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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



April 29, 1909. 



AN ORANGE YELLOW. 



Is there a chrysanthemum that pro- 

 duces large blooms of a true deep orange 

 yellow? T. H. W. 



One of the novelties of this season, 

 Rose Pockett, comes near to filling the 

 bill as an orange yellow, as does also 

 ^ Mrs. W. Wells. The latter is small in 

 the flower, but in color is one of the 

 finest things we have in cultivation. An- 

 other fine variety in that color is Old 

 Gold. This is a splendid variety for pot 

 work and is very highly esteemed by some 

 growers. Other good deep yellows are 

 Mary Donnellan, General Hutton and the 

 old Golden Wedding. C. H. T. 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. 



The Important Elements. 



The season is rolling along and it is 

 time that stock intended for early plant- 

 ing was cut of the sand, if not already 

 potted up. It is a great mistake, though 

 a common one, to leave the cuttings too 

 long in the sand. Just as soon as they 

 have emitted roots half an inch long 

 they should be potted up; then the plant 

 does not get the chance to become spindly 

 and drawn up. 



The chief secret in handling mums suc- 

 cessfully is not to let the plants suffer 

 at any time after the cutting has once 

 been started till the flower is fully de- 

 veloped. True, the plant will live and 

 make some kind of a showing under con- 

 ditions that would kill other plants, and 

 for that reason is often neglected for 

 other stock that will not as well stand 

 rough usage, but that does not alter the 

 fact that the mum requires just as care- 

 ful handling as any other plant ii one is 

 looking for the finest results. 



Lack of Space. 



How often do we see, at this season, 

 batches of mums that were most likely 

 nice stock when potted, but are now 

 drawn up, spindly, hard at the bottom 

 and jammed into a spare corner with not 

 half room enough! Granted that one is 

 crowded for space, and none of us seems 

 to have room enough in spring, still 

 Easter has gone now and cleaned out lots 

 of stock. This gives considerable room, 

 and while the bedding plants need most 

 of it, leave a space for the mums. 



Few florists ' places have as many cold- 

 frames as they should have. Some, in 

 fact, have none. I know of no position 

 better suited to the young mums than 

 are coldframes for the month of April. 

 There the plants will not get drawn up, 

 but will bush out and make ideal stock 

 for planting out later. 



Watering and Repotting. 



If your plants are getting potbound, 

 move them along to 4-inch or even 

 6-inch, rather than have them get 

 stunted. Do not let them get dry either. 



if you can help it. Much stock runs up 

 to bud every year in May and early 

 June, and while this can at times be 

 traced to other causes and some kinds do 

 it out of pure cussedness, still much of 

 it is caused by neglect' of watering in 

 the spring rush. The plants get hard 

 and stunted, and the hardening of the 

 wood will invariably throw them into 

 bud. Plants in a coldframe, when the 

 nights are running, as they have been, 

 down to the freezing point, should not 

 get much water, of course, or the foliage 

 will become diseased, but good horse 

 sense will keep the cultivator on the 

 right trai;k in this respect. 



Cutting Down Plants. 



I am often asked how close to the 

 ground plants should be cut, when they 

 have become too tall (by being propa- 

 gated too early), in order to have them 

 come away strong and healthy again. In 

 the first place, plants should not be al- 

 lowed to run up like that. If they are 

 too tall, pinch them back before the wood 

 gets hard, and then the check to the 

 plants will not be so great and they will 

 break better than if cut down into the 

 hard wood. 



Where one 's head room is restricted, 

 it is better to strike the cuttings later 

 than to have plants hanging around too 

 long before planting, but by a judicious 

 use of the thumb and finger one can keep 

 the plants down to almost any height. 



Singles. 



Those wlio are growing singles for pot 

 plants should pinch out the tips almost 

 as soon as the plant is established in the 

 pot, to keep the plant dwarf and robust. 

 Some kinds, like Arthur Home, Ethel 

 Beer or .Miss A. Holden, are naturally 



dwarf and branching, but most of them 

 should be kept closely pinched till the 

 end of June. The prettiest pot mums I 

 have ever seen were singles that were 

 put in the sand June 1 and then grown 

 right along, without any check or pinch- 

 ing or anything else. They flowered in 

 6-inch pots and the owner of them told 

 me that he never grew a crop in the same 

 space of time that turned him in as much 

 money. Charles H. Totty. 



SINGLE MUMS NOT PROFITABLE 



W. J. Godfrey, the well-known English 

 grower of chrysanthemums, is quoted as 

 follows : 



* ' Single chrysanthemums will never be- 

 come popular for market growers. Let 

 anyone note the cut from a given space 

 and it will be found the money they 

 make will not compare favorably with 

 the ordinary market varieties. For 

 florists who do a good class of retail 

 business and grow the flowers they dis- 

 pose of, single chrysanthemums will be 

 found an attraction and profitable, but 

 they must be of good form and color, 

 with plenty oi substance. Market grow- 

 ers are conservative in respect to acquir- 

 ing new varieties, possibly not without 

 cause, and require a lot of coaxing to try 

 them. Many, in fact most, of the so- 

 called early flowering 'single' chrysan- 

 themums are little better than rubbish 

 in the eyes of the market grower and 

 not to be compared to the older section 

 of ordinary early-flowering varieties for 

 general decorative purposes. They are 

 rough in form, dull and poor in color 

 and miflfy doers. Because a variety pro- 

 duces flowers with an ' eye ' or hollow 

 center, but has from three to five rgws 

 of florets, frequently badly arranged, it 

 is hardly fair to dub it a * single. ' ' ' 



COAL ASHES ON THE BENCH. 



Some years ago a neighbor florist 

 came to me in great distress regarding 

 his geraniums. A sample at once showecl 

 them to be in bad shape, and an exam- 

 ination proved the trouble to be at the 

 roots. A visit to the greenhouse showed 

 the trouble to be caused by the coal 

 ashes on the bench on which the pots 

 were set. Those on sand were in prime 

 condition. 



Now, I am not prepared to say what 

 the trouble was chemically. Perhaps 

 these particular ashfs were contaminated 

 with some foreign sul)?itance. At all 



events, they produced nervous prostra- 

 tion — in the florist. 



Since then I have had some suspicions 

 about coal ashes, except as a road mate- 

 rial. Sand suits me and, luckily. I liave 

 an abundance. E. Z. ^V¥F. 



POOR COMPOST. 



In a recent issue of the Revikw some- 

 one c«mi)]ained about plants failing to 

 do well in a particular soil, and inquired 

 as to the cans," and remedy. This calls 

 to mind some recent troubles of the 

 writer. 



I composted my soil last summer as 



