492 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



information read: Take first crown alter 

 August 15. ho would not have blundered. 

 If a growi r does not plant until per} 

 late ami he wants late flowers he never 

 takes the crown bud, but encourages the 

 to keep in 8 soft growing rnn.li 

 tion as Ion- as 1 ,ossii,:o a. nl everj bud 

 is rubbed off until he sees by the i luster 



would have done I anse tlmy have I a 



grown differently and are kept verj I 



and consequently mature slower and bet- 

 ter. When crown buds and terminal 

 buds are taken on the same bati b of 

 plants, the terminal bud will be rushed 

 too much if the house is kept sufficiently 

 warm for the proper development of 

 the crown bud, which requires a night 

 temperature of 45 to 50 degrees. 



How the term of "crown" bud orig- 

 inated I have never been able to find 

 out, though it is as good a name as any 

 so long as it is generally understood. 

 A crown bud is always known by the 

 third or fourth growth shoots that ap- 

 pear around it and which, if not removed 

 when in a very small state, soon rob the 

 bud of its sustenance and spoil it. Where 

 the crown bud is showing too early it is 

 removed, and the best of these growths 

 is retained to go on and grow along, 

 and this in due season produces another 

 bud, crown or terminal as the case may 

 be. 



The terminal bud is so called because 

 it is the terminus of growth and instead 

 of having the growth shoots clustered 

 round it has several small buds surround- 

 ing the larger central one. This large 

 center bud must always be kept because 

 the plant will not make any further 

 growth and if the bud be rubbed off as 

 the previous ones were no others will form 

 and the crop will be a failure. I have 

 tried to be explicit in these remarks, 

 showing how to tell the difference be- 

 tween the buds, because every year I 

 get considerable correspondence from 

 people mi the subject which shows that 

 there is much confusion in the lay mind 

 as to which is which. The expert grower 

 scans these notes on buds and perhaps 

 wonders who in this twentieth century 

 doesn't know a bud when he sees it, and 

 yet many people not so well posted can- 

 not understand the crown bud, because 



the plant if left to itself grows on and 

 on until the flo.wer is finally produced 

 from the terminal bud. It is just one 

 instance where man's interference im- 

 proves on nature. 



The great bulk of the midseason 

 \arieiies come till right from the first 

 bud produced after the 20th of August, 

 that is to say in these northern latitudes 

 where the plants are grown under glass. 

 There are seme few exceptions. Colonel 

 Appleton, for instance, not because the 

 flower will not develop from an August 

 crown, but because a later bud to my 

 mind produces a much more pleasing 

 Sower, the earlier bud being so crowded 

 with petals that the flower is rough and 

 shapeless. The "topknot" so familiar 

 to growers of Appleton does not appear 

 when the later bud is used. 



It used to be our practice to use a 

 late bud for all the pinks, but varieties 

 are changing and such varieties as 

 Lady Harriet, Mrs. Coombes and Mrs. 

 Barkley produce just as good colored 

 flowers on crown as terminals with the 

 added advantage of coming very much 

 larger. Many of the varieties of Eu- 

 ropean and Australian origin are of lit- 

 tle use taken on any but crown buds. 

 Nellie Pockett, which is a great favorite, 

 is useless from the terminal, while the 

 crown bud produces a lovely flower. The 

 new- Mrs. T. W. Pockett is much the 

 same, this being one of the most ex- 

 quisite varieties ever sent out. On all 

 of the Australian novelties which created 

 such a sensation last fall the buds should 

 be secured now as early as possible. 



The operation of disbudding should be 

 done in the early morning while the 

 young shoots are soft and brittle. Then 

 they break off easily without injuring 

 the tiny bud. Hold the stem close up 

 to the bud with the one hand and pick 

 out the shoots with the thumb and fore- 

 finger of the other. All of these shoots 

 should bo removed at the earliest pos- 

 sible moment so that the energies of the 

 plant tire kept concentrated directly on 

 the bud. 



Personally I always use the thumb nail, 

 but perhaps there is no need for the aver- 

 age grower to do such fine work as that. 

 Seme growers leave a reserve shoot for 

 a few days to make sure that the bud is 

 perfect, but ordinarily there is not much 

 need of this precaution unless grasshop- 

 pers happen to be plentiful. They de- 



Convention Exhibit of L. Baumann & Co., Chicago. 



light to behead the bud or, in sportive 



u 1, "ill playfully nibble away half of 



it and then the grower later on finds to 

 his disgust that his flowers are coming 

 one-sided. 



As the crown bud swells it develops 

 into a hard, husky-looking lump, that 

 looks like making anything but a fine 

 flower, but patience will be richly re- 

 warded. 



Some varieties, like Eaton, open up 

 and have a cup shaped hollow in the 

 center. With these varieties spraying 

 overhead must be discontinued early or 

 the water will lodge in the bud and cause 

 it to rot, but common sense only need be 

 exercised in their management. 



Brian Boru. 



CARNATION NOTES-WEST. 



Last year I said in these notes that 

 after you finish planting in your carna- 

 tions you should pot up from 5 to 10 

 per cent as many plants as you benched 

 so that you can replace those that may 

 die out. I hope you did so last year 

 and if you did, you likely did the same 

 this year. No doubt you remember how 

 unsatisfactory it was when you tried 

 to replant a plant here and there 

 direct from the field. They suf- 

 fer just as much as the whole 

 bench did when you first planted 

 and to run around and dot your 

 beds with sheets of paper every morn- 

 ing and replace them every few min- 

 utes on windy days is no pleasant job. 

 After the plants are in pots from two 

 to four weeks you plant them into the 

 beds here and there and they will go 

 right on growing and never wilt a leaf. 

 Of some varieties you may not lose 1 

 per cent, while on others you may lose 

 as much as 10 per cent, and after you 

 become acquainted with the varieties 

 you will be able to tell pretty nearly 

 what you are likely to need to replant. 

 Of course it will depend as much on the 

 soil and the handling in general, but 

 you will know which varieties trans- 

 plant easily and which ones usually suf- 

 fer a great deal. 



This has been almost an ideal carna- 

 tion season with us. The nights have 

 been cool and the days only moderate- 

 ly warm. After a rather too dry May 

 we had a moist June which caused the 

 young plants to make a good, strong 

 growth. July was rather dry again, 

 which caused the growth to mature well 

 and all during planting time it re- 

 mained rather dry and the plants grew 

 slowly and kept in good transplanting 

 condition up to the present date. We 

 had practically finished planting by the 

 10th and never before have our plants 

 taken hold so quickly and so uniformly. 

 Here and there a plant is gone, but I 

 can safely say that not 1 per cent has 

 gone wrong. Those planted first are be- 

 ginning to shoot up now and looking 

 over tin- beds you can see quite a few 

 buds almost ready to open and unless 

 the plants happen to be undersized we 

 will let them come, as there is sale for 

 them even now. 



All the shade has been washed from 

 the glass over these and all the air pos- 

 sible is given them to encourage a strong, 

 sturdy growth. As the roots strike out 

 they will enjoy a more liberal supply of 

 water and in fact you can water the 

 whole bed from now on. 



About this time it is a good idea to 

 stir a light coat of lime or wood ashes 

 into the soil to help keep it sweet, and 



