Apiiil 23, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



915 



View in Mackintosh's Store, New York, at Easter. 



small nowadays that one can not af- 

 ford to put in any old variety and 

 trust to luck in marketing the product. 

 Use your best judgment in the selec- 

 tion of your varieties and don't be 

 afraid to drop any variety that for any 

 reason does not bring in what it should. 



Potting Up Young Stock. 



For the first potting, when you get 

 your cuttings rooted, don't make the 

 mistake of many young enthusiasts and 

 mix bone meal or sheep manure with 

 your soil. I have often seen it tried and 

 invariably with poor results. What the 

 roots need to commence on is simply 

 a new iibry loam, with a little, a very 

 little, well rotted manure mixed through 

 it to lighten it up a little. A young 

 delicate plant does not have the diges- 

 tion, if one may use such a term, to 

 take up strong nourishment at so early 

 a stage of its development any more 

 than an infant can digest beefsteak. If 

 bone meal is mixed with soil for a first 

 potting it will sour the compost before 

 the roots get a good hold of it and a 

 weak spindly plant is the result. 



Cold Frames. 



Stock that was rooted early and is 

 now nicely established in pots or fiats, 

 will be very much benefited by being 

 got outside into cold frames, where they 

 will be away from any artificial heat 

 and where when the sash are thrown 

 back on mild days, they will receive the 

 benefit of an abundance of air. The cold 

 frames are generally considered a nui- 

 sance on a commercial establishment, by 

 the help anyway, as they need consider- 

 able attention in the matter of ventilat- 

 ing, and on cold nights they have to be 

 covered to keep out frost, but there is no 



finer place in the spring for all kinds 

 of young plants that need hardening off, 

 and particularly is this true in the case 

 of the mum. In a greenhouse, no mat- 

 t.er liow much air is kept on night and 

 day, it seems impossible to get that 

 close, sturdy growth that a young plant 

 will acquire in a week or two outside in a 

 frame. Plants are more easily handled 

 in a house when they are near to the 

 hose, and this on bright drying days is 

 a consideration, but if you want to make 

 a good beginning in growing good chrys- 

 anthemums, get your plants out into a 

 frame and don't begrudge a little more 

 time spent in looking after them. 



Use a little common sense in regard 

 to airing at first. If as often happens 

 at this season of the year, a very strong 

 wind is blowing, with bright sun, it is 

 best to merely tilt the sash up a little 

 at the back, and not let the breeze blow 

 full on the plants or they will need wat- 

 ering every hour or so to keep them 

 moist. On calm days lift the saish right 

 off and the young plants will positively 

 revel in the cool natural conditions and 

 will show in a few days by the glo.ss on 

 their foliage how they appreciate sucii 

 treatment. 



Exhibition growers, who watch their 

 plants very cIo.sely from ihc time the 

 cutting is inserted into the sand until 

 the fiower is cut, are fully alive to the 

 necessity of building up a foundation in 

 the plant, and it would be a wise thing 

 for the commercial man to look after his 

 young stock more closely than he does. 

 The young stock that one buys .sometimes 

 looks as though it had been grown in a 

 stove temperature, judging by its atten- 

 uated growth. 



Labeling and Handling. 



In handling a large number of varie- 



ties it is imperative that some uniform 

 sj'stem of labeling should prevail. It 

 is of cour.se child's play to an expert 

 to pick out the varieties by their ioliage 

 and general appearance, but the average 

 florist is by no means a mum expert. He 

 lias many other things on his mind, such 

 as hustling liis collections, trying to fill the 

 weekly pay envelope, making up a gates 

 ajar or standing off the coal dealer who 

 is trying to collect his bill, and it will 

 be the means of saving much trouble 

 and profanity if the labels are always 

 placed to run the same way. My own 

 invariable rule is to work from the 

 back to the front of tlie bench 

 in placing my plants, then put the 

 label in the last plant of the va- 

 riety and then follow right on with 

 another kind. By making this an inva- 

 riable rule and keeping the row straight, 

 mixing up of the varieties is impossible 

 and any employe can be sent during a 

 rush to pick out any desired variety. 

 Of course it works as well to put the 

 hibel in the first, plant of Uie batch, or 

 any other way in fact, so long as one 

 has an invariable system and adheres to 

 it. 



Buds. 



If any of the varieties are running to 

 buds instead of commencing to grow, 

 don't be discouraged. Keep the buds 

 picked off and j'ou will eventually make 

 tlic plant begin to grow. Some varieties 

 arc mucli worse for this bud producing 

 in the spring than others, ilorcl for 

 instance, and I notice that VV. R. 

 Cliurch, one of the novelties, seems af- 

 flicted with the same trouble, but if the 

 stock is handled properly it will soon 

 grow out of it. 



Brian Bobu. 



