August 26, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. 



The Buds. 



"Taking the buds," as it is generally 

 termed, is where the unskilled cultivator 

 sometimes comes to grief. In the first 

 place the term is a misnomer, since it 

 really means the saving or retaining of 

 the buds and not the taking away, as 

 many have thought. Every other flower 

 in the greenhouses has a more or less 

 everblooming habit of growth, but the 

 chrysanthemum works up to the flower- 

 ing stage and then is finished, and unless 

 the proper bud is selected the grower has 

 poor returns to show for his time and 

 trouble. 



The novice gets befogged by the tech- 

 nical terms of crown and terminal buds 

 and often confuses the one with the 

 other. For some years I have in these 

 notes argued against the use of these 

 terms in catalogue descriptions and other 

 writings, as I claim that a date given, 

 after which it is safe to take the bud, is 

 the simpler way. If a grower reads that 

 it is safe to take the first bud that 

 shows after, say, August 20, no matter 

 whether it is the first or the fifth crown 

 bud, he knows all that is necessary for 

 him to know. 



The buds on all the early flowering 

 kinds are all taken, many of them show- 

 ing color, and these of necessity were all 

 crown buds, because the terminal buds 

 do not appear till late in August or 

 early in September. Practically all of 

 the midseason varieties, also, do best on 

 a crown bud, if taken not before August 

 15, except in a few special cases that 

 I will name. F. S. Vallis, Mrs. D. V. 

 West and President Loubet will come all 

 right if taken on a bud August 1, and 

 produce a much larger flower than can be 

 obtained from later buds. 



'Where Nature Steps In. 



A natural query is: "If F. S. Vallis 

 produces a monster flower from a bud 

 taken August 1, why should not Colonel 

 Appleton do likewise?" The only an- 

 swer I know is, that the individuality 

 of each variety is responsible for its be- 

 havior and there is in everything a point 

 where Nature steps in and says, * ' Thus 

 far shalt thou go and no farther." It 

 is by close study of each variety that 

 the exhibitor at the big shows scores his 

 success. 



The variety Colonel Appleton, while it 

 will come all right from a bud taken 

 August 15, will produce a much better 

 flower from a bud taken early in Sep- 

 tember, the early buds producing flowers 

 that are lumpy and short petaled. 



As a broad general rule to go by, any 

 crown buds that are showing by or after 

 August; 20 are perfectly safe on all mid- 

 season kinds and will produce flowers 

 that are a great deal finer than flowers 

 produced from later buds. Late varieties 



that do better on later buds are Chad- 

 wick, W. E. Brock, Enguehard, Nagoya 

 and others of that character, and Sep- 

 tember 15 is early enough for them, 

 because, while some come on an August 

 crown, they show their true character 

 from the later buds. 



Charles H. Totty. 



PEONIES. 



I have purchased a small farm on 

 which there is a field of peonies that have 

 been neglected and weeds and grass al- 

 lowed to grow until now there is quite a 

 heavy sod. I tried to break it up with a 

 harrow, but could not. "Will it injure the 

 roots to plow shallow furrows between 

 the rows and then harrow well? This is 

 their third year and they are large, strong 

 plants. Will you kindly advise me as to 

 what is best to do in this case and what 

 fertilizer should be used this fall? 



J T. P. M. 



A shallow furrow plowed between the 



rows will not injure the plants. If then 

 harrowed, a good deal of the grass can 

 be destroyed. You will be unable to 

 clean the plants properly by this method, 

 however. A good deal of hand weeding 

 and work with a draw hoe or hand culti- 

 \ator will be necessary to put the field in 

 presentable condition. It will pay to 

 give the land a thorough cleaning and 

 then use the cultivator freely. 



Peonies are rather heavy feeders. A 

 top-dressing of well decayed horse or cow 

 manure given about the end of October 

 will do the plants lots of good. If barn- 

 yard manure is not procurable, a good 

 commercial fertilizer applied in early 

 spring can be used. About the time 

 flower buds begin to form an application 

 of nitrate of soda will be found helpful. 

 By cleaning your field well now and ma- 

 nuring liberally, you should be able to 

 secure a fine crop of flowers next June. 

 Any transplanting you may wish to do 

 had better be carried out in September. 



C. W. 



^^ 



POTTING <3ERANIUM CUTTINGS. 



I would lik^ to be informed as to the 

 best method of planting rooted cuttings 

 of geraniums. Should they be potted, 

 and what size of pots should they be 

 carried in to make good, strong bloom- 

 ing plants for spring sales? A. O. N. 



The best plan is to pot oflf into 2-inch 

 pots when rooted. Later shift into 3- 

 inch pots and finally into 4-inch pots. 

 The latter size produces the most satis- 

 factory plants for spring sales. You 

 can, of course, pot into 2% -inch pots 

 and later into 4-inch pots. This entails 

 less labor, but we prefer smaller shifts, 

 and find we get better plants by adopt- 

 ing this plan. C. W. 



, ROOTING GERANIUMS. 



How can we root geranium cuttings? 

 We are not successful in propagating 

 this plant. L. N. B. 



The most common cause of failure in 

 rooting geraniums is taking the cuttings 

 too early. I have always had the best 

 results by waiting until the early part 

 of October before putting in any cut- 

 tings from outdoor plants. The shoots 

 then are harder and less sappy than dur- 



ing August and September, and the per- 

 centage of loss is small, indeed. In the 

 case of cuttings inclined to be soft, it 

 is a good plan to let them lie on the 

 bench a few hours before placing in the 

 flats. 



Trim oflf the leaves closely and cut 

 directly under a joint. Of course, they 

 will root no matter where the cut is, but 

 I have found that there is less likelihood 

 of cuttings damping when the cut is 

 under the leaf joints. 



Flats four inches deep, with some coarse 

 cinders in the bottom for drainage and 

 this covered with moss and the balance 

 sharp sand watered and well firmed, are 

 suitable for these cuttings. A flat 24x12 

 x4 will hold 100 cuttings. Give a good 

 watering, place on a shelf or bench in 

 full suu,^tid not over five per cent should 

 fail to yTOgit. The cuttings must never 

 be shaded and should have no more water 

 until they become quite dry. Tljen give 

 just suflBcient water to prevent shrivel- 

 ing. 



I believe farther south the cuttings 

 can be readily rooted in the open air, 

 but in tljlpe northerly states glass pro- 

 tection giv^ the best results. 



If you wSil adopt this plan with your 

 cuttings, I see no reason why they should 

 not root well. The main points to re- 



