March 3, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



257 



NEW CHRYSANTHEMUMS 



(Read before the Morris County Gardeners' and Florists' Society, Feb. 14, 1906, by C. H. Totty.) 



Being the sponsor for so many 'of, 

 the new kinds, in the sense that I am 

 introducing them to the trade, I should 

 have been better pleased had some 

 one else, who could not have been ac- 

 cused of "having an axe to grind,'! 

 essayed to write this paper. How- 

 ever, many of you saw the kinds in 

 flower at our local show, so if I get 

 too enthusiastic you can easily bring 

 me back to earth. It has been as- 

 serted that while American raisers of 

 new varieties concede the palm for 

 size to imported kinds, yet the Ameri- 

 can varieties are the only ones adapt- 

 ed for average commercial culture. Is 

 this statement true? I say, hardly so, 

 because a walk through the New York 

 cut-flower district during the chrys- 

 anthemum season shows us the fol- 

 lowing kinds shipped in, in quantity, 

 and all of them are imported varieties: 

 October Sunshine, Alice Byron, Chel- 

 toni, Nellie Pocket, Mrs. Coombs, and 

 our own great and only Wm. Duck- 

 ham. There are others, but I have 

 quoted enough to show that the for- 

 eigners do get a show in the wholesale 

 markets of the country. I have had 

 it stated to me that Timothy Eaton is 

 an English variety, instead of a Cana- 

 dian seedling, but, in the absence of 

 any proof, I refuse to credit it. The 

 fact is, that a valuable new variety 

 may originate in any country, but in 

 the case of some raisers, the French, 

 particularly, one has to buy so much 

 chaff to find even one grain of wheat, 

 that the game is not worth the candle. 

 It. has been stated that the reason 

 the Australian varieties do so well 

 here is because they are accustomed 

 to strong sunshine, and being grown 

 and flowered entirely outside, have 

 more natural vigor. I am just now 

 collaborating with a hybridizer in 

 California, where, I understand, al- 

 most identical conditions exist, and if 

 it is a matter of climatic conditions, 

 we hope to be producing some Wm. 

 Duckhams and Beatrice Mays in a year 

 or two. The strongest reason, to my 

 mind, why the Wells-Pocket, kinds 

 have done so well is because of the 

 rigid selection of the best kinds from 

 an immense number of seedlings. 

 Thus the present list. Mrs. Partridge, 

 Mrs. Heaume. Mrs. Knox. G. J. 

 Brooks, etc. — some twelve kinds in all 

 —are the picks of over 97.000 seed- 

 lings. In the face of a pruning down 

 like that, one would say they must be 

 all wonders, and, candidly. I think they 

 are the best list this firm, has ever 

 sent out. How different this whole- 

 sale method from the conditions un- 

 der which our own hybridizers have to 

 work, where the plants are grown in- 

 side, taking up valuable space, and a 

 few hundred seem a very large batch 

 to handle. 



Hybridizing is largely a gamble 

 anyway, and a Col. Appleton may ap- 

 pear in your own dozen plants, but 

 the chances are against you. and the 

 law of averages will tell in the long 

 run. In looking over the new things 

 of the year we will give first place 

 to the American seedling, Morton P. 

 Plant. This made its first and almost 

 only appearance at our local show, 

 and we should be duly proud of this 

 fact. This coming year, when the ex- 

 perts from other localities have it to 



work with, some phenomenal flqWers 

 are bound to be shown. An improved 1 

 V. Morel, but. twice the size that. I 

 ever saw Morel, and we have in a few 

 words a very good description of. ilnr- 

 ton F. Plant, with the addition that 

 the foliage and stem are the facsimile 

 of Col. APPl' et ori- Honor to whom, 

 honor is due. and we owe a good deal 

 lo i lie Daillidouze Bros, for this grand 

 variety. 



Next oh the list is Beatrice May, 

 and she is certainly a beauty. This 

 variety has developed one serious 

 fault, from my point of view, which is 

 that she is altogether too shy and 

 modest in producing stock, making 

 the dissemination too slow and un- 

 satisfactory. I had hoped to make 

 some money out of Beatrice, but, in 

 the language of the poet, " 'Twas ever 

 thus since childhood's hour, I've seen 

 my fondest hopes decay" — and a most 

 vigorous hunt over three continents 

 fails to reveal any stock worth speak- 

 ing of. As a keeper, this variety is 

 second to none. It kept three weeks 

 on the plant, with me, in perfect con- 

 dition, and some of the flowers, after 

 being exhibited and scored by the 

 C. S. A. committee, kept in water some 

 three weeks longer. The way Beatrice 

 May finished up with me last year was 

 about as near perfect as I ever ex- 

 pect to see a white chrysanthemum. 

 Perhaps the next best thing as an all- 

 round variety in its color is Mrs. 

