1778 



4- 



Thc Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mat 10, 1906. 



The great increase in the call for 

 flowers at Decoration day has come from 

 the broadening of the custom of decorat- 

 ing soldiers' graves so that now prac- 

 tically all the graves in the cemetery, are 

 decorated ; this with the fact that the 

 country is so prosperous that people 

 everywhere have the half-dollar for the 

 * ' bouquet ' ' or the ' ' five ' ' for a wreath 

 to take with them on this day when al- 

 most everyone who has friends there 

 visits the silent city. When you stop to 

 think that in a good many older com- 

 munities there are more dead people in 

 the cemeteries than there are live ones in 



the town it is easy to see that there is 

 sure to be a pretty fair demand, even if 

 outdoor flowers are fairly plentiful. 



But Decoration day is no time for high 

 prices. Don't try it. If you want the 

 Decoration day business to keep on grow- 

 ing, see how much you can give for the 

 money, not how much money you can get 

 for the stock. People will not yet buy 

 at high prices. The married millionaire 

 monkeying with the real live actress is 

 the one you ought to try your fancy 

 figures on; the fellow going to his first 

 wife's grave can't stand for it. Don't 

 liolp to discourage him. 



PLANTING YOUNG STOCK. 



Many growers by this time are getting 

 their plants into permanent quarters, 

 either in the benches, boxes or pots. 

 While bench plants are less trouble in 

 handling, the fact remains that some 

 wonderful flowers have been produced 

 from pots, and more exhibitors every 

 year seem to be going back to pot cul- 

 ture. 



I am frequently aaked if there arenot 

 some special soils o^ mixtures of aiiils 

 that will insure special results. Therp 

 are no such soils, -^e chrysantheirfam ' 

 will do better in a naioderately light Iree 

 loam than in heavy black soil^ it is tfue, 

 when grown under average conditi(ms,^ 

 but the intelligent ciritivator who studies 

 his soil and local conditions wiHriiave 

 his measure of success anywhere. 



The usual compost heap of sod, put up 

 in the fall, with ope-fourth of its bulk 

 of cow manure, an4 chopped down in the 

 spring, is just as'.^ood soil as anyone 

 needs. I would much rather have my soil 

 a little poor at planting time than too 

 rich, because when the plants have to 

 hunt around for food they make more 

 roots and keep the'soil in better condi- 

 tion mechanically, an'd the soil does not 

 get sour from continued waterings. 



In planting on the benches set your, 

 plants at least 8x10 inche.s. and, if you 

 think you can afford the space, 10x12 is 



kinds 



better. It looks wide just now, but one 

 must think of the fall, when the plants 

 have made six feet or more of growth 

 and the space given will be little enough. 



It is a simple matter to plant a house 

 if one merely takes the first plants to 

 hand and stic](& them in: The proper 

 way ife'ito' pick out tlW {^11-growing kinds 

 for the c^nter^'t^here they have the most 

 head-roorrkjlRAql mse the dwarf growers 

 for thoiiJbMj(; add in the case of particu- 

 larly talf jjnj^it is bater to pinch the 

 plants ,^ek,Slmi(;h wii| take off from 

 one to ^ii.^<f<^^^||^™ t£eir height at flow- 

 ering ti| 



A list 

 follows: Mrs 

 jnii^te Montigny, 

 Dolly Glide, Carnc 

 tlie Eatons, I^fla 

 Ben Wells ancT Mrs. Thirkell. 



Mediu^ neights'will line up about as 

 follows : ' W. Duckham, Nellie Pockett, 

 Cheltoni, Guy Hamilton, Colonel Apple- 

 ton, Merstham Eed, Valerie Greenham, 

 G. H. Silsbury, Brighthurst and Morton 

 F.^nt. 



^e dwarf ones are: Merza, J. H. 

 Doyle, Mrs. W. Duckham, Donald Mc- 

 Ijeod, Lady Hopetoun and F. A. Cob- 

 l)()]d in the older kinds, with Beatrice 

 > May, Mrs. Partridge, Miary Ann Pockett, 

 Ohi Gold, May Seddon and Mrs. Beckett 

 in the novelties. These latter all give us 



ill run about as 

 est, Chrysanthe- 

 Hutton, Viola, 

 A. Etherington, 

 a. F. S. Vallis, 



an ideal habit and can all be flowered 

 with four feet of head-room from the 

 soil. 



Kinds that I think should be cut down 

 in May unless one has over six feet of 

 head-room are General Hutton, Bessie 

 Godfrey, Mrs. D. V. West and W. A. 

 Etherington. Some other kinds that need 

 to be cut down in May are the varieties 

 that persist in producing buds instead 

 of good, clean growth, W. E. Church is 

 perhaps the worst offender in this re- 

 spect, and I suggest with varieties of 

 this type to keep the buds picked off 

 closely, and eventually, when a sucker is 

 produced, cut away the former plant and 

 take up the sucker shoot for flowering. 

 The old Viviand-Morel used to cause us 

 much trouble with its habit of producing 

 buds, but either Lady Hopetoun, Filkins 

 or Cobbold are so great improvements on 

 it that one never sees Morel any more. 



Propagating from now on is not so 

 easy as it was and calls for more care, 

 as the sun is getting warm and unless 

 the cuttings are kept sprayed they quick- 

 ly wilt, and once they get hard it is 

 difficult to root them. Spray the foliage 

 several times a day on bright days and 

 do not let a current of air from the 

 ventilators or doors strike full on the 

 cuttings. A shading is very necessary, 

 and never forget that the chief cause of 

 failure to root cuttings at this time of 

 year is to allow them to get hard and 

 dry. Charles H. Totty. 



STRAIGHT STEMS. 



Please tell us how to keep the stems 

 straight on the chrysanthemums. Last 

 year crown buds came out too early and 

 when I pinched the bud out the stem 

 would take a crook before going up 

 again, thus spoiling the stem of many a 

 fine plant, while the flowers were very 

 large and fine. I propagated them in 

 March and planted out in the field about 

 the last of May out of 3-inch pots. Am 

 located in southern California. F. S. 



The best way, in fact, the only way, to 

 keep the stems straight is to have a 

 good stake for each shoot. After a plant 

 has thrown a bud the growth shoot that 

 Ls retained to run on up is tied to the 

 stake while it is still soft and tender, 

 and when this is attended to promptly 

 and the bud is properly pinched out 

 right down to the first eye, one can 

 hardly tell at the end of the season where 

 the first break had occurred on the stem. 

 Lest F. S. should be in ignorance of 

 what is meant bv the first break I would 



Old Establishment of W. Wells & G>., Red Hill, England, From Which Many Chrysanthemum Novelties Have Been Sent Out. 



