Mat 11, 1011. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



15 



section, such ferns as nephrolepis, cyr- 

 tomiums and adiantums, grevilleas and 

 a host of others are at command. 



Crotons stand the sun well, better 

 than the colored dracsenas, and where 

 high colors are admired answer well. 

 Green-leaved subjects are usually, how- 

 ever, more popular, the green foliage 

 being more natural and suggestive of 

 coolness on a torrid day. The green 

 draceenas, like Australis and congesta, 

 are among the toughest subjects for 

 withstanding sun and wind, and are 

 good alike for centers of vases or in 

 boxes. The phoenixes stand sun better 

 than the other palms, but all palms turn 

 a little yellow when fully exposed to 

 the sun. 



A fine drooping variegated subject, 

 not sufficiently used, is Abutilon tessel- 

 latum variegatum; the somewhat newer 

 Savitzii is also good. All the abutilons 

 stand sun well and flower fdirly well 

 through the summer. 



Soaking the Ball. 



In filling piazza and window boxes, 

 vases for lawns and cemetery use, hang- 

 ing baskets, etc., do the work at home 

 and it will be done a lot more econom- 

 ically than at the places of your cus- 

 tomers. Always make sure of one thing, 

 viz., that all plants set in the boxes, 

 etc., have their roots moist. In the 

 rush and turmoil of bedding-out, care- 



less men will cover up these with dust- 

 dry roots. Do not allow it for a mo- 

 ment, for no matter if you soak the 

 boxes at once after filling, you will not 

 soak these dust-dry balls and such 

 plants will never grow and thrive like 

 those with moist earth about them. 

 This applies even more forcibly to 

 plants bedded outdoors, where watering 

 is not much done, but the assistant who 

 will persist in planting stock of any 

 kind with the balls of soil dry about 

 the roots is neither a reliable nor desir- 

 able one to retain, and the man who 

 continues to tolerate such work will as- 

 suredly in the long run have much cause 

 to regret it. 



Reasonable suggestions. 



Planting. 



Commercial growers who desire to cut 

 flowers by the end of September should 

 now have their stock in condition to 

 be planted. This would include such 

 varieties as Golden Glow, October 

 Frost, Yellow October Frost, Monrovia, 

 Bosiere, Glory of Pacific, Polly Eose 

 and other varieties of like character. It 

 is true they can be planted much later 

 than this and still be cut at about the 

 same time, but it is also true that the 

 plants must have a reasonable time to 

 grow, in order to develop a long enough 

 stem. 



It must be remembered that, to get 

 flowers by the end of September, the 

 bud must be taken on some kinds in 

 the last days of July, and in nearly all 

 cases not later than the first part of 

 August, as a bud takes from eight to 

 ten weeks to develop. 



In many cases, if the plants are not 

 yet properly established in pots, they 

 can be put right into the bench from 

 the sand, and if shaded for a day or 

 two they will come along and make 

 much finer looking plants than stock 

 that has been raised early and grown 

 along in pots, and has been more or 

 less stunted. 



Tlie Benches and the Soil. 



Every year at this season we are 

 asked the question, "Is it better to 

 plant chrysanthemums in solid beds or 

 raised benches t" In the light of our 

 own experience, I would unhesitatingly 

 declare in favor of raised benches, par- 

 ticularly with the early varieties. When 

 they are grown on the raised benches, 

 with about four inches of soil, the 

 roots are absolutely under control and 

 can be more easily regulated. In speak- 

 ing of regulating, reference is made to 

 the fact that if a batch of October 

 Frost, for instance, continues to grow, 

 as it often will, without producing a 

 bud, it is then possible, by drying off 

 the plant somewhat and by checking its 

 growth, to force it to bud much sooner 

 than it would if left to itself. 



It is assumed that the grower pre- 

 pared his soil last fall or early this 

 spring, so that it is now in condition to 

 go into the benches. A good fibrous loam, 

 with one-fourth well decomposed sta- 

 ble manure and a light sprinkling of 

 fine bone, makes the ideal compost. 

 The chrysanthemum will grow in al- 

 most any soil, but a heavy clay is bet- 

 ter, if it is loosened with quite a little 

 sand or a considerable quantity of 

 humus in some form. 



The Distance Apart. 



The distance apart to set out the 

 plants will vary somewhat, according 

 to the quality of the flowers which the 

 grower wishes to produce and the de 

 mand in his market. It is useless to 

 try to produce a 50-cent grade if the 

 market conditions in his town are such 

 that 25 cents is as much as people will 

 pay for the flowers. In our market, in 

 New York, there is a certain demand 

 for high-class flowers, which we en- 

 deavor to supply and which sell for $50 

 per hundred, wholesale. 



To produce this class of flowers, the 

 plants must be set no closer than 9x6, 

 and with many varieties 9x8 or 9x9 

 would be even better. This is for sin- 

 gle-stem plants. Some growers set out 

 their plants that same distance apart 

 and take two, three or even four stems 

 on every plant. They claim they make 

 at least as much money as they would 

 were they to grow but one flower to a 

 plartt, in this allotted space. 



One facetious friend of mine claims 

 that he is a public benefactor, because 

 he makes three mums grow in the same 

 space in which I grow one, and he ar- 

 gues that, should I lose my one bud 

 through any accident, and should it fail 

 to produce a flower, I get nothing at all 

 from that space, while he will get, at 

 the worst, one bud out of his three, so 

 he is sure of something. 



It can readily be seen, therefore, that 

 it is difficult to advise a man just what 

 grade of flowers to grow, though it is 

 a fact that thousands of the medium 

 sized flowers are sold, to dozens of the 

 finest grade. 



Plants for Exhibition. 



Exhibition growers should also be 

 setting out their plants this month, and 

 the sooner the better. Experience has 

 long ago proved that, to get depth and 

 solidity in the flower, the plant must 

 have a long enough season of growth 

 so that it may build up properly by pro- 

 ducing stocky, short-jointed growth and 

 ample foliage. This wood will ripen 

 easily in the fall, and when the crown 

 bud is secured — which is the bud to 

 take for all the exhibition varieties — 

 the neck of the flower does not get limp 

 and the flower itself greatly improves 

 in size and fullness. 



I have heard men complain that they 

 cannot handle varieties that need to 

 be taken on the crown bud, as the neck 

 is long and weak. This is almost en- 

 tirely due to the mistake of growing 

 the plants too rapidly, so that the tis- 

 sues of the stem have not been built 

 up as nature intended them to be. 



The chrysanthemum is not a semi- 

 aquatic, as some growers seem to think, 

 judging from the quantity of water they 

 apply to its roots. Neither is it a trop- 

 ical plant. Common-sense methods of 

 culture, with the fact in mind that the 

 mum is almost a hardy plant, will al- 

 ways insure success. 



Charles H. Totty. 



THE COMPOST PILE. 



The time is near at hand when a lot 

 of compost will be needed for growing 

 chrysanthemums, smilax and other 

 crops in, and it is not good policy to 

 wait until the planting time arrives 

 before preparing the compost. If the 

 sod and manure were layered up last 

 fall, it should now be chopped down 

 and some fine bone added to it before 

 being mixed. Do not let the soil pile 

 become a mass of rank weeds, as these 

 will speedily take away much of the 

 goodness from it. It pays to keep the 

 compost pile clean, just as it does to 

 keep the greenhouses themselves in the 

 same attractive condition. 



The matter of getting the right kind 

 of compost is one that is worth careful 

 consideration. 



