January 10, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
27 
healthy tone to the foliage. Surface roots are freely made when the 
plants are top-dressed with it in the proportion of a 5 J-inch potful to 
1 peck of soil. For mixing with the soil at potting we use 2 lbs. 
of manure to 1 bushel of soil. In the north of England this 
manure is largely used and highly spoken of by Mr. T. B. Morton, 
Darlington, who is a successful grower. Standen’s manure is highly 
valued ; some of the best blooms we have had were grown by the aid of 
this manure used at the rate of 1 lb. to 1 bushel of soil, also used after¬ 
wards at the rate of 1 teaspoonful to a 9-inch pot once in ten days. Mr. 
Mease, who has cause to be satisfied with his successes, speaks highly of 
Standen’s. Ichthemic guano is favoured by many growers, and with 
good cause, as their productions testify. Where this manure is used the 
plants retain a healthy colour without the growth being too gross, a 
sure sign that the manure agrees with them. For potting, to_5 bushels 
of soil add one-quarter peck of guano ; for use in a liquid state give a 
5^-inch potful to 36 gallons of water. Jensen’s guano is highly approved 
by some growers, used at the rate of a 10-inch potful to 15 bushels of 
soil, also applying the guano in a liquid state once a week at the rate of 
one teaspoonful to 1 gallon of water. Clay’s fertiliser is another 
manure used with good results, as Mr. J. Doughty can testify by the 
blooms staged by him at the recent show in the Aquarium, which were 
some of the best seen during the season ; he sprinkles it on the surface 
occasionally to be watered in, commencing in August. 
There are other kinds of manure which need further trial for com¬ 
pleting experiments before I can speak wi.h accuracy as to their merits. 
Nitrate of soda is the quickest in action of any manure that I have 
tried. It is useful to give once or twice in a season should the plants not 
appear to be making free growth after their final potting; in that manner 
nitrate of soda excites and prepares the plants for other food, which 
will tend to solidify the growth thus made. Should the season promise 
to be a wet one nitrate of soda must not be used, as there would be 
a greater difficulty in ripening the growth. Half a teaspoonful to a 
10-inch pot, crushing the soda finely, spreading it on the surface, and 
watering it in once or twice at the most, according to the season, will be 
beneficial, but on no account must it be used if the plants are not well 
supplied with active roots. Sulphate of ammonia, in careful hands, is 
an excellent manure, perhaps unequalled as a stimulant, but it must not 
be used unwisely. My experience of it is that it imparts colour to the 
leaves of the plants and richness to the blooms, which is not excelled 
by any other manure. The cultivator should be guided by the state of 
the weather at the time of application, and also by the state of the 
roots of the plants ; indeed, this is the all-important point to consider. 
Sulphate of ammonia should not be given to the plants until they 
are well furnished with roots. Used in safe quantities in a liquid form 
is the correct way to apply it. Some growers say that sulphate of 
ammonia tends to make the blooms damp, and I think they are right 
when it is used injudiciously ; for instance, too strong doses often 
kill the roots, not only on the surface, but half way down the soil in 
the pots; especially is this the case when the sulphate is put on the 
soil in a dry state and watered in. From experiments made during the 
past season I am able to say that plants of all the sections in our collec¬ 
tion were supplied with water which contained sulphate of ammonia 
every time the plants required water, from the time the buds were 
swelling freely until the blooms were developed, with the result that 
there was less damping of the blooms, including those of Empress of India, 
a notoriously bad “damper,” than upon other plants treated differently. 
Of course, the plants were in good condition for receiving so much sul¬ 
phate of ammonia, the pots and surface were full of roots, while the 
growth was not sappy. This was an experiment purely to test the 
effect of this stimulant on the damping of the blooms, but I cannot say 
that the blooms were of the best quality, the flowers in the incurved 
section showed a tendency to coarseness and hollowness in the centre. 
The best way to apply sulphate of ammonia is by dissolving quarter of an 
ounce in 1 gallon of weak liquid manure from the farmyard tank, com¬ 
mencing as soon as the flower buds are swelling freely, increasing 
the strength gradually until half an ounce is reached to each gallon of 
water: to be given once a week. Dissolved bones are perhaps better in 
some soils than ground bones, as they act quicker. Especially are 
they preferable for heavy soils. Mixed with turfy loam, two parts to 
one of the bonemeal, applied as a top-dressing early in August, the roots 
quickly find their way into it, while the continued waterings wash the 
virtues down among the roots. 
