April 28, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



1201 



CARE OF YOUNG STOCK. 



Propagation should be continued rigbt 

 along as fast as good cuttings can be 

 procured, as the main crop of stock 

 should bo all rooted this month. Cut- 

 tings so rooted are nice little stock for 

 planting in June, which is a favorite 

 month with the average ilorist. Many of 

 the best exhibition growers plant in 

 May, rightly claiming that the plants 

 are benefited by a longer growing sea- 

 son, but these growers have their stock 

 already rooted and potted up. The divid- 

 ing line between the exhibition grower 

 and the grower for the cut tlower mar- 

 ket is every year becoming more marked 

 in the east, as the latter cannot afford 

 to compete with the former any more 

 on the exhibition boards. 



More care is necessary from now on 

 in rooting cuttings, because the sun is 

 getting more powerful every day and if 

 the propagating bench is in a position 

 where the sun strikes it at all, shading 

 of some kind is necessary. Much more 

 water, too, is necessary and the cuttings 

 should be frequently syringed to keep 

 them from wilting, as the less a cut- 

 ting wilts the quicker it will root. 



While on the subject of wilting ic 

 may be well to add that it is a very 

 wrong practice, though quite common, 

 to take the cuttings off the old stools and 

 leave them lying around for hours before 

 putting them in the sand. Get off a 

 batch of cuttings, prepare them, and put 

 them in the sand at once. You will then 

 have less cause to complain about your 

 cuttings not rooting good. 



When your cutting has emitted roots 

 half an inch long it is time to get it out 

 of the sand and potted up, because if 

 left too long in the sand the plant gets 

 spindly and drawn up and its constitu- 

 tion is greatly impaired. Begin right, 

 with good cuttings, always do things 

 when they need doing, and the chrysan- 

 themum will be found one of the easiest 

 subjects to handle. 



For a first potting use nothing but a 

 good, fibrous loam, unless it be a little 

 leaf mold or very rotten manure. Bono 

 or any other prepared fertilizer should 

 never be used at this stage, because the 

 plant is not in a condition to use food 

 of that description. I have before now 

 seen cuttings killed by kindness in this 

 respect by young and enthusiastic be- 

 ginners, who were going to show the 

 other fellows how to do things. 



Fire heat should not be used any more 

 now and if you have by chance other 

 things in your house that need heat yet 

 awhile, the best thing to do is to get the 

 chrysanthemums out into a cold frame. 

 I would rather have my plants out in 

 a cold frame at this time than any 

 other place, providing one has a con- 

 scientious man to look after them. They 

 need considerable attention in watering, 

 ventilating and protecting nights from 

 frost, but it is wonderful how they 

 strengthen up and show by their im- 

 proved appearance how they appreciate 

 the change to what is for them more 

 natural surroundings. 



Brian Boku. 



TROUBLE WITH CUTTINGS. 



i am having difiiculty iu rooting my 

 chrysanthemums. The stock plants were 

 wintered under the bench in a cool house 

 and seem to have been in fine shape when 

 started up to make cuttings. They are 

 planted on a bench in good soil, night 

 temperature about 52 degrees. The 

 giowth is slow and when I take off the 

 cuttings they are slow to root, and many 

 do not root at all. Is it because the 

 growth is too hard! We keep the sand 

 wet and the temperature of the house 

 65 to 70 degrees. One of my neighbors 

 tells me to take up the stock plants and 

 plant them all but the tops under ground 

 in rather poor soil, keep warm and water 

 well. He says I will get more sprouts, 

 soft growths which will root well. Is 

 that right? Is there still time to try 

 it? How late can cuttings be taken 

 and get the cut flowers for November 1? 

 I grow all my own flowers and can 't af- 

 ford to be late. Would I better bu; 

 plants than try to root them now? 



A. H. T>. 



It is diiEcult to sav just what the trou- 

 ble is with the stock of A. H. D. He 

 remarks that the stock plants were win- 

 tered under the bench in a cool house, 

 a proceeding that, while often done, is 

 wrong. I have often in these notes 



well as he suggests. I would not follow 

 the advice of his neighbor and bury 

 the plants. Such a proceeding would 

 most probably mean that they would die 

 outright. The weather is getting warm 

 now and if A. H. D. has his old plants 

 well established in the bench and keeps 

 them well watered he will get all the 

 cuttings he needs. Cuttings may be 

 rooted up to the end of July and still 

 flower by November 1, as the flowering 

 period is moie a question of bud selec- 

 tion than of early or late propagation, 

 though if he wants good flowers with a 

 two or three foot stem, plants rooted 

 in May are late enough. If A. H. D. 

 finds himself short of stock at planting 

 time in June he had probably better lay 

 in some young stock, but if the old stock 

 gets to growing well they will produce 

 a great many cuttings next month an(^ 

 he can afford to wait for the present. 

 Brian Boru. 



GRADING MUMS. ' 



Will you kindly tell us the standarcf 

 method of grading chrysanthemums T 

 Anything else pertaining to mum shows 

 will be read with interest. G. N. Co. 



If the G. N. Co. is asking for the 

 standard method of grading chrysanthe- 

 mums for market I would say that there 

 is no fixed standard of grade, as there is 

 with roses, for instance. The liowers arc 

 sold on their merits, the largest flowers, 

 if all other considerations as regards fol- 

 iage, stem, color, etc., are equal, bring- 

 ing the highest prices. I have seen 

 chrysanthemums bring from 1 cent up to 

 50 cents each, wholesale, the difference 

 being entirely one of size and excellence. 



Festival Hall and Cascades, Worlds Fair. 



(The Pair opena on Saturday o( this Week and Closes December l.i 



urged my readers to keep their plants up 

 to the light even though something else 

 had to be thrown out to make room for 

 them. A. H. D. says that "while the 

 plants seemed to be in fine shape when 

 started up, the growth is slow." I have 

 often noticed that stock plants when 

 moved into new soil do not take hold 

 kindly, in fact will sometimes die out- 

 right unless they are made very firm in 

 the soil. A good pounding round the 

 roots with a half brick will perhaps bo 

 time well spent. 



There should be no difficulty in root- 

 ing cuttings in April if the sand is 

 kept moist and the cuttings shaded. The 

 growth is evidently too hard to root 



The letter part of this letter referring 

 to mum shows leads me to tliink that 

 perhaps it is information concerning the 

 judging or disposition of classes in an 

 exhibition that is asked for. If this is 

 the case and your correspondent will 

 tell me just what he wants I will be 

 happy to go into detail with him. 1 

 hope *o have considerable to say in 

 these notes later concerning exhibitions, 

 as I think the subject is one of growing 

 importance to chrysanthemums and 

 chrysanthemum lovers. Brian Boru. 



Milwaukee, Wis. — ^Forest Home Cem- 

 etery, Mr. Currie superintendent, will 

 build three greenhouses this season. 



