April 14, 1917 



HORTICULTURE 



483 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR EXHIBITIONS 



A Paper Read Before the Stamford Horticultural Society by Adam Patterson. 



The successful grower of fine chrys- 

 anthemums for exhibition purposes Is 

 not developed in a day, week or year. 

 He must commence at the bottom and 

 learn by experience and practice the 

 fundamental principles which underlie 

 the profession. While the good de- 

 rived from listins, or reading what an- 

 other has to say on any subject can- 

 not be overestimated, one must first 

 obtain a good deal of practice in this 

 line before he is in a position to un- 

 derstand what the other fellow is do- 

 ing. The chrysantheminn grower 

 should take delight in the study and 

 cultivation of his plants as well as in 

 the admiration of the beauty of their 

 form, bloom and foliage. 



In order to start right do not leave 

 anything to memory: keep a record of 

 your different operations and at the 

 end of the year you will be able to 

 find out the good and bad points prac- 

 ticed. But of the different varieties 

 started set aside a few plants to be 

 experimented upon. Here you will 

 have an opportunity to test your com- 

 posts, fertilizers, the taking of the 

 buds, etc. If for any reason you do 

 not succeed there will be no serious 

 loss. Experimental work is of tre- 

 mendous importance to the chrysan- 

 themum grower and when intelligent- 

 ly pursued will not fail to pay for all 

 the efforts put forth in this direction. 



In regard to taking the cuttings I 

 have found it best to propagate as 

 near as possible the last week in Feb- 

 ruary. When selecting the cuttings 

 avoid long weak growths or hard 

 woody cuttings. The best cuttings are 

 those of a moderately soft growth. 

 The cuttings should come out of the 

 sand when they have made roots about 

 half an inch long, as they only de- 

 teriorate if left there longer. 



Before I go any further I will take 

 up the question of compost. The be- 

 ginning of all success is to a greater 

 or less degree in having good compost. 

 I always make it a point to get my 

 compost made up early in the autumn. 

 This gives you a chance during good 

 weather to get soil and manure to- 

 gether, and yet leaving plenty of time 

 to work it up into a desirable condi- 

 tion before storing. Compost consist- 

 ing of two-thirds turfy loam to one- 

 third of decomposed cow manure put 

 into a pile, and then turned over and 

 chopped up at intervals of about every 

 two or three weeks until you have it in 

 good condition, will make the founda- 

 tion for the growing of fine chrysan- 

 themums later on. It must be remem- 

 bered that good soil and manure is the 

 first general item to be considered un- 

 der the head of cultural methods. 



Doing things on time and when they 

 need doing applies to the growing of 

 chrysanthemums perhaps with more 

 force than in growing any other plant. 

 When your cuttings have made enough 

 of roots get them out and pot up, for 

 the sooner you can get them into 

 the light and air and the cooler and 

 hardier you can grow the young 

 plants the better flowers they will 



produce. I always pot them into 2^4 

 inch pots and when they are well es- 

 tablished place out into a cold frame 

 on sifted ashes, hereby keeping the 

 frost away. They will appreciate 

 this condition by showing a dark green 

 foliage and sturdy growth not to he 

 had in the house. About the end of 

 .March or just as soon as they have 

 made a fair amount of roots, I shift 

 into o inch |)0ts. From the 10th to 

 (he 15tli of April I shift again into 

 4 inch pots. Always remember as the 

 sliift becomes larger you will want to 

 use more drainage. This is very Im- 

 portant, so you will secure good and 

 effective drainage in every pot. The 

 next shift is into 6 inch pots, and about 

 the 10th of June I shift into their last 

 pots which are 8 inch. When shifting 

 into these pots leave as much space 

 as possilde for feeding and top dress- 

 ing as they may need it. After they 

 are potted into these pots they can be 

 placed where they are to grow in the 

 house. These pots should oe placed on 

 a bed of silted coal ashes, which will 

 keep the worms out and also keep 

 them cool and clean. When they have 

 had every care and attention up to 

 this you are on a fair way toward 

 success. 



The next thing of importance is stak- 

 ing and tying. I stretch a wire about 

 4 feet high over the bench so as to 

 give the stakes some support. During 

 their period of growth they should be 

 kept nicely tied up from time to time. 



