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1004 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



OCTOBBB 13, 1904. 



very gradually. Alternate freezing and 

 thawing spells ruin. As to keeping ferns 

 in artificial cold storage, the wholesale 

 florists, particularly in Chicago, have 

 spent thousands of dollars in trying to 

 find out how it should be done and have 

 not yet discovered the way to insure suc- 

 cess. Sometimes the ferns keep; some- 

 times they don't. It is a speculative 

 proposition. 



As to keeping ferns bought in mod- 

 erate quantities from the wholesaler, as 

 good a way as any is to put them in 

 buckets of water, standing the ferns as 

 many as will go in a bucket, with water 

 two inches up the stems. CJover with 

 damp cheesecloth and place in the room 

 where carnations are ordinarily kept. 

 See that the cloth is kept dampened and 

 water in the bucket. 



VARIETIES IN FLOWER. 



The list of varieties ready for cutting 

 is growing every day and now begins to 

 include the big fellows. Lady Harriet, 

 Alice Byron, Halliday, Mrs. Coombes, 

 White Coombes, Mrs. T. W. Pockett and 

 in a day or two more, Kobinson. 



Alice Byron as an early white is peer- 

 less and how this variety filtered into 

 the trade and established itself as a 

 top-notcher without any previous her- 

 alding is one of the mysteries that has 

 never been satisfactorily explained. By- 

 ron has been planted largely this year 

 by the commercial growers and is giv- 

 ing great satisfaction. 



Mrs. Coombes is now quite largely 

 grown as a pink and its white sport, 

 which will l>e introduced next year, will 

 undoubtedly be well received. As is 

 often the case with a sport, it shows 

 some rejuvenation and is a stronger 

 grower than the parent, but otherwise 

 is similar, in foliage and every other 

 respect. This white sport appeared last 

 year with President Arthur Herrington, 

 of the C. S. A., at Madison, N. J. 

 Whether it has appeared elsewhere 

 through the country I have not heard, 

 but it is quite possible. 



Cutting; and Shipping. 



It is a very wrong practice, though 

 quite common, to cut the flowers, pack 

 them in boxes, and ship them to market 

 without having them stand in water for 

 some time. When one gets a rush order 

 and has to ship at once, there is no help 

 for it, but under ordinary conditions 

 it is far better to cut the flowers one 

 day and ship them the next. Twenty-four 

 hours is not too long a time for the stems 

 to be soaking up the water and if the 

 shipper has ever seen the diflferencc in 

 the appearance of flowers so treated, 

 and flowers shipped without having been 

 in water, when they are unpacked, he 

 will need no further advice on this sub- 

 ject. Let the receptacle in which the 

 flowers are placed to soak up the water 

 be large enough and deep enough so that 

 the stems will be kept upright and not 

 bent over. Then the water has a free 

 passage direct to the flower. 



In packing the flowers in the boxes 

 do not be sparing of the tissue paper, 

 as a mum badly bruised is a very hard 

 proposition to sell at any price. Pack 

 caretuiiy and securely and have a little 

 tissue paper between each flower to keep 

 them from rubbing on each other. If 

 the stpms and foliage do not fill the box 



in the center, press them down and hold 

 them fast by nailing a slat or twc 

 across inside the box, to prevent them 

 from thrashing around. 



A litte care spent in packing is time 

 well spent, since the labor of months i? 

 represented in the flowers and if they 

 get bruised and spoiled they may be se< 

 down as a dead loss. Brian Boru. 



