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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mabch 9, 190S. 



asters and all there is done by some 

 growers is to pinch out the leading 

 growth, or rather just the top of the 

 center growth. It encourages the side 

 shoots, which is the crop, both in quan- 

 tity and quality. 



The florwers should be cut with all the 

 stem you can get, .iust as soon as they 

 are fully developed. For shipping to 

 market the flowers are usually tied in 

 bunches of twenty-five, laid in a long 

 box and if large, fine flowers they de- 

 serve only to be laid in one tier of bunch- 

 es, but more often they are shipped in 

 two layers. Asters ship well and keep 

 their form. 



In concluding this monograph on the 



aster I can only add that you may be 

 disappointed because your product will 

 not resemble the magnificent flowers that 

 are pictured in the illustrated colored 

 catalogues of Iifessrs. Art, Pigment & 

 Co. Yet don'j; always blame the seeds- 

 man. They have paid high for art- 

 ists to create these gorgeous monstros- 

 ities. By faithful care and attention 

 (more than art or science) you may pro- 

 duce blooms that will delight and bring 

 shekels to your pocket. When you see 

 a flower of good size, form and 

 color, save it for seed and in a few years, 

 with careful selection, you will have a 

 strain of your own. 



William Scott. 



THE BEST MUMS IN ENGLAND. 



A recent number of the Gardeners' 

 Magazine, an English publication, con- 

 tains an interesting article by the vet- 

 eran grower, E. Molyneux, with a list of 

 twenty-four varieties of Japanese chtys- 

 anthemums, which he considers the best 

 in cultivation in England. The list is 

 as follows: F. S. Vallis, canary yel- 

 low; Bessie Godfrey, canary yellow; 

 Mrs. F. W. Vallis, crimson, shaded apri- 

 cot; Duchess of Sutherland, orange yel- 

 low; W. R. Church, rosy crimson, bronze 

 reverse; Mme. Paola Eadaelli, rose and 

 white; Elsie Fulton, white; Mrs. G. 

 Mileham, pink; Henry Perkins, bronzy 

 crimson; Maf eking Hero, bronze; Lady 

 Conyers, rosy pink; General Hutton, 

 yellow shaded bronzy red; M. C. Nagel- 

 mackers, white ; J. R. Upton, golden yel- 

 low; Miss Olive Miller, pink; George 

 Lawrence, golden bronze; W. A. Eth- 

 erington, silvery mauve; Chrysanthemiste 

 Montigny, straw yellow; Miss Stopford, 

 creamy white; J. H. Silsbuiy, terra cot- 

 ta shading to yellow; President Viger, 

 light pink; W. Duckham. pink; Edith 

 Shrimpton, white; Henry Stowe, blush 

 pink. 



This list may be said to be entirely 

 free from any bias of trade influence 

 and most likely represents the careful 

 summary of the writer's notes and ob- 

 servations of the fall shows, and a little 

 review of the varieties with their beha- 

 vior here is interesting by way of com- 

 parison. 



The system of showing over there, 

 which is almost exclusively on boards, 

 makes considerable difference, since no 

 matter how long and bare the neck or 

 weak the stem, it is immaterial if the 

 flower has size. Here, of course, our 

 system is different. The . flowers are set 

 up mostly on long stems in vases and 

 stem and foliage count for much, some- 

 times even, I think, a little too much, 

 since the flower is really the "para- 

 mount issue." 



The two first varieties, F. S. Vallis 

 and Bessie Godfrey, are both fine here, 

 particularly for the short vase classes, 

 but most growers here will concede the 

 palm for yellows to Col. Appleton and 

 Mrs. E. Thirkell as being deeper in 

 color and having better stem and foli- 



age. F. S. Vallis is probably the larg- 

 est variety in cultivation today, but the 

 stem is weak. 



The third best on the list, Mrs. F. W. 

 Vallis, did not show up with us last 

 year as we had hoped. The color was 

 exquisitely beautiful on second crown 

 buds, but size was lacking and many 

 blooms showed an eye. A much finer 

 crimson with us was Maynell, which did 

 not manage to secure a place on Mr. 

 Molyneux 's roll of honor. 



Duchess of Sutherland I am not ac- 

 quainted with but W. R. Church has 

 done finely. This variety is firmly es- 

 tablished now as one of the standard 

 varieties with us. 



Mme. Paola Eadaelli has not '^caught 

 on" and the color is one which the 

 American cultivator passes over with- 

 out a second glance, being neither pink 

 nor white, but of the character gener- 

 ally described as "washy." 



