THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



the pot, as the case may be. When you 

 have acquired the science of watering 

 and practice it carefully, -wisely and 

 faithfully you will have gained about 

 seventeen points out of twenty towards 

 being a good gardener. 



Mulching, Fertilizers, etc. 



Mulching, if done before the buds ap 

 pear, is mostly done to prevent the bed 

 drying out too rapidly in July and Au 

 gust. After the buds are taken and 

 they begin to swell is the time they 

 need mulching. That most thorough and 

 excellent book, &quot;Smith s Chrysanthe 

 mum Manual,&quot; by Elmer D. Smith, a 

 little book that every one who grows a 

 chrysanthemum should own, has very 

 valuable information regarding mulch 

 ing and liquid manure, and in the fol 

 lowing remarks I have been much guided 

 by his sound advice. 



The first mulching in July may con 

 sist of old spent hotbed or very rotten 

 horse manure. For commercial flowers 

 that is usually enough till the buds are 

 selected. Then apply pulverized cow or 

 sheep manure. If the* latter, it should be 

 well ground up and mixed with an equal 

 quantity of loam and used an inch thick. 

 If cow manure it should also be dried 

 and pulverized and used, without loam, 

 an inch and a half thick. The greatest 

 danger with a heavy mulch is you can 

 not see readily the condition of the 

 bed and it must be carefully examined 

 as to water. Great benefit as mulching 

 is, careless watering or neglect of it 

 may both do much harm. 



The quantity of mulch should also be 

 determined by the vigor of the plant. 

 A variety like the yellow Lager is so 

 vigorous and strong that any amount of 

 stimulant would not seem to harm, while 

 Maud Dean could be easily overdone. 

 If you can afford the time a lighter and 

 more frequent mulch is much better than 

 one heavy dose. 



Liquid manure is better withheld till 

 the buds begin to swell and continued till 

 the buds begin to expand. It is then 

 dropped entirely. In addition to liquid 

 made from horse, cow or sheep manure, 

 chemical manures are used by experts, 

 but you can get along without them. 

 Lime is of benefit to the benches, but 

 most soils have it in sufficient quantities. 

 Where there is none in the soil a slight 

 dusting of air-slaked lime is a benefit. 

 It should be rubbed or lightly raked in 

 and then watered. It is not easy to 

 give quantities for these animal liquid 

 manures. The color is the best guide. 

 If, after it has settled in the tub or 

 tank, the liquid is the color of weak 

 tea, you will be safe, and begin with the 

 liquid weak and increase a little in 

 strength for two or three applications. 

 Be ever on the safe side that you don t 

 overdo the stimulant. 



Insects and Diseases. 



Chrysanthemums are troubled with 

 several of our insect pests. The daily 

 syringing which should be done every 

 bright morning will effectually keep 

 down the red spider. Thrips we are 

 very seldom troubled with. Syringing 

 must also prevent the appearance of 



Exhibition Vase of 100 Timothy Eaton. 



these worst of creatures, and if not the 

 nicotine does. The commonest but 

 easiest to combat is the green and black 

 aphis. A weekly fumigating by burn 

 ing tobacco dust will effectually keep 

 them down. Where it may be incon 

 venient to fumigate the nicotine 

 sprayed over the plants with a knapsack 

 bellows will thoroughly clean the plants 

 or aphis. It is diluted something like 

 400 to one and it does not stain in the 

 slightest, either the leaf or flower. 



Mildew troubles some varieties, nota 

 bly that splendid old yellow Golden 

 Wedding. It appears a draught is the 

 cause of it. We noticed only last win 

 ter that seven or eight feet of a bench 

 near a door that was continually open 

 was attacked with mildew, while beyon^ 

 the influence of the draught it disap 

 peared. If late in the season, say Octo 

 ber, the mildew appears, and you can 

 occasionally fire up, then some flour of 

 sulphur, mixed with linseed oil, till it is 

 about like paste and patches of it 

 smeared on a pipe at intervals of every 

 three or four feet is the best remedy 

 for it. If you cannot fire up then the 

 flour of sulphur must be lightly scat 

 tered over the leaves, but this is not 

 nearly as effective as putting it on the 

 pipes. The majority of blooms are cut 

 without the aid of any fire heat, but 

 often towards the end of October and 

 during November a little fire heat is nec 



essary, not only for a frosty night, but 

 for cool, rainy weather, when the damp 

 ness will settle on the plants and unless 

 quickly dispelled will rot and spot the 

 petals. A dry atmosphere must be 

 maintained with all open flowers. 



When the plants are growing fast and 

 we should get a few days dull, moist 

 weather, growth will be very soft and 

 on the return of a very bright, sunny 

 day the tender tips will wilt and scald. 

 Look out for this and spray frequently 

 to keep the atmosphere moist, or a tem 

 porary shade may be applied, and for 

 this purpose there is nothing so quickly 

 applied as clay and water, and if a 

 shower does not take it off in a day or 

 two the hose soon will. 



There is a brown, hairy caterpillar, 

 some one to two inches long, that is very 

 troublesome just about the time the buds 

 are opening. The plants must be looked 

 over frequently for these caterpillars. 

 They will be found on the underside of 

 the leaf and if let alone they will de 

 stroy many a fine bud. We know no 

 way but hand picking to destroy them. 



Grasshoppers seldom bother us, yet 

 we have seen seasons in rural districts 

 when chrysanthemums would have been 

 stripped of leaves and buds, but we 

 were not growing &quot;mums&quot; in that 

 neighborhood. To put some kind of net 

 ting over the ventilating spaces would 

 have been our oly salvation. 