In producing fine chrysanthemums 

 it should always be remembered that 

 they will need plenty of ventilation 

 at all times, but the growth must be 

 guided entirely by the condition of the 

 weather, as two successive days at any 

 season of the year may demand a dif- 

 ference in the management. It must 

 be remembered that ventilation, which 

 causes a direct draft of cold arid air 

 through the plants is sure to make 

 them suffer, so use judgment at all 

 times. It is in the autumn that re- 

 quires the greater care for it is then 

 that the weather conditions have to be 

 taken into account. When the flowers 

 begin to open a drier atmosphere Is 

 called for so it is always better to 

 have a little heat run through the 

 pipes during September as we are sure 

 to have cool and damp weather, but 

 always keep air on night and day. 



Every grower frequently finds it 

 difficult to keep his temperature right. 

 It is quite natural for the inside tem- 

 perature to be affected by the prevail- 

 ing outside temperature, but it is to 

 the grower's advantage to reduce these 

 extremes as much as possible. I gener- 

 ally like to keep my house as near 50 

 degrees at night as the conditions will 

 allow. During the dark and dull 

 weather I let the temperature run up 

 to 60 with air on. This helps to dry 

 the atmosphere of the house, which Is 

 important during the fall months. 



From May and up to the end of 

 August the plants should be syringed 

 frequently, two or three times a day, 

 but always do the last syringing early 



enough to have the plant dry off be- 

 fore nightfall. During September you 

 can reduce the syringing to once a day. 

 Wlien they begin to show color discon- 

 tinue altogether. 



During all their growth chrysanthe- 

 mums will require care as to watering. 

 When the pots show signs of being dry 

 give them a good watering, but never 

 allow them to become bone dry, or on 

 the other hand excessively wet. Water- 

 ing is one of the most particular points 

 to watch in chrysanthemum culture. 

 In pot culture watering ought to be at- 

 tended to two or three times a day, 

 watering only those that are dry, us- 

 ing a can if the time permits. 



As the plants become pot-bound ar- 

 tificial feeding will have to be resort- 

 ed to. Watch the plants carefully, and 

 one will soon be able to judge when to 

 start feeding. Aim to have ripe wood 

 and good foliage, and then you can 

 feed safely. Feeding can continue un- 

 til the blooms are half developed. 



Taking the bud is the one thing that 

 will require care and study. It is very 

 hard to fix dates for bud taking. This 

 will have to be governed to a large 

 degree by the climatic conditions. 

 Most buds can be taken after the 15th 

 ot August, with fair results. 



Chrysanthemums, like all other 

 plants, are subject to disease, but 

 this appears most frequently where a 

 wrong course of treatment in their cul- 

 ture has been followed, or by neglect 

 in any way. Always make it a point 

 to start with nothing but healthy 

 stock. If any of them show the least 

 trace of disease discard just as soon 

 as you discover it. The presence of 

 some species ot fungi is a direct re- 

 flection upon the skill or care of the 

 grower, as mildew and rust and cer- 

 tain diseases may frequently be traced 

 to the lack ot suitable cultural condi- 

 tions, such as proper ventilation. 

 watering, overfeeding, etc. On the 

 other hand when such conditions are 

 favorable to their growth, fungus dis- 

 eases will more or less be absent. 

 Where mildew appears there is noth- 

 ing better than blowing sulphur 

 through your plants. For rust, on Its 

 first appearance, spray with ammonia- 

 cal mixture every ten days. This will 

 help to check it; also, keep plenty of 

 ventilation on and see that the atmos- 

 phere is kept dry even if you have to 

 use fire heat. 



In order to keep down the aphis 

 you will have to fumigate at least once 

 a week. When the flowers begin to 

 open there is nothing better than Nico 

 fume paper. 



Before chrysanthemums are exhib- 

 ited they should be placed In water 

 at least 36 hours in a cool dark place 

 where the temperature stands at about 

 40 degrees. This will help to give sub- 

 stance in every way. 



•Twinkle, twinkle little spud 

 Ex-caT.ited from tbc mud. 

 Up above our purae so high 

 Like a diamond in the sky." 



