r^- 



216 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1906 



the night, and the sun comes out bright in 

 the morning, the tips of the petals will be 

 scalded, and the blooms ruined. All syring- 

 ing must be discontinued, and necessary 

 watering done as early in the day as possible. 

 After the blooms begin to show color all 

 feeding must stop. 



After the blooms are partly developed, 

 should there occur a period of warm, humid 

 weather, many petals on some of the finest 

 varieties will appear to rot. This at times 



December ist or as late as February ist. 

 If started too early, some of the plants may 

 make flower buds in March in which case all 

 hopes of growing show plants must be aban- 

 doned. My own preference is to take cut- 

 tings during January, putting in two or three 

 batches, so that if one lot fails I have another 

 to depend upon. 



After the plants have become well estab- 

 lished in their first pots, they should be 

 "stopped" that is, the point of the growth 



William DucKham, pink, one of the best of the incurved class. This bloom is from a terminal bud 



becomes quite serious, and is very discourag- 

 ing. There is, however, no known preven- 

 tive, except keeping the atmosphere as cool 

 and as dry as possible, and carefully remov- 

 ing the decaying petals to prevent them from 

 touching and damaging others. 



GROWING LARGE SPECIMEN PLANTS 



For large specimen plants carrying a 

 quantity of blooms a start must be made 

 very early. Cuttings maybe made as early as 



should be pinched out with the finger and 

 thumb. This will cause three to five 

 branches to start lower down. 



When ready for repotting, use four-inch 

 pots using the regular potting soil that has 

 been described. As soon as the plants are 

 established in these pots and the branches 

 that started after the "stopping" have made 

 two or three leaves, they should be again 

 stopped. A good base can be formed for 

 the future specimen by letting the young 



shoots grow to a length of three or four inches, 

 and then tying down the point of the shoot in 

 an almost horizontal position, by means of 

 stakes. Stopping should be continued until 

 the first week of July. The tying may also 

 be continued if in the judgment of the 

 grower it is required. Upon the proper per- 

 formance of these two operations depends 

 the form and symmetry of the future plant. 

 Care must be exercised, however, in tying 

 the shoots down, as they break very easily. 

 After the plants have made several breaks, 

 the stopping should be done every two or 

 three days, as there will be a few shoots that 

 will need to be stopped nearly every day, and 

 it is better to stop a few at a time than to let 

 them go until there are so many to stop that 

 the plant is likely to receive a check. 



Repotting must be done as required, shift- 

 ing the plants from 4-inch pots to 6-inch, 

 from 6-inch to 8-inch, and from 8-inch 

 to 10-, 12- or 14-inch as desired for flower- 

 ing the plants. If the plants are doing well 

 a 14-inch pot is not too large, as plants can 

 be grown that will carry two to three hun- 

 dred blooms. At the last potting some fresh 

 sod should be placed over the crocks in the 

 bottom of the pots, and a small amount of 

 some kind of fertilizing material may be 

 added to the soil. If everything has gone well, 

 by July ist to 15th, the plants will be ready 

 to take some special feeding as already 

 described. Whether this is required must be 

 determined by the grower. 



TRAINING AND STAKING 



After the plants have been grown all sum- 

 mer the next operation of importance will be 

 supporting and tying the blooms in position. 

 There are two good methods : one is by tying 

 to stakes of bamboo or other light material, 

 and the other is tying to a wire frame. Ob- 

 jection has been made that wire frames give 

 the plants a stiff, formal appearance. Noth- 

 ing could be farther from the real facts. 

 There may be other objections to the use of 

 the wire frames, but the one mentioned will 

 not hold for a moment. Should you desire 

 to use the frames, proceed as follows: 



For large plants use stakes made from 

 f-in. rods. For smaller plants No. 8 galvan- 

 ized wire will do. The stakes should be 

 from i\ to 3J ft. long according to the size 

 of the plants. If they are made with a loop 

 at the top they will be more convenient. 

 Place one stake as nearly as possible in the 

 centre of the pot driving it firmly in the soil. 

 Now divide the circumference of the rim of 

 the pot into five equal parts, and place a 

 stake at each of the divisions at an angle of 

 50 or 60 degrees, driving them firmly into the 

 soil, then wire them fast to the rim of the pot, 

 by means of light wires fastened to a heavier 

 wire placed beneath the rim of the pot. If 

 this work has been well done two men can, 

 by taking hold of the stakes, lift the plant and 

 carry it without difficulty. Now take a 

 piece of No. 12 or No. 14 wire and make a 

 circle about the plant fastening it to the ends 

 of the stakes that have been placed at an 

 angle. Next take some short pieces of the 

 same size wire and fasten one from the cen- 

 tre stake to each of the side stakes, also one 



