116 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



on large stems. These plants should have paid for themselves by 

 March. 



MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR SPACE 



For the man with limited space who needs every available 

 foot for Spring stock, most of the so-called early Spring-flowering 

 annuals come too late to make room. Calendulas, planted out from 

 2j^s following Chrysanthemums, will be through by March and can 

 be followed with Gladioli started in pots. They can also follow the 

 second crop of Freesias; or, if the Calendulas are grown in a solid 

 bed, you can plant field-grown Delphiniums, Shasta Daisies, 

 Coreopsis or Columbines to follow. Sweet Peas of the early Mid- 

 winter flowering sorts can be grown on in pots from seed sown 

 about the end of September, and planted in the emptied Chrysanthe- 

 mum benches. Or Chrysanthemums of the late sorts, grown in 

 solid beds, can be followed by a sowing of Sweet Pea seed to flower 

 in Spring; but only when you can spare the space. 



While you can grow only one thing at a time, and while most 

 retail growers find it advantageous to grow on as many as possible 

 of the bedding plants they require rather than to purchase them, 

 it is easier, if you cannot grow both the cut flowers and the bedding 

 stock you need, to buy the cut flowers. 



The smaller an establishment, the greater the consideration that 

 has to be given to crop rotation, how best to handle each one 

 so as to take up bench space for the least possible time, so that one 

 will not interfere with the other, etc. You have to plan weeks and 

 months ahead, lay out your work, get ready the plants to follow up 

 and keep the benches working full speed. We realize that quite 

 frequently things don't turn out the way we plan, conditions arise 

 beyond our control which change everything, but we should figure 

 even on that to some extent. We should be able without much 

 trouble to make different arrangements so as to obtain the maxi- 

 mum returns from the minimum space. 



FUMIGATING AND SPRAYING 



T F YOU are in need of a good article on plant diseases and how to 

 ^ fight them, I cannot do better than refer you to Chapter 5 on 

 Plant Enemies in "Plant Culture," by Geo. W. Oliver. What I want 

 to call attention to here, is mainly the necessity of keeping clean the 

 houses, or the stock in them, by fumigating and spraying with nico- 

 tine solutions. This is, to my mind, the most effective way to fight 

 ordinary troubles and prevent the appearance of the green and white 

 fly and the thrips among the general run of stock found in the 

 retail grower's establishment. 



I don't wish to be understood to say that nicotine in one form 

 or another will overcome all troubles, but let a plant once get in- 