Animal manures used for making liquid food for the plants are much 
appreciated when they can be obtained. Sheep manure forms a capital 
liquid by placing it fresh from the fields into a bag to prevent the 
manure dissolving and mixing with the water, which renders it too thick. 
By placing the bag in a tub or tank of water, allowin' it to- 
soak for twelve hours, the water will be ready for use. Cov manure- 
used in the same way, is goo 1. Drainings from manure heaps are also 
good. They should all be applied weak and often rather than strong and' 
seldom, in the latter form the root3 being more liable to be injured thart 
in the other method of application. 
Having named the manures which have come under my notice, I 
will now state the time when I think they ought to be commenced and 
how applied. It is not intended that one person should use all those- 
named. Experience only will teach accurately those best suited to each 
locality. Some people consider the plants ought to be supplied with 
stimulants when they are in small pots previously to being finally potted,- 
but my experience doe3 not lead me to adopt this plan. I think the 
proper time to commence the use of stimulants is when the roots have 
taken full possession of the soil, after the last potting. Some say that 
feeding should not commence until the flower buds are formed. This I 
think a mistake, because in some cases they do not form until the middle 
of September. From this time until the plants are in bloom is too 
short a space to allow them a chance of deriving much benefit from 
applied stimulants. The plants ought to be fed before they form their 
buds, so that they will be strong at the critical period. During the 
time the buds are forming the plants should not be excited by giving 
them stimulants, these being better reserved until after the buds are 
set and commencing swelling. The applications may be increased in 
strength as the buds swell satisfactorily. 
The character of the season must be considered as to the amount of' 
stimulants the plants shall receive and the nature of the soil, be it heavy 
or light. In a wet season the manure given should be on a small scale 
compared to that needed in a dry one, as wet summers are inimical to- 
the maturation of the growth, and an excess of stimulants would aggra¬ 
vate this evil, and the plants fail in producing flowers of the finest- 
quality. 
We commence with soot water first. One bushel of soot in a bag will 
be ample in a tank holding 100 gallons of water. We give this every time- 
the plants require water, for a week, then withhold it for three weeks,, 
when it is again used, this time with liquid from the farmyard tanks, 
or from that made from sheep manure. After the first course of soot 
water we give clear water for a day or two, then an application of liquid 
made from cow or sheep manure about the colour of brown brandy,, 
varying the sort every second or third day, when clearwater is given,, 
say once, returning then to the liquids. After the buds are formed and 
swelling freely stimulants should be given regularly, varying them 
constantly, as a change of food is desirable. Whatever sort is used it 
should not be continued beyond three or four days at a time. The- 
weakest growing plants should not have it so strong as those of a more 
vigorous habit. During a SDell of wet weather it is not possible to use- 
liquid made from animal manures; a small portion of any of the- 
artificials should then be sprinkled on the surface of the soil. By this 
means the plants receive nourishment, whereas if liquid manure were 
entirely depended upon the plants would not be in a state to receive 
intervening waterings. Any of the artificial manures named make a 
good change of food for the plants, sprinkled on the soil, and watered 
in according to the instructions given. 
D AM PING!- IN CHRYSANTHEMUM. BLOOMS. 
[Read by Mr. C. Gibson, Mnrden Park Gardens, Mitcham, at the National Chrysanthemum 
Society's Conference, January 9th, 1889.] 
Damping of the blooms is one of the greatest annoyances Chrys¬ 
anthemum growers have to contend with, for in a severe case damp 
steals over the blooms so suddenly as to do irreparable mischief in a 
few hours. What makes it more vexatious, it does not occur in the 
early part of the season when there might be time to secure fresh- 
plants and so in some measure recover our loss; but after a season’s- 
labour and care have been bestowed on the plants, and those in charge 
are looking hopefully forward for satisfactory results to reward them, 
for their patient and enthusiastic labour. 
There are few cultivators of the Chrysanthemum whose experience 
extends over two or three seasons who have not felt the annoyance and 
perplexity which this damping causes, and as all good cultivators are 
enthusiastic and devoted to their plants it naturally leads them to try" 
and ascertain the cause of this mysterious evil. Everything is thought 
out to try and find where in the past treatment of the plants cause may 
have been given for such bad results. The supply of stimulants,, 
chemicals, the drainage of the pots, and ventilation, are all reviewed in 
order to find where culture may have been wrong or unsuited to th e- 
plants, in order to avoid those bad results in the future. 
In my own experience I have not suffered more than others, not so- 
