. . V • 



10 



The Weekly Rorists^ Review* 



June 20, 1907. 



comparatively few btanding the test of 

 our climate, but the failures in the Aus- 

 tralian kinds are few. The reason for 

 this is because the Australian climate at 

 flowering time is similar to ours, often 

 running warm and bright, and if a seed- 

 ling shows a large, full, perfect flower 

 in this condition it will do the same with 

 us. 



An English variety may be splendid 

 in its native home and yet be a failure 

 here, showing an enormous eye and only 

 some five or six rows of petals. Some 

 of their finest kinds act in this way here, 

 Lady Conyers, Elsie Fulton and Mrs. F. 

 "W. Vallis being good examples. The 

 Australian kinds, on the other hand, 

 show up much better than they do in 

 Europe, many of them, the sunlight here 

 in the early fall serving to bring out 

 the size and breadth of the petal to 

 greater advantage. I am often asked 

 how it is that the Australian types are 

 such strong growers, splendid in both 

 stem and foliage. Perhaps the chief 

 reason is because in Australia they prac- 

 tice an outdoor system of culture en- 

 tirely in the section from whence we 

 have received the finest varieties. 



Natural Culture. 



"We should never lose sight of the fact 

 that the chrysanthemum is almost a 

 hardy plant and indoor culture is an 

 unnatural condition which in time tends 

 to degenerate the parent stock. The fu- 

 ture will possibly see a race of American 

 seedlings equal or superior to what we 

 are now getting from Australia, but 

 they will be raised outside, in the great 

 southwest, where the hand of man has 

 merely to guide nature in an intelligent, 

 systematic crossing; not here in the 

 east, where with glass houses and arti- 

 ficial heat man must not only guide na- 

 ture but also finish her product for 

 her. 



Another reason why the Australian 

 kinds are all good growers lies in the 

 fact that a rigid selection ia kept up all 

 the time, from the seedbed to the flower- 

 ing stage. Any kind that shows an ex- 

 ceptionally tall, or a weak, spindly habit 

 is destroyed before the plant reaches the 

 flowering stage, so that the temptation 

 to keep it, should it prove to be an ex- 

 ceptionally fine flower, is removed. This 

 I am informed is the policy of Mr. 

 Pockett, of the Wells-Pockett firm, and 

 I say today that this firm, if it does not 

 .send us another variety, has left a mark 

 on American chrysanthemum culture that 

 will endure for many years to come. 



The most popular type of flower at 

 the present day is the Japanese in- 

 curved. This combines the largest size 

 with the incurving petals so much sought 

 after by the commercial grower on ac- 

 count of its shipping qualities. The true 

 Chinese type, with its incurving petals, 

 is apparently too small for present day 

 use, and is entirely crowded out of the 

 exhibition table, saving in classes spec- 

 ially reserved for it, and to a consider- 

 able extent it is also getting crowded 

 out of the commercial growers' list. This 

 perhaps is in some ways to be regretted, 

 yet it is only one of the cycles of change 

 that have served to keep alive the inter- 

 est in the mum. Every few years a new 

 type or color appears and revivifies an 

 interest that perhaps was wanin-g and 

 needed just that stimulus. 



Popularity Not Waning. 

 Some good and worthy people every 

 once in a while tell you that the chrysan- 

 themum is getting played out; that it 



Charles H. Totty. 



don 't sell as it used to in the market ; 

 that people are tired of it, and so forth. 

 Let us look at the facts and see if this 

 is 80. What do we find from an exhi- 

 bition standpoint? We find every year 

 an increased number of cities holding 

 mum shows. We note twenty or more 

 local societies, each in a flourishing con- 

 dition and holding an annual fall show, 

 where ten years ago not one was in ex- 

 istence. No signs of lack of interest 

 there 1 If you were in my position as 

 a disseminator of new varieties, and 

 knew, as I know, men who buy the plantd 

 out of their own pockets, in cases when 

 the employer is not sufficiently inter- 

 ested to do 80, in order not to be be- 

 hind at show time, you would never talk 

 about lack of interest. I have seen sev- 

 eral schedules for the coming fall, and 

 in every case the prizes are larger and 

 far more numerous, and I will go on 

 record as saying now that 1907 will be 

 the banner year to date from the view- 

 point of exhibitions. 



What about it commercially t That 

 can only be conjectured till we can get 

 an idea of the quantities planted in the 

 <lifferent sections, but last year was the 

 best year for prices that I have known 

 since I have studied the flower market. 

 Climatic conditions, I will concede, 

 helped somewhat to bring about this 

 condition, but even so, people look for 

 chrysanthemums now more than they 

 once did in the early fall, and I see 

 no reason to feel pessimistic as to the 

 commercial future of the flower. 

 [To be continued.] 



Bepobe you order stock for import, 

 consult the European advertising pages 

 in the Review. 



TROUBLE WITH PALMS. 



I put a few of my palms out in a 

 slat house, with a cover of thin sheet- 

 ing. The leaves look as if they were 

 burnt; they turn yellow and brown and 

 then dry up. The plants have been well 

 watered. Now, what is the trouble and 

 how can I stop itt Shall I cut off the 

 leaves, all but the center, T)r shall I 

 put the plants back in the greenhouse f 

 J. T. 



This question could have been an- 

 swered more intelligently if the species 

 of palms referred to had been men- 

 tioned, but it is evident that the plants 

 have received a severe check in some 

 way. Possibly they have been recently 

 repotted and were not sufficiently es- 

 tablished to be put outdoors during this 

 backward season, or else they have been 

 overwatered since repotting. 



It would be best to put them back in 

 the greenhouse for a time, keeping them 

 shaded and syringing once or twice on 

 every bright day, and at the same time 

 the soil should be kept moist, but not 

 sodden, until they have a chance to- 

 make a fresh start. The dead leaves may 

 as well be cut off, as they cannot help 

 the plants. W. H. Taplin. 



THE READERS' CORNER. 



Gat Too Stroflg. 



Referring to the letter of W. J. A., 

 page 11 of the issue for June 6, he used 

 the same formula we employed when we 

 first experimented with hydrocyanic acid 

 gas, only he seems to have left it in the 

 house all night, and we only left it 

 twenty minutes or so. When we began 



