722 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JUuca 26, 1903. 



blooms sent are somewhat grown or 

 stuck together. 



D. & S. 



Your case seems to be just about the 

 same as that of C. J. and I think that 

 if you will follow the directions given 

 him you will rid yourself of their enemy. 

 Both Scott and his daughter, Mrs. 

 Joost, have always been noted for open- 

 ing their blooms freely and behaving 

 themselves well in general and both have 

 kept freer from disease than the aver- 

 age carnation. 



Old Scott is far behind the times and 

 unless it is better with you than it is 

 with most growers you ought to stock 

 up with some of the great improvements 

 that have come since Scott was our 

 breadwinner. This variety may have de- 

 teriorated some, but it was never so 

 large and majestic looking as a Lawson 

 or a Nelson, and I doubt if it ever pro- 

 duced more blooms to the square foot. 

 A. F. .J. Baur. 



SPECIMEN CHRYSANTHEMUM • 

 PLANTS. 



BV T. D. HATFIELD. 



[Extracts from uaper presented to the Chrv- 

 santhemutn Society o( America at the Chicago 

 convention.] 



We have constantly been changing our 

 list of varieties suitable for specimen 

 plants. It is one of the things I cannot 

 understand, why we do so, and still we 

 make very little headway. The explana- 

 tion I believe lies in a desire to keep up 

 with the novelties. It has proved a mis- 

 take, as varieties selected almost wholly 

 because of some special merit, either size 

 or color of blooms, are seldom suited for 

 specimen plants; and among our best 

 today, scarcely any are found which 

 make good specimen blooms. Red War- 

 rior does not; neither do Louis Boehmcr, 

 Fisher's Torch, the Bard or Phrebus. I 

 often wish we could get Fair Maid of 

 Guernsey, Belle Hickey, Jeanne Delaux, 

 Jardin des Plantes or Lady Selborne. 

 « • • 



Indoors our worst enemy is red spider. 

 It is an insidious pest and very liable on 

 account of its small size to bo overlooked 

 until it gets a strong hold. We have tried 

 about all the nicotine compounds, both 

 by fumigating and by spray, but none 

 will kill them outright. There is nothing 

 so good as water, and we are forced to 

 continue spraying right up to exhibition 

 time. I have tried it upon plants with 

 the flowers expanded and it has done no 

 harm when the day is bright enough to 

 dry up all moisture before evening. There 

 is always the danger of getting the plants 

 water-logged, especially when they have 

 been potted a long time. 



I may go back to cutting time, and this 

 begins right after the exhibitions. There 

 are always plenty to get then, and often 

 it is easier than later. At any rate, we 

 make sure of all new and scarce varieties, 

 and if we can get nothing better we can 

 do very well with leaves. 



Sometimes we took our early cuttings 

 over again, as we thought they made 

 better specimens when started in Febru- 

 ary, but often we did not resist the 

 temptation to grow the originals on 

 account of their size, hoping to make 

 larger specimens, but seldom they did. 

 We have tried growing old plants a sec- 

 ond year. It is not worth the trouble, 

 but I may mention a plant of Mrs. 

 Alpheus Hardy which won a silver medal 

 in Boston and a cup in New York the 

 next season. 



Cuttings will stand considerable sat- 

 uration and must be kept close for a few 

 days. When rooted they are potted in 

 small pots, using light soil. We usually 

 put in four cuttings and pot off two, sav- 

 ing one of each variety to put in boxes 

 for emergencies. These may make just 

 as good plants as those carefully potted. 

 One can hardly go by the size of the cut- 

 tings, still, I should always prefer a 

 strong one. They are stopped as soon 

 as nice young growth is ]nade, and when 

 well rooted put into "fours," later into 

 "sixes" and stopped frequently. For the 

 next and, in most cases, our final pot- 

 ting, we pay more attention to the soil. 

 After trying various kinds, our prefer- 

 ence is for light loam. There is less dan- 

 ger of getting the plants water-logged — a 

 serious condition. 



A good rich soil with a moderate pro- 

 portion of lime, in some available form, 

 is the best. We have used Clay's fertilizer 

 as an ingredient with excellent results. 

 It stays with them to the end. For a 

 liquid there is nothing better than horse 

 urine when carefully used, saj* at the rate 

 of half a pint to a two-gallon can, once 

 or twice a week. But this should not be 

 given until the plants show the need of 

 it, which should not be a difficult matter 

 for the ordinary practitioner to decide. 

 More judgment is required to know when 

 not to use it. It is easy to overdo. All 

 this applies to plants which have had 

 their final shift, but I meant to say, when 

 making it, that they should be potted 

 only moderately, and not too full, as the 

 root development is liable to fill the pots 

 up, and if potted quite firmly, too hard 

 to allow of the free passage of water. 

