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696 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



August 17, 1905. 



LeoNieasen. 



were picked no signs were seen of this 

 disease. These plants are receiving the 

 same treatment, but no brick walls are 

 around these houses. 



Is it asking too much when I ask 

 you to give me your opinion on this 

 subject f I hjave explained the subject 

 as well a?" I can in short words and 

 hope you' will understand me. 



H. L. L. 



The brick wall can have nothing to 

 do with the poor health of the old 

 Beauties, but the soil, being banked 

 up against it, will have a tendency to 

 keep it damp and create moisture in 

 the house and may, in a measure, ac- 

 count for the black-spot. Side ventila- 

 tion, by causing a draught in the 

 houses, will also reduce the vitality of 

 the plants and make them an easy prey 

 to either black-spot or mildew. 



The questioner omitted to state 

 whether his benches were raised or solid 

 and, as this is one of the most impor- 

 tant factors when carrying over old 

 Beauties, it must be taken into account. 

 The poisonous salts which accumulate 

 in the soil from last season 's feeding 

 and find a lodgment in the drainage or 

 subsoil in solid benches, are hard to get 

 rid of unless the plants are lifted and 

 the old soil removed, and cause a deal 

 of damage when the feeding roots dip 

 into this unsuitable food. If the 

 benches are of the raised kind it is 

 easier to remove all the soil, clean the 

 benches and renew the soil. 



Seeing that the houses are not en- 

 tirely waterproof it would be advisable 

 to have the roofs gone over with 

 Mastica or Old English putty and use 



a little firing during damp weather to 

 dry up the moisture. 



The use of sulphur and lime should, 

 other conditions being favorable, have 

 helped to check the black-spot. Clean- 

 liness also is a good preventive. 



The following, mixture is often used 

 with good results when other measures 

 have failed: Five ounces of the car- 

 bonate of copper (cupram) to three 

 quarts of ammonia and sixty gallons of 

 water. Use a very fine spray and see 

 that every part of the foliage is washed. 

 This should be done once a week for 

 at least a month. 



Pick oflf all infected leaves and burn 

 them, keep the surface of the soil clean 

 and well stirred, and do not attempt 

 any kind of feeding until the plants 

 have regained their health. Keep the 

 soil rather on the dry side. Be careful 

 of ventilation, both night and day, and 

 guard against any sudden fluctuation of 

 temperature and no doubt but in a 

 short time conditions will improve. 



RlBES. 



LEO NIESSEN. 



Leo Niessen has come forward with 

 rapid strides during the past ten years 

 until today he is recognized as standing 

 in the very front rank of our represen- 

 tative business men. His position is due 

 to industry, integrity and ability of a 

 high order, combined with rare tact and 

 sound judgment. 



EocKFORD, III. — Alderman C. H. Wool- 

 sey has bought the greater part of the 

 Otis Hinckley plant and stock for re- 

 moval to his place on Charles street. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Buds. 



We have now arrived at a most im- 

 portant period and that is the period for 

 selecting the buds. While these notes 

 may not apply to any great extent to 

 the commercial growers, most of whom 

 plant late and take the September bud, 

 the exhibition grower and the man who 

 wants the very finest flowers must catch 

 an August crown bud on the greater part 

 of the varieties now in cultivation. There 

 are a few kinds that should be taken 

 later, which we will enumerate, but after 

 August 20 I take every bud that shows 

 and have always found it safe to do so. 



The difference between the buds and 

 the question which is the proper one to 

 take afford the great stumbling block 

 to the majority of beginners and I will 

 briefly explain so far as I can the dif- 

 ference in the buds. 



There are two kinds of buds produced 

 by the mum, known respectively as 

 crowns and terminal. 



When plants, after being set out ou 

 the benches in May, have made a foot or 

 so of growth they produce a bud some 

 time in June. This is called a "break" 

 by many growers, but is in reality a 

 crown bud. Only by reason of its being 

 produced too early it is useless to retain 

 this bud for flowering purposes. The 

 plant will grow along and some time in 

 July will produce another bud, which, 

 like the first one, is still too early to 

 retain. These buds are sometimes 

 known as first and second crowns. The 

 advice sometimes given in catalogues to 

 take first or second crown buds is mis- 

 leading because the time of the produc- 

 tion of the bud is governed by the time 

 the plant is set out on the bench and 

 permitted to grow. Very early planted 

 stock may produce a first bud in May 

 and a second one in July, which is 

 obviously too early to retain, so that ad- 

 vice to take first or second crowns is 

 not very explicit. 



All buds produced in August are 

 crown buds and a crown bud, by the 

 way, is always distinguished by the 

 shoots that appear around it and which 

 soon grow up and take all the strength 

 away from the bud if they are not re- 

 moved. The terminal bud, which does 

 not appear till September or later, al- 

 ways has a cluster of smaller buds 

 around it in place of the small shoots, 

 and this bud being produced some four 

 weeks later than the crown bud will not 

 produce so large a flower or so deep a 

 flower, because it has had another 

 growth to mature, while the crown bud 

 has been putting that same strength to 

 producing petals in the future flower. 



Some varieties, while producing mag- 

 nificent examples of bloom from the 

 crown bud, are not of much account on 

 the later bud, and this makes a proper 

 selection of bud the "paramount issue" 

 in their case. Conspicuous examples of 

 this kind are William Duckham, Chel- 

 toni, Nellie Pockett, Mary Inglis and 

 Donald McLeod, and practically all the 

 Australian varieties should be taken on 

 the crown bud. 



It often happens that a plant has 

 buds showing by, say, the end of the 

 first week in August, a date that is really 

 too early to take the bud and yet if that 

 bud is rubbed off and the plant allowed 

 to make another growth the next bud 

 would not be produced until September, 

 too late for a first-class flower. This 

 early bud can be held in suspense a week 



