1010 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Febbuary 21, 1907. 



Dahlia. Fireburst. 



southern grower must not be misled by 

 the achievements of our brother work- 

 ers of the north with any variety. He 

 must do his own experimenting, with- 

 out fear of cost and with the courage 

 to quickly throw away hundreds of va- 

 rieties that are sure to disappoint him. 

 He must make his own selection. 



Very early varieties are useless for 

 experimental purposes. Anything that 

 gives a flower sooner than Bassett or 

 Eobinson, is sure failure. Only varie- 

 ties that open quickly and produce per- 

 fect flowers will do. Such varieties as 

 Jeanne Nonin and Eaton are always 

 disappointing. It takes them too long 

 to finish. 



Propagate Late. 



To begin, we must propagate as late 

 as possible. The shorter time in the 

 growth, the shorter time of exposure to 

 the ravages of the twenty or more in- 

 sect enemies we have to encounter. I 

 propagate the latter part of April for 

 best results. Here I encounter the most 

 stubborn problem in growing chrysan- 

 themums in a hot climate. The stock 

 plants are in vigorous growth and the 

 cuttings naturally soft and apt to damp 

 off in the sand. I find this tendency 

 to damp off greatly encouraged by the 

 fungus from the pine wood of the bench, 

 and to prevent this I struck on the idea 

 of lining the propagating bench with 

 glass. With copious watering and en- 

 tire shade, the striking of the cuttings 

 is easy. 



The flowers will be from three weeks 

 to a month later than the northern 

 grown mums, and so the later planting 

 is equalized by the later blooming. It 

 is with all science and great difficulty 

 that we get Robinson for All Saints' 

 day. 



As to the treatment during growth, 

 there is no difference whether it be in 

 Canada or Mexico. What applies to 

 Chicago in August will apply here in 

 September. 



Insect Pests. 



The preventive treatment for insects 

 is the same, except that the greatest 

 caution must be taken in fumigating on 

 account of heat. Cyanide is the surest 

 for all insects, but very dangerous, ex- 

 cept in the hands of the most expe- 

 rienced. I do not mean dangerous to 

 man, but great caution must be observed 

 lest we sicken our plants beyond recov- 

 ery. I cannot, therefore, advise its gen- 

 eral use. Experiment on a small scale, 



and learn to handle it, and it is a lux- 

 ury, and the cheapest. Light and fre- 

 quent use of tobacco in any form is ef- 

 fective and safe for all except mealy 

 bugs, and a man who is negligent enough 

 to let the mealy bugs get into his plants 

 does not deserve to succeed. 



Our worst enemy is thrips. They 

 come after the harvest is in sight, and 

 they surely come. After their presence 

 is known it is too late to fight. Reg- 

 ular and frequent fumigating with to- 

 bacco in some shape is the only hope of 

 keeping thrips out and, in very dry 

 seasons at blooming time, even this 

 fails. 



Varieties. 



As to varieties, everyone must choose 

 for himself, from his own tests, in his 

 own locality. After trying almost every 

 variety introduced in the last twenty 

 years, I have settled on Bassett, Robin- 

 son, Ivory, Appleton, Jones, Yellow 

 Jones, Chadwick, Golden Chadwick, Old 

 Golden Gate, Golden Wedding, Queen 

 or Alice Byron, Mrs. Weeks, and per- 

 haps White Bonnaffon. You may no- 

 tice that pink and the darker shades are 

 not in my list. They are all disappoint- 

 ing in color and seldom called for. 

 Every chrysanthemum plant I grow must 

 produce a salable bloom. You may no- 

 tice also that all of these are old varie- 

 ties, ancient varieties I may say. 



All I can say of last year's varieties 

 is that none of them stand a wind of 

 ninety-four miles an hour. On Septem- 

 ber 26 such a wind came along my way,, 

 and when it had died down sufficiently 

 for me to put my head out of the cellar,, 

 a few scraps of broken glass was what 

 was left of my mum house. Some of 

 my hopeful new varieties landed over 

 in the next county, and somehow I lost 

 interest in last year's introductions. 



Holds to Standard Varieties. 



Of the year previous I had hopes of 

 Nonin, Roi d'ltalie, and Beatrice May; 

 but I find nothing to displace in mj 



Dahlia Mrs. Gordon Abbott. 



