1^ 



The Florists^ Review 



OCTOBBB 7. 1020 



would quickly ruin young stock in hot 

 weather. 



Excessiv(9 heat produces highly un- 

 favorable conditions for early planting, 

 causing the young plants to rot more or 

 less. To overcome this, some growers 

 plant on ridges; others plant in 

 tr«nches; still others plant unnaturally 

 deep, with the intention of getting the 

 toots down closer to the cool subsoil. 



believe the roots will find their way 



down to this lower soil if it is well 

 watered and the surface soil is kept 

 quite dry, I have always been fairly 

 successful in getting through this stage 

 by planting on a level bed, keeping the 

 surface dry and well raked and apply- 

 ing a light shade. The plants should 

 not be watered again until the soil dries 

 out well down to the feeding roots. 



["Sweet Pea Diseases," by George 

 J. Ball, will follow in an early issue.] 



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LJ Li^—y 



ORAOE-NEOK OF MUMS. 



Its Causes Explained. 



Crack-neck is a term applied to the 

 rupturing of the stem of chrysanthe- 

 mums. The rupture occurs just below 

 the bud or flower and is usually a hor- 

 izontal break in the stem. The trouble 

 occurs most frequently in the fancy 

 show varieties, such as the Turners and 

 Mount Greenwood, but also, to a less 

 extent, in ordinary varieties not so ex- 

 cessively forced. 



This trouble has been studied critical- 

 ly by G. H. Chapman, of the Massachu- 

 V, setts Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Amherst, Mass., and the results have 

 been reported tecently in Phytopathol- 

 ogy, a scientific jo.urnal. 



Mr. Chapman tells us that this disease 

 is not caused by a fungus, sayi|ig that 

 investigation of the fertilization in- 

 dicated that an excess of plant food 

 could not be a col&tributory cause and 

 that the condition of the plants did 

 not indicate the presence of continued 

 excessive soil moisture; it was evident 

 that overfeeding and continued exces- 

 sive watering should be eliminated from 

 consideration. ■■ 



Water Pressure Tears Tissue. 



After observing carefully the condi- 

 tions in the greenhouse on the day pre- 

 ceding the appearance of the disease, 

 iK VrAS found that, first, there occurred 

 a^aj^i4:,drop in temperature of several 

 SAMx^I This was brought about by a 

 r^*;%fiWtti late one afternoon. Con- 

 cttllfltilnt with this rapid drop in tem- 

 perature was an increase in relative 

 htiitfraify, or the percentage of moisture 

 in : the air of the greenhouse. Secondly, 

 i^-iyi^as found that the temperature of the 

 /sp^ 4id not change, but remained prac- 

 tipaHy. stationary. The soil had been 

 jre|<?iyi»g an adequate supply of water 

 prey^pusly. 



: „.,W#, know from our studies of the 

 . plkysioilogy of plants that, if the rela- 

 .tivie humidity increases, transpiration, 

 or the evaporation of water from the 

 plant, decreases. We also know that, 

 if the soil temperature remains uniform 

 and the supply of water in the soil is 

 adequate, absorption, or the intake of 

 water and salts by the roots, remains 

 unchanged. Wheh, then, the temperature 

 of the greenhouse drops rapidly a few 

 degrees, the roots of the plants con- 

 tinue to take in water and salts at the 

 normal rate, while the leaves give off 

 water at a slower rate. In other words, 



Written for The Berlew by P. A. Lehenbaner, 

 of the DMrion of Floriculture, unlver«lty of 

 nUnolB, Urbana, 111. 



the income of water is greater than the 

 outgo. This must result in a gradual 

 accumulation of water within the plant. 

 As a consequence of this increasing 

 water pressure within the plant, some of 

 the tissues must eventually give way; 

 somewhere in the structure or the plant 

 there must be a break. In the chrys- 

 anthemum this break occurs on the stem 

 just below the developiUg flower. 



Crack-neck Not Confined to Mums. 



