12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



OOTOBfcB 8, 1908. 



SEASONABLE CULTURE. 



Feediof. 



Great care must be exercised, as the 

 buds develop, to stop feeding in good 

 time, so that the flowers will not be 

 injured. In the first place, shade your 

 house with a good shading of whitewash 

 scattered over the glass, as a preventive 

 against the flowers burning. We always 

 get, in the early days of October, lovely, 

 bright weather, with cool nights, running 

 around the freezing point, and brilliant 

 sunshine during the day. If the flowers 

 are soft, this sunshine will melt them 

 right down. Many times have I seen 

 flowers utterly spoiled in a day in this 

 manner, when they have been heavily fed. 

 The crimson varieties, of course, burn 

 much more readily than the others, yel- 

 low suffering the least, and the obvious 

 lesson from this is, not to feed the red 

 kinds too much. 



Feeding should be stopped on any bud 

 after it has the outer rows of petals well 

 showing, if one wishes to be entirely 

 safe. 



^atch the Danger Signals. 



There are certain danger signals that 

 a plant throws out when feeding should 

 stop, and a grower can be always gov- 

 erned by them. When the foliage gets 

 BO brittle that it snaps oflf the stem when 

 touched, and when the leaf will break 

 in pieces as it is crushed in the hand, 

 you can conclude that those plants have 

 got all the nitrogen that they need and 

 possibly too much. The same conclusion 

 can be drawn when one sees the buds 

 with a slit underneath them, as though 

 someone had cut the stem across with a 

 knife. This indicates that the bud is 

 getting more nourishment than it can 

 assimilate, and nature steps in and shuts 

 down on the supply by cutting off half 

 the feeders. Some kinds are prone to 

 do this much more than others — always, 

 it will be observed, strong growers and 

 rooters, such as Duckham and Clay Frick. 

 When buds split badly they may be help- 

 ed by making a perpendicular cut in the 

 stem close under the bud. This will re- 

 lieve the pressure and the flower will 

 finish all right, if feeding be stopped 

 and the house kept shaded. 



The commercial grower who does not 

 feed his plants has no trouble of this 

 kind. Neither does he make the money 

 that the man who takes chances does, as 

 his flowers are not half the size, and 

 therefore do not bring the best price. 



Ventilation. 



When the nights drop to freezing, the 

 ventilators must be lowered, so that the 

 temperature in the house will not run 

 below 45 degrees. It is a mistake to 

 close up the house entirely, as this causes 

 the moisture to settle on the expandipg 



flowers and another source of damping 

 is explained. 



All through October a crack of air 

 can be left on the house, with a line of 

 steam. This will give a dry, buoyant 

 atmosphere, which is just what is needed. 

 A temperature of 45 to 50 degrees is 

 high enough. If it gets over that, more 

 air can be given. 



Crown buds need more heat to develop 

 than do terminal ones. The latter will 

 come all right in any temperature above 

 actual frost, but the crown bud needs 

 the heat to develop the petals from the 

 liard lump in the center of the bud. It 

 is astonishing, even to an old-timer, to 

 see the lovely flower that develops from 

 a weird-looking bud, which any man who 

 did not know would be willing to wager 

 could never possibly finish. 



Charles H. Totty. 



THAT HOUSE OF MUMS. 



I received the Keview this morning 

 and note the picture of my mum house, 

 which has certainly come out fine. I 

 wish you could see it, in reality, now. I 

 never saw a finer lot of promising buds 

 than I have at present. I had Mr. 

 Jenkins over last week and he pro- 

 nounced it the finest house of mums he 

 ever saw, without exception. I have a 

 little over 600 plants and every bud is 

 coming perfect, so far as I can see at 

 present. Of the newer varieties Mary 

 Mason, O. H. Broomhead, l!)onnellan, J. 

 C. Neill and Moir are doing exceptionally 

 well, not forgetting Mrs. Norman Davis. 

 Moir has rather long neck but most tre- 

 mendous buds, if they will develop prop- 

 erly. I thank you for putting the pic- 

 ture in the Eeview and I hope to be 

 able to reciprocate some time. 



Thomas Proctor. 



OUTDOOR STOCK IN WINTER. 



What is the best way in which to keep 

 mum stock outdoors in a coldframe over 

 winter, for early spring cuttings, and 

 how would it be best to strike the cut- 

 tings? A. V. B. 



The way that most growers carry over 

 the stock plants is in a deep frame. The 

 stock is set in the soil and, after the 

 weather begins to get really cold, a light 

 covering of leaves is scattered over the 

 plants. This will do until zero weather 

 begins to loom up, and then the frames 

 should be covered with straw or other 

 mats. Give air and light at any time 

 that outside conditions will permit, and 

 see that rats or mice do not get any 

 footing in the frame, or your stock plants 

 will be minus in the spring. 



It should be remembered that it is the 

 same with the mum as with many other 

 plants — it is not the actual freezing that 

 injures the plants so much as the alter- 

 nate freezing and thawing that ensue 

 when plants are not properly protected. 



In the early spring get the leaves off 

 in good season, and encourage the stock 

 to move by letting the frame warm up 

 on bright days. It will not be long be- 

 fore a crop of cuttings is available. 



Striking the cuttings is simple enough 

 if one has a propagating bench. Trim 

 and put in the sand with carnation cut- 

 lings and treat the same way as carna- 

 tions and the loss will be inconsiderable. 



C. H. Totty. 



SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF BUDS. 



I send under separate cover a package 

 of mum buds from plants with 36-inch 

 stems. Many of the buds do not devel- 

 op. The cuttings were taken early last 

 spring from the bench, mostly from root 

 growth. The soil was good. I did not 

 feed much, only with some bone meal 

 and hardwood ashes. I should like some 

 light on this subject. C. B. 



The buds submitted to me were per- 

 fect in every respect and there is no 

 reason why they should not develop. I 

 think the only trouble is that C. B. is in 

 too much of a hurry and does not know 

 , much about crOwn buds. The buds sent 

 me were crowns and these buds take a 

 long time to develop. I have often seen 

 eases where terminal buds, taken four 

 weeks later than the crown, were in 

 flower ahead of it. The chief reason for 

 this is that the crown bud has so many 

 more petals to develop that it takes 

 much longer to finish. 



Of course one can get the bud too 

 early on some kinds, as few varieties are 

 like Monrovia or Golden Glow, which de- 

 velop buds taken as early as July 12, but 

 an August crown is all right <5n"inany 

 of the midseason kind. ' 



C. B. does not say what the variety is, 

 though the bud looked like Bonnaffon. 

 jf it is, buds taken early in August will 

 finish finely. If these buds are not show- 

 ing any signs of opening by the middle 

 of October, I should like to see more of 

 them, accompanied by information as to 

 the time when the buds were taken, and 

 as to the variety and where it is growing. 



C. H. Totty. 



MUMS OUTDOOR. 



I am in hopes you can tell me what 

 is the matter with my chrysanthemums, 

 grown outdoors in New Orleans, and what 

 should be done to remedy the trouble. 



I have a plot about sixteen feet wide 

 and 203 feet long. This is divided into 

 beds made crosswise, three feet wide 

 and two feet apart. There are three 

 rows of plants in each bed. The va- 

 riety is called Eugene Bathenaey and 

 was originated at Nolt's place here. They 

 are grown one, two and three stems to a 

 plant. About the beginning of March 

 the bed, which is sandy, was well en- 

 riched with cow manure. The plants 



