break" as some 

 professionals term it. When this oc- 

 curs rub out the bud. and take up the 

 best of the shoots that appear beneath 

 it It will invariably be found that tin 

 second or third shoot below the bud 

 is the best to keep, because the one 

 i in mediately beneath nearly always, 

 if retained, will make a short growth 

 of several inches and then throw an- 

 other bud. Some varieties, like Mrs. 

 Weeks, make a very long growth be- 

 ime they will throw a bud, while 

 others in the same length of time will 

 make several, which only goes to 

 show that plants, like men, have their 

 individual peculiarities. 



In this torrid weather the plants 

 should be syringed two or three times 

 during the course of the day. Spray 

 over the glass, and paths, and every- 

 where to keep down the temperature. 

 The air should be left on full, night 

 and day, and the doors left open so the 

 breeze can blow right through. So 

 many houses are built without bottom 

 or side ventilation, but we regard it 

 as indispensable in growing mums. 



Plants that are being grown in pots 

 should, if possible, be plunged up to 

 the rims in coal ashes, or some other 

 material of a similar description. This 

 will keep them from drying mil so 

 rapidly; and the roots being kepi cool 

 tin plants do much better ill consi 

 qiieuce. BRIAN BORU. 