"TAKING" THE BUD, 



' ' Taking the bud ' ' of chrysanthe- 

 mums is a technical term for the selec- 

 tion of buds likely to produce the finest 

 blooms. There are many points to 

 which the grower must give attention if 

 he would achieve success in the culti- 

 vation of chrysanthemums, and one of 

 the most, if not the most, important 

 points is "taking" the bud, for, as all 

 who have had experience with the cul- 

 ture of chrysanthemums know, the buds, 

 to furnish first-class flowers, must be 

 selected within a few days of the 

 proper time for each variety, and more 

 especially if required for exhibition. As 

 so well known to experienced cultivators, 

 the flower from a bud taken too early 

 is rough and poor in color, whereas if 

 the bud should be taken late, the flower 

 will be of a good color, but greatly lack- 

 ing in size. The buds of some varie- 

 ties require to be taken early in Au- 

 gust, while others, such as singles and 

 j)ompons, as late as the end of Septem- 

 ber, but to know the varieties, and when 

 the bud should be taken, also whether 

 the crown or terminal bud is the best, 

 can only really be learned by personal 

 experience. To have first-class blooms 

 the buds must be taken at the proper 

 time, and the only way to bring this 

 about is by studying the peculiarities of 

 each individual variety that one is grow- 

 ing, i. e.. the proper time the bud should 

 be taken, also the length of time the 

 plants take from their first natural 

 break to the crown bud, and in some 

 instances from the latter to the termi- 

 nal. For example, the best colored flow- 

 ers of Viviand-Morel are those from the 

 terminal bud. and should be taken dur- 

 ing the last week of August. To be 

 able to do this, if the plants do not 

 show their natural break by the first 

 few days in May, the points should be 

 taken out, which will cause the crown 

 bud to show itself about July 20, and 

 the terminal toward the end of August, 

 this variety taking twelve weeks from 

 first break to crown bud, and five weeks 

 to the terminal, altogether seventeen 

 weeks from its first break, or when it 



was stopped, to the terminal bud. "Tak- 

 ing the bud" is simply selecting the 

 bud from which the bloom on each shoot 

 is to be produced, and carefully remov- 

 ing the others. — Gardeners' Magazine. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



In addition to the special premiums 

 for the Boston exhibition published last 

 week, as arranged for by the C. S. A., 

 the following are arranged for by the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society: 



The Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety offers for the best fifty blooms of 

 chrysanthemums of one or more varieties 

 to be shown in the society's large china 

 vases five special prizes, $60, $50, $40, 

 $30 and $20. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' Club, 

 Boston, offers for twelve blooms of any 

 chrysanthemum of current season's in- 

 troduction in America, three special 

 prizes, $25, $15 and $10. 



William Nicholson, Framingham, Mass., 

 offers for the best vase of 100 white car- 

 nations, a special prize of $10. 



Patten & Co., Tewksbury, Mass., offer 

 for the best vase of fifty blooms of Car- 

 nation Mrs. M. A. Patten, a special 

 prize of $10. 



Peter Fisher, Ellis, Mass., offers for 

 the best vase of fifty blooms of Carna- 

 tion Nelson Fisher, a special prize of 

 $10. 



Work of Committees. 



There was one variety before the New 

 York committee, Saturday, October 1, 

 as follows: Merstham YeUow, exhibited 

 by W^m. Duckham, Madison, N. J.; color 

 canary yellow, Japanese, scored (new) 

 commercial scale 90 points. 



The variety, Mme. Clementine Touset, 

 was exhibited by the E. G. Hill Co., 

 Bichmond, Ind., before the Cincinnati 

 committee, Saturday, October 8; color 

 white; Japanese, scored commercial 

 scale, 90 points. 



Fred H. Lemon, Sec'y. 



THE READERS' CORNER. 



Retrogression or Progression? 



It was at Kansas City, was it not, in 

 1902 that John Thorpe reverted? That 

 is, reverted to the antediluvian method 

 of staging chrysanthemums on mossed 

 boards, without stems. In the same year 

 the silver tongued E. Gurney Hill induced 

 the Chrysanthemum Society to afford the 

 weak-stemmed progeny of European rais- 

 ers the poor support of a bamboo plant 

 stake re-enforcement, ill-concealed be- 

 neath the foliage. So much for retro- 

 gression. 



In which direction is the C. S. A. head- 

 ed with its new scale. Is it progression? 

 Not being a chrysanthemum grower, I 

 do not know. I have a notion there will 

 be a difference of opinion among those 

 whose opinion is entitled to some little 

 consideration. Let us put the old scales 

 and the new fide by side for comparison. 

 Here they are: 



Commercial Scale. Exhibition Scale. 



New. Old. New. Old. 



Color 20 25 Color 10 15 



Form 15 25 Stem 5 10 



Fullness 10 16 Foliage 5 10 



Stem 15 Fnllmss 15 10 



Foliage 15 10 Form 15 15 



Spbstanoe ... 15 10 Depth ]5Dl8t2S 



Size 10 16 Slzo S& IE 



Total 100 100 Total 100 100 



To one who looks at these scales from 

 the vantage point of disinterestedness it 

 seems that the new commercial scale is 



