Mabch 21, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



J 347 



Two of the Low-priced Novelties Sold in Laagc Numbers* 



rose and carnation cuttings will answer 

 for the chrysanthemums providing there 

 is no fungus in the sand. If there was 

 fungus, it cannot be used. It must be 

 taken out and replaced with fresh, clean 

 sand, and this is always safest. 



If you have sufficient space in your 

 propagating bench do not crowd the cut- 

 tings either way. The cuttings of each 

 variety should be graded, keeping each 

 size by itself. Firm your sand well and 

 see that your cuttings are well pressed 

 in. After this a fair watering should 

 be given them and on every bright morn- 

 ing give them a light sprinkling to keep 

 them fresh and cool. Never allow them 

 to weather down; safeguard that point. 

 The watering, shading and ventilating 

 must be well taken care of. Under 

 proper treatment nearly all varieties will 

 root in from twelve to twenty days. 



When well rooted pot up in 2-inch or 

 2 ^/^ -inch pots, the latter size being pre- 

 ferred for varieties of strong growth. 

 Use good, rich soil. 



If the sun is out the first day or two 

 after potting them up, a little shading 

 will be a great advantage in carrying 

 them through without a check. 



Joseph P. Brooks. 



CHRYSANTH EMUM NO TES -EAST. 



Specimen Plants. 



The enormous specimen plant ex- 

 hibited at the Chicago show last fall, 

 probably the largest and finest plant 

 ever exhibited, has caused several grow- 

 ers to write me regarding the ways and 

 means necessary to produce such won- 

 derful results. 



The very largest plants are produced 

 by taking an old stock plant and, by re- 

 taining all the suckers that are thrown 

 up and encouraging the plant by repot- 

 ting whenever necessary, the founda- 

 tion of the plant is quickly assured. 

 Some schedules call for an inch of clear 

 stem between the soil and the plant and 

 such plants, while they may show a 

 really higher degreee of cultural skill, 



do not make such large specimens, for 

 the simple reason that all the growth 

 must be produced from one single shoot 

 or cutting which is generally rooted in 

 November or December. 



Granted that one has at this time nice 

 young plants that it is proposed to grow 

 into specimens, the chief object should 

 be to induce them to make all the 

 growth possible, by seeing that the 

 plants are always liberally supplied 

 with water, never letting them become 

 pot-bound for a moment, and by pinch- 

 ing. This pinching is where the art of 

 the cultivator comes in, as by this means 

 he conforms the plant to his model of 

 shape and also produces the hundreds of 

 shoots, each of which eventually pro- 

 duces a flower. The pinching, or stop- 

 ping, is carried on from the time the 

 plant is about five inches high. First, 

 the tip is pinched out. This causes the 

 plant to produce three or four shoots, 

 and these in turn are stopped after 

 they have made two or three joints, and 

 this process, with slight modifications, 

 as a plant may grow a little more on 

 one side than another, is kept up till 

 the last week in July. 



I will endeavor, in the seasonable 

 notes in these columns, to follow the 

 specimen plants right through to the 

 flowering period, but just at this time 

 attend to the pinching and move the 

 plants along from 4-inch to 6-inch pots 

 as soon as they are ready for it. 



Soil, good soil, and properly prepared 

 is the chief essential for pot culture. I 

 do not believe that the black prairie soil 

 of the western plains will ever pro- 

 duce such plants as the fibrous loam of 

 the east. The black soil may contain 

 as much plant food and even more; it 

 certainly contains the humus, but its 

 mechanical condition can never be the 

 same as the rotted, turfy loam. There 

 does not appear much difference, per- 

 haps, in a bench where a large mass 

 of soil is handled, but it would appear 

 in pot culture, where plants may easily 



become waterlogged if not carefully 

 watered. The prairie loam, so far as I 

 have seen it, is deficient in fiber and 

 would become clogged up with heavy 

 feeding much sooner than would the sod 

 loam. I mention this because I think 

 that a grower, who has only the black 

 soil to work with, is handicapped and 

 should use lots of coarse sand and leaf- 

 soil to make his soil porous and open. 

 Lots of plant food is not necessary in 

 the early life of the plant. That can 

 easily be supplied later on in liquid 

 form. One must have a soil that will 

 stand feeding and watering without 

 getting sour, or success is impossible. 



General Suggestions. 



Cuttings root readily at this season of 

 the year and, with a rush of other work, 

 are often left in the sand longer than 

 they should be. Get them out as soon 

 as the roots are half an inch long and 

 put them into a cool house after pot- 

 ting up. An attenuated, miserable lit- 

 tle plant, in the early stages of growth, 

 does not give one much chance for later 

 success. Neglect is at the bottom of 

 most of our failures, anyway. Not 

 many florists bother with shelves in the 

 houses, but a shelf a foot wide grows 

 better plants than can be produced 

 down on a bench. The air is all around 

 the plants and they make a much more 

 stocky growth. 



Get all the early varieties into the 

 sand if you have not already done so. 

 They should be planted in May to give 

 you fine flowers early; also the very 

 dwarf kinds, Beatrice May, May Sed- 

 don, etc. Perhaps no variety ever sent 

 out has given the satisfaction Beatrice 

 May has. It appears to have done fine 

 in every section of the country and the 

 demand for it is enormous, now that it 

 is down to a popular price. If the 

 foliage were a little better I should say 

 that Beatrice May is as near perfection 

 as we can hope to come in a chrysanthe- 

 mum. Charles H. Totty. 



- llikjW-MiifadlllliailiMllliltt«iiJTi^g«fBWr/- "■ --^''-^"-- -'^••'^- I i iliillll^l 



.:du^Lk K • A.1^.^.... ^W*.!:^ 



.-..1 ^ruiAA. .*-. 1 