Miss Elsie Fulton was a sad disap- 

 pointment for us. I have spoken before 

 in these columns, I think, of this va- 

 riety. Many letters from the other 

 side eulogized Elsie and we know how 

 fine she grows there, but, alas, our stren- 

 uous climate upset her equilibrium en- 

 tirely and sorrow is our portion. She 

 was in flower by October 1 and show- 

 ing an eye several inches across; in fact, 

 many buds seemed to be all eye, with 

 merely a fringe of petals around it. 



Mrs. G. Milehanf is very good here 

 generally, though not one of the eas- 

 iest to grow and since W. Duckham was 

 introduced has fallen from popular favor 

 since the latter variety is a grand 

 grower and gives a muclf larger flower 

 with practically the same color. 



Henry Perkins is so far a novelty here 

 and has not yet been distributed gen- 

 erally, but I like the color very much 

 myself. 



Mafeking Hero and Lady Conyers 

 have neither of them shown any quali- 

 ties entitling them to serious considera- 

 tion here. Neither has Mme. C. Nagel- 

 mackers. but General Hutton was a 

 much admired flower last fall. A grand 

 growth, stiff stent and a perfect flower 

 combined to make this a splendid vari- 

 ety, though unfortunately one cannot 

 enter it in a class calling for a fixed 



number of yellows, since the bronzy 

 shading kills it as a pure yellow and 

 either Thirkell or Appleton would 

 beat it. 



Miss Olive Miller is far too early 

 here for exhibition, though a beautiful 

 thing and will probably fall into line 

 as a fine early pink commercially. 



W. A. Etherington has shown up Splen- 

 didly and should be grown by every 

 one. While the color Is somewhat light 

 and on that account needs to be care- 

 fully placed in a collection of varieties 

 when being staged, it is a very fine va- 

 riety. 



Chrysanthemiste Montigny is in the 

 novelty list here, as is also J. H. Sils- 

 bury and another year must elapse be- 

 fore one can judge them impartially. 



W. Duckham is now well known and 

 needs no further comment here. It is 

 Al in its color. The two last named 

 varieties I am not acquainted with. 



The noted French raiser, M. Calvat, 

 is well represented, with F. S. Vallis, 

 Mme. C. Nagelmackers and Chrysanthe- 

 miste Montigny. He has given to the 

 world many grand varieties and alsc^ 

 unfortunately, a host of poor ones. Sqjsk 

 seven of the list are Australians, nota- 

 bly W. Duckham, W. R. Church and 

 W. A. Etherington, and I am inclined 

 to think that a list compiled here of the 

 twenty-four best would show a much 

 larger percentage even than that. Amer- 

 ica does not seem to be represented by 

 a single variety, though, as we know, 

 several American varieties are standard 

 commercial sorts over there. 



The list shows fairly well the cos- 

 mopolitan character of the present day 

 mum and if a few varieties from Japan 

 were included in the list the chain would 

 be complete. Charles H. Tottt. 



RETURNING CONDENSATION. 



I notice an article in the Review of 

 February 9, headed "Returning Con- 

 densation," in which it is apparent that 

 the writer is surprised that high pressure 

 and an automatic pump are not recom- 

 mended to those who want the best sys- 

 tem. I am surprised, after my expe- 

 rience with this system of heating, that 

 anyone having experience should recom- 

 mend it. 



I first built two houses, each 150 feet 

 long, and put the boiler down in a pit 

 twelve feet deep, on a system recommend- 

 ed to me, the gravity system. I found 

 that one-third of the pipes were always 

 cold. The steam condensed in the pipes 

 and water accumulated. The steam in 

 the boiler prevented the water from re- 

 turning until a large quantity accumu- 

 lated, so that the weight of the water 

 was heavy enough to overcome the steam 

 pressure. 



Then I changed from this system to a 

 trap system. This was twenty years ago. 

 That trap was so complicated that it was 

 constantly out of order and I had fre- 

 quently to get up in the night to repair 

 it. The parts were so small that any 

 little dirt that got in would clog it. 

 From this I changed to the pump sys- 

 tem. At that time the automatic re- 

 ceiver on the pump was not yet in exist- 

 ence. I got one of the best steam-fltters 

 to make for me a receiver, put a float 

 in and attached the pump. The receiver 

 he made was 3x6 feet, holding flve or six 

 barrels of water, so I was pumping cold 

 water back into the boilers. This was 

 not satisfactorv and I was on the look- 

 out for something else. 



