OCTOBBB 6, 1904. 



The Weekly FloristsVReview. 



947 



SEASONABLE ADMONITIONS. 



Forcing the Blooms. 



There is a great temptation just now 

 to rush the flowers along by turning on 

 the heat, because the market is waiting 

 and the demand good. To those who are 

 trying this forcing process I would say, 

 don't. In the first place it is practically 

 impossible to force a chrysanthemum and 

 the flower will develop more quickly in a 

 temperature of 50 degrees than in a 

 temperature of 70 degrees. The sun- 

 light is the only thing that will push the 

 flowers open. Given a touch of frost at 

 night and bright, crisp days, we can run 

 just a crack of heat in the mum house 

 and furnish ideal conditions for the rapid 

 development of the flowers, without any 

 high temperature. 



Another reason why I say don't force 

 is because a high temperature is very 

 favorable to the increase of red spider 

 and black and green fly and since one 

 cannot syringe to any extent any more, 

 their presence at this time means a loss 

 of flowers. Fire heat also makes the 

 flowers very soft and liable to be easily 

 bruised, a very undesirable condition 

 when shipping to market. 



Red Spider. 



If red spider is present in any quan- 

 tity now you will see it in the bud, and it 

 may be necessary to do some spraying to 

 clean it out. I have several times seen 

 flowers completely spoiled by spider and 

 the grower did not have the faintest idea 

 what had happened to them until too 

 late to remedy the trouble. 



Black Fly. 



If the flowers are too far open to per- 

 mit any more fumigating and black fly 

 is present, tie a small piece of aphis 

 punk close up under the flower. The 

 nicotine will clean out every fly in short 

 order if the punk is fresh and that, too, 

 without the least injury to the flower. 



Mildew. 



Mildew is worse thau for some time 

 past. If you have a steam pipe, a lit- 

 tle sulphur will remedy that trouble by 

 painting it on the pipe, or the plants 

 may be sprayed with the sulphide of 

 potassium, using it in the proportion of 

 one ounce to a gallon of water. 



Feeding. 



Feeding should be stopped on any 

 variety as it shows color. 



Several people have spoken to me 

 about their plants of Duckham cracking 

 at the neck, just under the bud. In some 

 cases this trouble has been so pro- 

 nounced that the plant has literally be- 

 headed itself and pushed the bud com- 

 pletely off. Duckham is a very strong 

 grower and, in common with other kinds 

 of a like vigorous constitution, does not 

 need nearly so much feeding as more 

 delicate kinds. If your plants of Duck- 

 ham are cracking at the neck stop feed- 

 ing and keep well on the dry side. It 



must be remembered that growth in the 

 plant has now stopped and all the sap 

 is pumping directly into the bud and 

 feeding calls for the use of discretion. 

 Even an excessive supply of water on a 

 warm day may cause the stem to crack 

 when a plant has such a rooting system 

 as some of the present-day kinds show. 

 Duckham will, as a matter of fact, de- 

 velop two flowers to a plant just as well 

 as one. 



Petals Damping. 



If the petals are damping as the 

 flower opens, give a good coat of shad- 

 ing all over the roof of white wash or 

 whiting or mud, anything to break the 

 rays of the sun. It is all very well to 

 talk about sun-proof crimsons, but as 

 a matter of fact we find that almost 

 any variety will burn when we get, as 

 we often do, a bright, cloudless day 

 with the temperature running into the 

 eighties. The mum is a cool growing 

 plant and the high temperatures we get 

 in October are distinctly inimical to the 

 best development of the' flower. But 

 we must make the best of our disad- 

 vantages. Do not be afraid to shade, 

 and shade heavily, if conditions require 

 it, not only for the crimsons and pinks 

 but for every kind. 



Merstham Yellow. 



This variety, spoken of last week, was 

 exhibited before the C. S. A. committee 

 October 1 and scored ninety points as 

 an early yellow. It was very fine and a 

 prominent wholesaler remarked in my 



liearing that he could sell 500 flowers 

 that day at 50 cents each if he could 

 only get them. Next year we will see 

 if he can make good his statement. 



Brian Boru. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



The Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America has arranged for the following 

 special prizes to be competed for at the 

 exhibition which opens at Boston No- 

 vember 3: 



W. Wells & Co., Earlswood, Surrey, 

 England, offer gold, silver-gilt, and 

 silver medals, three prizes, for six 

 blooms of any of the Wells-Pocket set 

 of 1903, not less than two varieties to 

 be shown. Varieties eligible to com- 

 pete are: W. Duekham, Maynell, 3. T. 

 Wright, Harrison Dick, Leila Filkins, 

 F. A. Cobbold, Donald McLeod, Mrs. 

 T. Longley, Mrs. E. Hunt, Mary Inglis, 

 Hester Edwards, Pantia Ralli, Chel- 

 tonii. (He makes this offer through 

 Mr. Wm. Duckham.) 



Chas. H. Totty offers $25, $13 and 

 $10 for a vase of twelve flowers of 

 Chrysanthemum W. Duckham. 



A, Herrington offers $6 and $4 for a 

 vase of six blooms of any chrysanthe- 

 mum. 



C. S. A. offers three prizes, $25, $15 

 and $10, for twenty-four blooms in 

 twenty-four varieties, on 15-inch stems. 



The E. G. Hill Co. offers a silver 

 vase, to be known as The E. Q. Hill 

 Trophy, value $25, open to private 

 gardeners only, twenty blooms in 

 twenty varieties, one bloom to a vase. 



Nathan Smith & Son offer $25 for 

 best twelve white chrysanthemums, 

 American or foreign origin, dissemi- 

 nated in 1904. To be judged from a 

 '•ommercial standpoint, stems not less 

 than thirty inches long, open to private 

 gardeners only. 



The C. S. A. offers the C. S. A. silver 

 cup, value $20, for best ten blooms of 

 any chrysanthemum, one variety. 



Sweet Alyssum. 

 Don't forget to plant, along the edge 

 of a carnation bed, some plants of the 

 double sweet alyssum. This pretty little 

 flower is very useful at all times. It 

 gives lightness and relief in designs 

 where flowers of too uniform a size are 

 used. Don't over do it, A plant every 

 three or lour feet, close to the edge 

 of the bed, will do no harm. I never no- 

 ticed that the carnation plant nearest 

 the sweet alyssum was less vigorous than 

 one in the middle of the bed. 



To Get Good Fuchsias. 



We don't see fuchsias grown as well 

 nowadays as they were some thirty years 

 ago, and we see an attempt at growing 

 them very near home that are complete 

 rubbish. They are not a success as a 

 flower-garden plant; our warm summers 

 are not what suits them. Yet there is a 

 large sale for them in the spring for 

 window plants. The failure to grow 



strong, healthy plants is because at the 

 end of the selling season a few late-pro- 

 pagated runts are carried along, most 

 likely indoors. The wood is never 

 ripened and never will give strong cut- 

 tings. If you did as you should and 

 saved a plant or two of each variety 

 from the largest and strongest plants 

 you had early last spring and plunged 

 them outdoors during summer, they will 

 now be ripening. 



Don't be afraid of a few degrees of 

 frost. It will kill the leaves but won't 

 hurt the wood. Then bring them in and 

 lay them down beneath a bench in your 

 coolest house, where they need no at- 

 tention for two months. That's their 

 resting time. Early in December if you 

 want large, early plants, get them up, 

 shake off the old soil, cut back the weak 

 growth and start growing and you will 

 get strong cuttings that will ^lake vig- 

 orous plants. 



