38 



HORT1CU LTURE 



July 11, 1908 



the base of Hie plant si em rot is sure 

 to follow. We do not water the plauts 

 again until they are up about three 

 inches. Of course, you can grow them 

 on a bench with a few inches of soil 

 but the results will be just what you 

 make them, a weak growth and a crop 

 of short stemmed flowers. These soon 

 play out as theie is not enough soil 



oi i i Eoi the vines to live on. They 



may be made to flower any time you 

 wish by increasing the temperature, 

 but the best results are obtained by 

 growing at a temperature just above 

 freezing until the buds can be fell in 

 the crowns of the plants. Then the 

 temperature should be gradually in- 

 creased, say one degree a night, until 

 you reach 48 degrees. This, 1 think, 

 is about right although in mid winter 

 I think l hey move a little better at 50. 

 As the days lengthen a little cooler 

 temperature seems to suit better. A 

 rise of ten in lifleen degrees should be 

 given during the day in sunny weather. 

 In spells of cloudy weather fifty-live 

 is high enough during the day. If a 

 high temperature is given in dark 

 weather the growth gets soft and 

 wilts when the sun comes out bright 

 again. While the plants are young 

 they should be regularly fumigated so 

 that there will not be a sign of lice 

 when they commence to flower. If 

 they are clean at this stage it will not 

 be necessary to fumigate while they 

 are in bloom. It is impossible to sell 

 sweet peas that smell of tobacco. 

 Tobacco also bleaches the flowers of 

 some varieties, and makes them look 

 like some other variety. We some- 

 times hear of some one having trouble 

 by the buds dropping. This is more 

 the case in midwinter than at any 

 other time and is caused by too cool 

 .i temperature or a sudden chill or too 

 much water. Should a house be al- 

 lowed to go near the freezing point 

 in midwinter the wholesale dropping 

 of buds will be sure to follow. Dis- 

 eases have not shown themselves with 

 us. Sometimes we see a plant that 

 looks stunted, with yellow streaks in 

 the foliage. This we have attributed 

 to too rich soil or the roots striking 

 manure that was not thoroughly de- 

 composed. They take an abundance 

 of water in the flowering season but 

 require very little in the early stages 

 iOf growth. They should be provided 

 with proper drainage so that if too 

 much water is given it will settle into 

 the subsoil, and no bad result will 

 follow. 



Time of Flowering. 



I find in experimenting with the 

 newer varieties of peas that some 

 come into bloom ahead of the others. 

 Take reselected Earliest of All and 

 Watchung for instance. These two 

 will come into flower fully two weeks 

 ahead of the other varieties, and for 

 early purposes they are a fine pair to 

 grow together. They are both black- 

 seeded. They will flower in October 

 if sown in August and will lie in full 

 crop for Thanksgiving. For a later 

 crop I prefer Christmas Pink and 

 Florence Denzer. These are the peers 

 among sweet peas at l he present time. 

 The Denzer is two weeks later than 

 Christmas Pink and is white seeded. 

 It should lie sown in sand and trans- 

 planted into flowering quarters at the 

 time you sow I hi' seed of Christinas 

 Pink. They will then commence to 

 flower together. There is now quite a 



demand for some of the fancy varie- 

 ties. These sell best in the spring, 

 but will soon get into demand all 

 winter. They are something new and 

 the people are a little skeptical 

 about buying them. They will, how- 

 ever, find a ready sale once there is 

 enough of them around to attract at- 

 tention. Among the new varieties I 

 think Mrs. Charles Totty the best, it 

 is the same shade as the Countess of 

 Radnor, and is a very strong grower, 

 having two-foot stems. W. W. 

 Smalley comes next. This is a shade 

 of satin pink. It is a fine seller but 

 a trifle short in stem. Mrs. Alexander 

 Wallace is a good one. The color is 

 dark lavender and sells well. Mrs. 

 iWm. Sim sells well; the color is 

 salmon pink; it produces very long 

 stems, many being two feet in length. 

 The improved Mrs. F. Dolansky I 

 have great hopes in. It is the color 

 "I an Enchantress carnation. A 

 limited quantity of Le Marquis and 

 Christmas Captain can be sold. Both 

 are purple shades. The same may be 

 said of Blue Bird, also Mrs. Eddy 

 Wild, deep crimson, but the flowers 

 are small in size and the stems rather 

 short. It is a strong grower. 

 A Warning. 

