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November 7, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



' '■'■'X'^--:'':ii2- Of Simple Culture. 



Culturally, the singles present no 

 problems to master. There is no ques- 

 tion of crown or terminal buds, since 

 the plants are allowed to develop natur- 

 ally, and, of course, give flowers only 

 from terminals. I find it pays to disbud 

 slightly, as the flowers then come much 

 £ner, and the plants respond to generous 

 feeding as readily as do the big flowers. 



A selection of good varieties would 

 run about as follows: 



White — Miss Irene Cragg, Nancy Per- 

 kins, Gertrude, Miss T. C. Warden and 

 Merstham White. 



Pink — Ladysmith, Mrs. E. Eoberts, 

 <jrracie Lambert, F. W. Smith, Eeine des 

 Eoses, Katie Covell and Marvel. 



Yellow — Kitty Bourne, Lily Beer, 

 Oolden Star, Miss A. Holden, Pretoria 

 and Kathleen Bunyard. 



Odd colors — Mary Eichardson, salmon 

 red, one of the finest we have; Crown 

 Jewel, a fine bronzy yellow ; Belle of 

 Weybridge, chestnut; Felix, chestnut; 

 Linton, large flowered deep blush; Eev. 

 W. E. Eenfrey, crimson maroon; Ethel 

 Beer, bright terra cotta. 



The list of varieties runs into the 

 hundreds, and all have some merit, 

 though many are almost identical in 

 •color, and one naturally looks for the 

 cream only. In conclusion, gentlemen, 

 permit me to say that few plants will 

 give better return for the amount of time 

 and trouble involved in their culture 

 than the once despised single chrysan- 

 themum. 



Bench of Chrytanthemum Virginia Poehlmann. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Work of the Committees. 



Cincinnati, Oct. 26. — Commandant 

 Mathien, yellow, Japanese incurved, ex- 

 hibited by E. G. Hill Co., Eichmond, Ind., 

 scored 87 points commercial and 88 

 points exhibition scale. 



Cincinnati, Oct. 26. — ^Pacific Supreme, 



pink, Glory of Pacific type, exhibited- by 

 Nathan Smith & Son, Adrian, Mich., 

 scored 86 points commercial scale. 



New York, Nov. 2. — Seedling No. 4, 

 light pink, Japanese reflexed, exhibited 

 by Frank Witney, Fishkill-on-Hudson, 

 scored 88 points exhibition scale. 



New^ York, Nov. 2. -^Joseph Tomlison, 

 white, Japanese, exhibited by Howard 

 Nichols, Yonkers, N. Y., scored 77 points 

 commercial scale. 



New York, Nov. ^. — ^No. 10, pink, 

 short petaled Japanese, exhibited by 

 John Marshall, Newport, E. I., scored 75 

 points commercial scale. 



David Eraser, Secretary. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Preparing Composts. 



Autumn is the season when the florist 

 must needs gather together a bountiful 

 supply of compost to last him for an- 

 other year. If a sufficient quantity has 

 already been stacked, all the better. If 

 not, an early opportunity must be taken 

 to secure it, as the ground may freeze 

 up tight at any time and the frost king 

 may not release his grasp until April, a 

 season when work overwhelms us on 

 every side and when we have less leisure 

 than now to secure what we need. 



The supreme importance of good com- 

 post cannot be overestimated. We may 

 bave good houses, a fine heating system 

 and every other advantage for the pro- 

 duction of good crops, but if our soil is 

 below par we cannot hope to compete 

 with our neighbors, who hiave paid more 

 attention to their soil. How many 

 florists there still are who continue to 

 use over old soil for their carnations, 

 roses or chrysanthemums, merely mixing 



some rotten barnyard manure or chem- 

 icals with it and planting their crops 

 right in it ! Common sense tells us that we 

 cannot get the same returns from ex- 

 hausted as from fresh compost, yet hun- 

 dreds from a spirit of false economy 

 persist in using the old soil. 



Secure Good Composts. 



Progressive florists would never think 

 of building greenhouses until they had 

 assured themselves of an abundance of 

 good loam, either on their own land or 

 within easy haul. It pays in the long 

 run to secure good pasture sod, with 

 plenty of fiber, even if it costs con- 

 siderably more per cubic yard than the 

 loose loam you can purchase from some 

 nearby contractor who is excavating cel- 

 lars for some of your neighbors, 



Lanil which has been in pasture for a 

 number of years makes the ideal com- 

 post. The tougher and more fibrous it 

 is, all the better. Cut the sod four inches 

 thick, stack it in square piles and add a 



load of well rotted barn manure (prefer- 

 ably that from cows) to every two or 

 three loads of sod. Stack it six feet 

 high, and leave a flat surface for water 

 to thoroughly soak it and assist in its 

 decomposition. 



If you stacked it early in the fall you 

 now can chop down and mix over the 

 pile. If made now, the mixing can be 

 done in April after frost has gone. 



Some growers decry this piecemeal 

 mixing of compost, but we have yet to 

 find a superior way of preparing soil to 

 grow good roses, carnations, violets, 

 mums and, in fact, any other bench crop. 

 It answers, we find, very well for many 

 pot plants. Of course' specialists may 

 not approve of this mode of preparation, 

 but it answers admirably for the aver- 

 age florist who handles a variety of 

 crops and cannot go to the trouble of 

 preparing a number of mixtures. 



Some of your plants to be grown in 

 pots will not need any manure in the 

 soil in their early stage of growth, so 

 reserve a pile of pure sod to use for 

 them. Get good sod, even if it needs 

 a longer haul and costs more. The best 

 is usually the cheapest in the long run. 



Miscellaneous Composts. 



In addition to loam, a good supply of 

 which will need to be placed under cover 

 before the ground freezes tight, you 

 should have some of that valuable and 

 necessary medium, leaf -mold. Save your 

 leaves and stack them each year. Turn 

 once or twice, and in two years you will 

 have a supply of excellent mold, than 

 which nothing is better for seedling- 

 raising and for adding to the loam for 

 many plants. Be careful not to mix 

 pine needles in your leaves. An expe- 

 rience of these has been that they almost 

 ruin the mold. 



Sand is another necessity, it being 

 needed not only for propagating but 

 for adding to the compost for many 

 plants. Secure a good supply of sharp 

 sand now. 



Well rotted and dried cow and sheep 

 manure are both of great value, being 

 better than the manure from horses or 

 hogs. You cannot go wrong in placing 

 some of this where it is at least pro- 

 tected from the weather. 