 Henry Partridge. Red varieties are 

 almost without exception prone to 

 burn in the bright sunlight, but Part- 

 ridge will not damp one petal. Al- 

 most everyone likes W. R. Church, but 

 so many complain of its poor growth; 

 Partridge will give you the Church 

 color, and, in addition, is a grand 

 stocky grower. I tried it on every 

 bud from Aug. 10 to the end of Sep- 

 tember, and it was good on every one, 

 the late buds showing, as was natural, 

 a much thinner flower. 



Another very dwarf variety which 

 showed color similar to Partridge on 

 first opening was Mary Ann Pocket, 

 but it soon faded to an Indian red. 

 This variety was so very dwarf that I 

 did not take any notice of it all sum- 

 mer, and the flower, when it devel- 

 oped, was a most agreeable surprise. 

 Mary Ann Pocket will be a very valu- 

 able variety to grow in pots or on a 

 front bench when head-room is 

 limited. 



While on the dwarf varieties — and 

 the splendid dwarf habit is one of the 

 strongest qualities of the Wells varie- 

 ties every year — I would mention May 

 Seddon. It had no chance to prove 

 itself this year, as my stock did not 

 come till late, and it is so dwarf that 

 it must have a very long season of 

 growth to do it justice. Do not. I beg 

 of you, keep on propagating this va- 

 riety too late this year; give it a fair 

 show, and if it comes with you as it 

 has been grown — 11 inches across and 

 11 inches deep — you will have a prize 

 winner in the white classes. Mrs. 

 John E. Dunne is a fine grower and a 

 fine variety, one that will give you a 

 100 per cent, good flowers. The color 

 is old rose, very striking and beautiful 

 and reminds me of the old Chenon de 

 I crhe, for years a great favorite of 

 mine. Dunne will run up 4 to 5 



..nil good culture and a crown-bud 

 around Aug. 20th will give you the 

 best liower. Another sterling sort, in 

 that every flower comes good, is Mrs. 

 G. Heaume, a splendid clean grower 

 3 to 4 feet high. The color is pretty 

 much the shade seen in. Queen Alexan- 

 dra, a salmony bronze, one of the 

 kinds commonly called off-colors, but 

 ] am free to confess that everyone 

 that saw it in my houses liked it. 



Mrs. Wm. Knox when first expand- 

 ing looks distinctly an aristocrat, as 

 every petal falls naturally into its 

 own place, but I am sorry to have to 

 confess that the neck is hardly long 

 enough to hold erect the large spread- 

 ing liower. In the short vase classes 

 it is a winner, as it gives a flower 

 with as large a spread as F. S. Vallis 

 and a far neater appearance, T. Rich- 

 ardson is an immense grower and will 

 make a stem like a young tree. Do 

 not over feed this variety, as it has 

 such tremendous root action that it 

 is easy to overdo it. The color is the 

 same shade as an Enchantress carna- 

 tion, a point to be considered when 

 classing it as a pink. A bud the last 

 week in August is to be preferred to 

 an earlier one. 



M is. F. F. Thompson was called the 

 most artistic flower in the Philadel- 

 phia show, and if it were not necky. 

 I would say go on it largely. In the 

 short vase classes or classes where a 

 support is allowed, it is one of the 

 most striking varieties ever set up. 

 We have had varieties before that 

 have been termed Ostrich Plumes in 

 the exquisite twist and curl of the 

 petal. Mrs. George Beech will be a 

 sterling sort for the commercial grow- 

 er and while rather late for an exhibi- 

 tion flower is far ahead of Yellow 

 Eaton and other of the class for No- 

 vember shows. I notice it mentioned 

 very prominently in English periodi- 

 cals as a grand Christmas variety. 

 Beech is a yellow sport from Mrs. 

 Swinburne, a variety that you may re- 

 call I sent out last year, and which 

 will be largely grown next year as a 

 late white, as it has made good every- 

 where. Leslie P. Ward, which is 

 named after our patron and fellow 

 townsman, is one of the most beauti- 

 ful combinations I have seen, being 

 old rose with golden tips to the petals. 

 It is an Australian seedling and was 

 exhibited as No. 50. To get the lovely 

 color of this variety at its best, do not 

 take a bud before Sept 1st if you can 

 help it; earlier buds, while they pro- 

 duce larger flowers, do not show such 

 fine color. M. G. Rivol is a French 

 sport from Paola Radilli, which was 

 a fine thing but a poor undecided col- 

 or. Rivol is a fine deep yellow, deeper 

 in color than Col. Appleton, and will 

 be of good service, as growth is firm 

 in every way. 



There are several other good kinds 

 in the Australians— G. J. Brooks, 

 Merstham Crimson, and W. Wells— 

 but time and space forbid of my going 

 into them in detail. The last named 

 will probably show up much better 

 this coming season than it did last, 

 use stock was limited and I exper- 

 imented over a wide range of bud's to 

 find the best one. 



The introduction of other dissem- 

 ators I cannot lake up with any de- 