 To those who are contemplating 

 growing sweet peas t'ne one important 

 thing is to have the right seed. You 

 may get your house in the best possi- 

 ble condition, yet without the right 

 seed failure is sure to follow. Many 

 seedsmen are selling seed of the early 

 varieties, w-hich is not the early 

 varieties. Very few seedsmen know 

 that there is any difference between 

 the two, and substitute with the late 

 varieties. Not a winter passes but 

 what some poor grower gets hit hard 

 in this way. He sows his seeds 

 They start fine. They grow well, but 

 he gets no flowers. He is paying high 

 for his experience. I will tell you an 

 experience of my own to show what 

 harm can be done in not knowing 

 what you are planting. A few years 

 ago I planted a house with Earliest 

 of All. I bought my seed from a 

 reputable seed house. This turned 

 out to be the best house of peas I had 

 ever sown. The seed was all l rue 

 and to be sure of seed for the follow- 

 ing year I bought again from this 

 same firm with the assurance that it 

 was the same as I had bought the 

 preceeding August. My intentions 

 were to build another greenhouse and 

 raise two crops, one for early, the 

 other for late cutting. The house was 

 built and put into the best possible 

 condition. The seed was sown in 

 August and all came up in fine shape. 

 They grew lovely, but somehow or 

 other they did not look right to me. 

 The vines looked too heavy and 

 strong. I. however, did not like to 

 disturb them and I let them grow. 

 The other house was planted the mid- 

 dle of November after a crop of mid- 

 season chrysanthemums. I procured 

 the seed for this house from another 

 source. The beginning of March they 

 commenced to bloom and by the first 

 of April $2000 worth of peas had been 

 sold from this house. The other 

 house did not commence to flower till 

 beginning of April. The vines had 

 reached the glass and w r ere pulled 

 down several times. It was then 

 deemed advisable to clear the house 

 out and consign the vines to the rub- 



bish heap. This was done after keep- 

 ing the house which was 30x360 at a 

 temperature of 50 all winter long. I 

 was out by this deal $6000, this being 

 based on the product sold from a 

 house of similar size the year before. 

 I mention this to show the seedsmen 

 what a great injury can be done by 

 selling something that is not true to 

 name, and to the grower to be doubly 

 sure before he risks too much space 

 in something he is in doubt about. 

 The safest way is to procure your seed 

 in advance and test it yourself. Sow 

 some of it, and if the plants grow 

 strong and stocky and bush around 

 the base of the plant you have the 

 wrong sort for winter flowering, but 

 if the plant runs up to a single stem 

 and does not bush you have the right 

 kind. The early types very seldom 

 break near the ground. The one 

 shoot forms practically the whole 

 plant. Some side shoots are made but 

 these never attain the strength of the 

 main shoot. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Bush Plants for Commercial Uses. 

 Few varieties grown for cut flowers 

 are suitable for bush chrysanthemums. 

 Through the courtesy of Mr. Frank 

 Oechslin, of Chicago, who grows an- 

 nually about four thousand bush plants 

 for the Chicago market, we are able to 

 give a list of the varieties he has 

 found most suitable for bush plants 

 for commercial purposes. Mr. Oechslin 

 is well known to be one of Chicago's 

 largest and most successful growers. 

 Tie now has 56,000 sq. ft. of glass and 

 from 8,000 to 10,000 ft of frames en- 

 tirely devoted to plants. 



Mr. Oechslin finds that -1-2 in. pot 

 plants, if shifted along now and kept 

 pinched lack, will make nice plants 

 to sell in 6 in. pots, and 4 1-2 in. pot 

 plants now will make nice 7 and 8 in. 

 pot plants in blooming time. Pinching 

 back of most varieties should he dis- 

 continued after August 1. The large 

 flowering sorts should be disbudded 

 to one bud to each branch. The Pom- 

 pon, Anemone and Singles will not 

 need to be disbudded. Good soil 

 should always be used in potting and 

 liquid manure given as soon as buds 

 appear, and be discontinued as soon 

 as buds show color. Below is the list 

 oi varieties Mr. Oechslin grows this 

 year: 



Large Flowering: Estelle, white, 

 early; Early Snow, white, early; May 

 foster, white, mid-season; L. Canning, 

 white, late: J. K. Shaw, pink, early; 

 Glory of Pacific, pink, early: Mrs. Per- 

 rin, pink, early; Marian Newell, pink, 

 mid-season; Minnie Bailey, pink, 

 mid-season; Amorita, pink, late; Oc- 

 tober Sunshine, yellow, early; Robert 

 llalliday, yellow, early; Golden Age, 

 mid-season; Walter Molaseh, yellow 

 mid-season; W. H. Lincoln, yellow, 

 very late; Elva, white, early; Nio, 

 white, mid-season; Diana, white, mid- 

 season; Alena, light pink, early; Utan, 

 magenta tipped white, mid-season; Bri- 

 ola, light pink, mid-season; Zenobia, 

 yellow, early ; Savannah, yellow, early ; 

 Emo, yellow, mid-season; Klondike, 

 yellow, mid-season; Baby Smallestii, 

 yellow, late. 



Anemone flowered: Garza, white 

 lipped yellow; Satisfaction, amber and 

 yellow; Enterprise, rose and yellow. 



Single: Argentea, white; Ladysmith. 

 pink. 



