NOVBMBEE -'8, 1907. 



'he Weekly Florists' Review* 



Chrysanthemum Ivory at G. W. Rcnard's, Avondale, Pa. 



is nothing to beat it, and a glance at 

 the accompanying illustrations, which 

 show his house of it photographed early 

 this month, will confirm his good opin- 

 ion. Every flower of the 13,000 blooms 

 was salable and it is the general ex- 

 perience that blooms of this size and 

 quality go quicker than any other stock 

 offered in quantity. 



GROWING EXHIBITION FLOWERS. 



[A paper by William Duckham, Madison, N. 

 J., read before the CbryBanthemum Society of 

 America at New York, November 6.] 



If by any fortunate chance you could 

 learn something from my methods, I 

 have no doubt that L could learn from 

 yours. But as you are not speaking at 

 this moment, and I am, I must venture 

 to assume the role of adviser and tell 

 you quite frankly and simply just how I 

 grow my flowers. I do not assert that 

 these methods are the best; I simply say 

 that they have come out of my experi- 

 ence and they seem to serve me well. 



Cultural Methods. 



And now we come down to the point 

 of cultivation, which perhaps is the one 

 all-important thing in maintaining the 

 interest in the exhibition of chrysanthe- 

 mums, for without good cultivation no 

 good or large flowers would be seen. 

 Each of us has, no doubt, his own ideas 

 and ways of doing this, but the follow- 

 ing is what I have practiced for some 

 considerable time. 1 do not say it is 

 the best way, but far from it, perhaps, 

 for I realize there are a number of you 

 here who could do all this much better 

 than is possible for me. 



I hardly know where to begin, for it 

 has all been told so often that I am in 

 fear of this not being as interesting as 

 it might be. 



Best Time for Propagation. 



I have tried early, medium and late 

 propagating and am frank to say that 

 generally the medium early propagation 

 toward the end of February or early 

 in March, has given me the best results. 

 It is needless for me to describe in 

 detail the methods employed; you all 

 know about them. But I do claim that 

 as soon as plants are rooted and potted 

 no neglect can be made up. The plants 

 require all the attention it is possible 

 to bostow. 



Some of you may say you can pro- 

 duce the very finest flowers from much 

 later propagation. This I am free to 

 admit; so have I produced good flowers 

 from late struck cuttings. In fact, some 

 of the best flowers, not only in finish, 

 color, etc., but the largest, were from 

 plants propagated in April, but for gen- 

 eral acceptance I would prefer the first 

 week of March. I shall omit the gen- 

 eral cultivation. SuflSce it to say, it is 

 impossible to give the young plants too 

 much care and attention in the growing 

 season. 



Limited Space for Roots. 



I have grown plants in boxes, in 

 benches and in pots; all with about the 

 same result. The best flowers, perhaps, 

 were grown in the bench divided with 

 strips between each plant, confining the 

 roots to a small space, and I found the 

 stronger the grower the better the 

 flowers, especially when the roots were 

 confined to the smallest area. I have 

 always been opposed to large pots or 

 spaces, and, after all I have observed, I 

 am more fully convinced than ever, for 

 when feeding time comes you have all 

 live and growing roots where, on the 



other hand, if too much space and soil 

 is given, a lot of roots die and the 

 plants consequently suffer. 



Some Experiments with Buds. 



Now, to obtain flowers we must first 

 have the bud, and to me the bud is 

 quite as important as to have a strong, 

 vigorous plant. 



In this connection I have had sur- 

 prising results during the last year or 

 two and particularly this year — brought 

 about somewhat, in my mind, by the 

 Australian varieties. I will refer only 

 to crown buds, for I don't know of 

 five varieties where terminal or even 

 late crowns would win in fast company. 

 The introduction of so many Australian 

 varieties perhaps accounts for this, as 

 my experience with varieties of Aus- 

 tralian origin has shown that the buds 

 can be taken much earlier and will de- 

 velop perfectly, especially if the weather 

 should be warm. If the weather is 

 cool, get the house a few degrees warm- 

 er by fire heat and you will find that 

 buds which seemed very unlikely to 

 open will develop perfectly, and what 

 appears at one time a hard core and 

 without the slightest semblance of a 

 flower develops finally into a beautiful 

 and well finished flower. 



Choose Early Bubs. 



I have in mind a batch of Nellie 

 Pockett, which showed buds August 1. 

 It appeared a little early to take them, 

 but if allowed to go on, they would, in 

 my mind, have been a little late. A 

 part was taken and the result was as 

 fine samples of Nellie Pockett as I have 

 ever seen. The other half, that was 

 allowed to go on, made only medium or 

 second class flowers, although taken 

 August 21 to 24. This applies to a num- 

 ber of varieties, and I say, do not be 

 timid about taking an early bud, espe- 

 cially of varieties of Australian origin. 

 And, as I said before, it is not always 

 the strongest and most vigorous plant 

 that produces the best and largest 

 flowers, but just as important is the 

 bud taken at the right time. 



Variety in Feeding. 



I would wish it to be distinctly under- 

 stood that I am speaking of exhibition 

 varieties only, but at the same time do 

 not think I despise the different types, 



Chrysanthemum Ivory at G. W. Renard's, Avondale, Pa. 