That this explanation is correct is 

 shown by the fact that Mr. Chapman 

 was able to produce crack-neck at will 

 by reproducing the conditions just de- 

 scribed. He has shown experimentally, 

 by duplicating the conditions which ex- 

 isted in the greenhouse the day pre- 

 vious to the appearance of crack-neck, 

 that the disease is due to the at- 

 mospheric conditions surrounding the 

 plant. \ 



This trouble of tissue rupture is not 

 confined to the chrysanthemum. Plant 

 physiologists have noted and described 

 it in other plants. It occurs rather 



frequently on vegetables, fruits and herr 

 baceous plants. 



The prevention of the disease lies in 

 a careful watch and control of the tem- 

 perature and moisture. If the day is 

 cloudy the plant transpires less water 

 than it does if the day is bright. Less 

 water, therefore, must be given the 

 plant. If this cannot be done, the tem- 

 perature should be raised. This will 

 enable the plant to transpire more water. 

 At night the plant again transpires 

 less water than during the day, be- 

 cause the temperature is lower and the 

 humidity is higher. The temperature, 

 therefore, should be raised as much as 

 the best development of the plants will 

 permit. This higher temperature will 

 enable the plant lo ^ive off more water 

 and thus prevent high water pressure 

 within the plant which occurs during the 

 early hours of the night. 



Temperature Control Important. 



Crack-neck illustrates the importance 

 of controlling carefully the temperature 

 of the greenhouse. A change in air 

 temperature ii followed by a change in 

 relative humidity. A change in humid- 

 ity affects the transpiration of water 

 from the plants. SoU temperature has 

 an influence on the intake of water by 

 the roots. Although under ordinary con- 

 ditions the soil temperature approxi- 

 mates that of the air, any rapid change 

 in air temperature is not followed by an 

 equally rapid change in soil temperature. 

 The temperature of the soil changes 

 rather slowly, . especially when the soil 

 is well supplied with water. Sudden 

 or rapid changes in air temperature, 

 therefore, must be avoided, especially 

 in the case of highly forced plants. 

 Such plants cannot adjust themselves 

 readily to these unlike conditions of soil 

 and sir and, as a consequence, there is 

 an unbalaneed equilibrium in the water 

 relations of the plants. This leads to 

 an abnormal or pathological condition of 

 growth. 



COAL OUTLOOK BETTER. 



All records for the year 1920 in the 

 production of bituminous coal were 

 broken in the week ended September 

 25, according to the geological survey. 

 The total output was 11,817,000 net 

 tons, the highest mark in the year. It 

 almost reached the 12,000,000 goal fixed 

 by the National Coal Association. 



Production per working day was 

 1,969,000 tons, the highest with one ex- 

 ception since January, the exception be- 

 ing the 5-day week of Labor day. 



The figures indicate rapid progress 

 toward caring for the coal situation the 

 coming winter. While 1920 is thus far 

 about 13,500,000 tons behind 1917, and 

 a little over 44,000,000 tons behind 

 1918, it is 51,500,000 tons ahead of 1919. 



The National Coal Association gives 

 positive assurance that the bituminous 

 coal supply will meet the winter's de- 

 mand. With production running at 

 over 12,000,000 tons a week, the opera- 

 tors calculate that the existing defi- 

 eiency due to underproduction can be 

 made iip soon after December 1. Dur- 

 ing GetaiMr of last year, preceding the 



miners' strike, production averaged 

 12,081,750 tons a week. In the week of 

 October 25 that year 13,092,000 tons 

 were produced. The highest production 

 for any week during the present strin- 

 gency was 11,813,000 tons during the 

 week of August 14. The average for 

 the last two months has been approxi- 

 mately 10,100,000 tons a week. 



The National Coal Association gives 

 this advice to small consumers : ' ' House- 

 holders may feel entirely confident that, 

 by resisting any panicky tendency to 

 hoard coal within the next few weeks, 

 they will not suffer for want of supply 

 during the winter. Just as soon as the 

 northwestern situation is cleared up, 

 there will be enough coal released from 

 that movement to make up any deficien- 

 cies that may exist. In the meantime, 

 judicious distribution of the available 

 current production will supply the im- 

 mediate wants of small consumers any- 

 where. ' ' 



It has been stimulating to scan traffic 

 figures of August, which disclose a gen- 

 eral enhancement 6f car movement, 

 economies of dispatching solid trains 



