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72 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



JUNB 1, 1905. 



ceiver located below the lowest return 

 pipe and forced upward into the dump 

 trap on top of the boiler. A steam trap 

 BO placed as to drain the pipes in one 

 set of houses will in no way interfere 

 with the working of another range of 

 houses by the gravity system, especially 

 where the difference in elevation is as 

 great as eight feet. A dump trap is 

 preferable to a steam pump as it will 

 work under a comparatively low pres- 

 sure, the steam pump requiring at least 

 twenty pounds pressure for its opera- 

 tion. Other forms of pumps are objec- 



tionable because of the cost of operating 

 them. 



it would be advisable to put in a 2^2- 

 inch pipe for returning the condensed 

 water from the lower block of houses, 

 and the fall in this pipe should not be 

 less than eighteen inches for the entire 

 100 feet distance. A spialler pipe would 

 doubtless handle the required amount of 

 water but the larger pipe is preferable, 

 as the flow of water is not constant. If 

 a pump is used it should have a capacity 

 of at least twenty-five gallons per min- 

 ute. L. C. C. 



BUDS AND BREAKS. 



Some complaint is reaching me re- 

 garding varieties that, instead of mak- 

 ing a clean, nice growth, will persist in 

 producing buds. This trouble in one in- 

 stance extends to the entire batch of 

 varieties. In such a case, where all the 

 kinds nre equally affected, it plainly 

 shows mismanagement, but some kinds 

 with the best of care are affected al- 

 ways more or less in this manner, and 

 these kinds are generally some of the 

 btst, W. R. Church, Guy Hamilton and 

 the old ^Morel being good instances, and 

 two of the novelties, J. H. Doyle and 

 Mersthain Yellow, have been reported as 

 showing this habit more or less. 



The only thing to do in such cases 

 is to keep the buds closely picked off 

 and eventually nature will assert herself 

 and the plant, either by throwing up a 

 sucker from the ground or breaking 

 fiom the stem, will produce a satisfac- 

 tory growth. If the plants are in pots 

 it is well to keep them there until this 

 shoot appears, though I am no adherent, 

 on general principles, to letting plants 

 lie around in small pots to get dried out 

 several times a day and otherwise 

 neglected, as they will be during the 

 busy days of early June. 



Where an entire batch of plants is 

 throwing buds instead of growing, it 

 shows that they have not had a sufficient 

 supply of water and the wood has become 

 hard and pithy, whereas a young plant 

 in the pink of condition should be al- 

 most as succulent and brittle as a stalk- 

 of asparagus. Young plants should 

 never be permitted to become dry or 

 trouble will certainly follow. 



Early rooted plants that have made 

 a growth a foot or so in length will now 

 be producing what is known as a 

 "break." This is really a bud, but it is 

 entirely in conformity with the natural 

 habit of the plant. Three or more 

 growths Avill at once appear around this 

 bud and thej' will grow away without" 

 any trouble. A plant producing a bud 

 in this manner now will produce an- 

 other one in July, and then a 

 third one will be produced in August, 

 which will make a good flower if the 

 growth shoots are disbudded. 



This habit of the chrysanthemum in 

 producing summer buds or "breaks" is 

 probably responsible for the confusion 



that so often arises in the minds of 

 growers who are not so well posted on 

 the plant as they might be. When the 

 plant produces a bud late in August the 

 man who does not know imagines it is 

 another summer break and permits the 

 plant to go on and make another growth 

 where if he had retained that bud he 

 would have been rewarded by a splendid 

 flower. 



It is early to be writing of flowers at 

 planting time, but I am endeavoring to 

 make the bud and "break" question 

 clear, which is so hard- for the layman to 

 understand, since no other plant of my 

 acquaintance has this habit. 



General Notes. 



It is hard to fumigate plants now and 

 the black fly waxes fat and plenteous 

 in the land. Dust the plants well witli 

 tobacco dust or spray with To^bak-ine 

 Liquid and either one will keep down 

 this pest. 



Some growers set out plants in the 

 garden which after being pinched a few 

 times make very fair bushes for lifting 

 in September and potting. If you do this, 

 and it is a cheap way of handling a big 

 lot of stock, plant them in close prox- 

 imity to the water supply. They love a 

 copious spraying in the cool evening 

 after a hot, drying day. 



It used to be quite an idea to plant 

 out the future pot plants on the vacant 

 carnation benches, but now with the 

 growth of the new ideas regarding car- 

 nation culture, i. e., planting from pots 

 in June or from the field in July, such a 

 course is out of the question. 



If you are figuring on growing some 

 very late flowers and do not propose to 

 put in your cuttings just yet, do not 

 neglect the stock plants. If they are in 

 pets or boxes, put them out in a cold 

 frame, where they will not get so drawn 

 with the heat. Many growers keep their 

 stock plants in frames all the time, put- 

 ting them in after the flowering period 

 is over in the fall and waiting until the 

 plants come naturally into growth in 

 the spring before propagating. 



If any of the young stock is running 

 up too high it is a good plan to pinch it 

 back, leaving three or four good leaves. 

 They will break readily enough and be 

 far more satisfactory than if allowed to 

 run on in a tall, overgrown condition. 

 Charles H. Totty. 



DRYING OFF. 



Those who intend to carry part of 

 their stock over for another season 

 should feed the plants well in order to 

 retain size of bloom and encourage a 

 strong growth before beginning to dry 

 them off later on. By this method we 

 can have a fair supply of good stock 

 until such time as the earlier planted 

 stock will begin to produce. 



By the beginning of August, these 

 benches can be allowed to gradually 

 ripen by curtailing the water supply and 

 giving free ventilation. In order that 

 every leaf may help in the ripening 

 process, the syringe will have to be used 

 freely, so that with the drier atmos- 

 phere induced by the smaller supply of 



water used, red spider may not get a 

 hold. . 



We frequently see houses during the 

 ripening process sadly neglected in the 

 matter of ventilation and syringing be- 

 cause of the mistaken idea that as a 

 certain per cent of the leaves have got 

 to go it does not matter how. Now, 

 the foliage is just as essential to a 

 proper ripening of the wood as it is 

 during the growing season and any stock 

 where the leaves are scorched or burned 

 off in a hurry, or are allowed to become 

 a prey to red spider, must lose a large 

 portion of their vitality, and consequent- 

 ly the root action will be more diffi- 

 cult to start, causing the eyea to break 

 weak. 



The ripening process, to be effective, 

 must b3 slow and natural, never allow- 

 ing the soil to become so dry that the 

 young wood or foliage will show signs 

 of wilting, keeping the temperature as 

 near 56 degrees as possible during tin* 

 night and giving all the air possible on 

 every favorable occasion during the day. 