 With some of our plants, at this writing, 

 November 1, it takes half an hour for 

 them to soak, and one at least that I 

 depended upon became so hard that I 

 had to punch holes through the ball with 

 a stout piece of wire, but it is injured 

 beyond recovery. It is hard, too, to tell 

 when sick plants want water. They will 

 wilt when the sun shines and it requires 

 the greatest restraint not to apply it. A 

 sure test is to damp the floor and walls 

 thoroughly and if they don't recover they 

 need water. 



Staking is in a great measure a matter 

 of taste; I mean as to how and when to 

 do it. It is easier to do it all at once. I 

 can get a more shapely plant. I feel sure 

 such wholesale work is injurious, 

 although it is not decidedly apparent. 

 And if it is done piecemeal, part in Aug- 

 ust and finished in October, there will be 

 considerable rearrangement of the shoots 

 — untying and retying. Tlie advantage 

 of staking with pliable stakes like wil- 

 lows consists in being able to draw the 

 plants together so that there will be no 

 friction. We first fill the plants all 

 about the flowers with tissue paper and 

 then draw them in with bands of cotton 

 cloth. 



I wish to say a few words about unu- 

 sual varieties, old and new, which we 

 used for decorative purposes, for cutting 

 and massing. Say what you will, a 

 specimen plant is of no use except for 

 exhibition. Its formal character is re- 

 volting if seen too often. A number of 

 small plants, grown in 7-incIi and 8-inch 

 pots, from one to two feet in diameter, 

 mixed together, any way, gives a variety 

 of form and color which we never get in 

 specimen plants. No attempt is made by 

 us to train them, only stakes enough are 

 inserted to keep the shoots together. 

 This informality is charming. All types 

 are represented, pompons, pompon 



anemones, large anemones, incurved 

 and reflex; even the larger flowering 

 Japanese, when grown in this way, would 

 hardly be recognized. The Mizpah type, 

 single flowers, originated with E. D. 

 Smith, Adrian, Mich. They liave a dis- 

 tinct beauty. We are often asked if they 

 are marguerites; we would rather com- 

 pare them to single pyrethrums in form 

 of flower. Grown in 6-inch and 7-inch 

 pots, they are hardly more than a foot 

 high and models of neatness. Tliis sea- 

 son we have added some new colors and 

 a slight variation in type — seedlings of 

 ours, raised from Mrs. Filkins — one of 

 the feathery ones, of the Golden Shower 

 type. We would suggest an addition to 

 the schedules of chrysanthemum socie- 

 ties, which would give these dwarf forms 

 a chance to be seen. "Specimens in 8- 

 inch pots, not more than eighteen inches 

 high." 



Though hardly in line with this es- 

 say, a little matter, at least interesting 

 to me, is the fixing of sports. This can 

 seldom be done by taking cuttings from 

 the base of the plant which sports. As 

 generally happens, it is only part of a 

 branch, and shoots below may bear nor- 

 mal flowers. Oriental Glory, a satiny 

 pink, sported golden bronze last au- 

 tumn, and this has been fixed by leaf 

 cuttings. 



THE CALLA, 



(Richardia Africana.) 



The culture of this handsome and 

 chastely white flower has been some- 

 what neglected during the past few 

 years, at least they are not so much in 

 evidence in the florists' stores as form- 

 erly. For this there are two principal 

 reasons, viz., that the overwhelming 

 taste for roses, carnations and violets 

 during the winter has had some effect 

 in sidetracking them, while lilies — 

 Harrisii and Longiflorum — have snowed 

 them under as an Easter attraction. 



From its graceful habit, purity and 

 shape of bloom, keeping qualities, general 

 liealthfulness and easy method of cul- 

 ture it certainly deserves a higher niche 

 In public estimation, and if for no other 

 reason than "Auld Acquaintanceship" it 

 deserves a little consideration irom the 

 craft. 



Many of these "old timers" are 

 thrown aside by the modern grower un- 

 der the idea that there is little demand 

 for them or that the same space can be 

 more profitably occupied by roses, carna- 

 tions, etc. Investigation along these 

 lines will sometimes give us quite a sur- 

 prise. 



To grow callas profitably we must 

 follow the same general principle that 

 we do with other crops of which we 

 make a specialty, viz., grow them first 

 in sufficient quantities so that we can 

 fill a good sized order at almost any 

 time, as we can usually do in roses and 

 carnations. Second, by giving them the 

 same careful attention and scientifically 

 studying the best methods of culture as 

 w-e do with these other specialties. They 

 would then undoubtedly be as profitable 

 as from present appearances the indica- 

 tions are that the demand is largely in 

 excess of the supply. 



Calla blooms usually command a 

 ready sale diiring the Christmas holi- 

 days and in fact all through the winter 

 and in order to have them in good 

 blooming condition at that time they 

 should either be potted or benched early 

 in Aucrust. 



