The Large Mums 
We usually find well grown pompons pay out better than the large mums be¬ 
cause of labor involved, but pompons are more easily overdone and this might be¬ 
come especially true of the shaded crop, so we mustn't pass up the big ones, but 
there is no worth while demand for them in our section until after mid-September. 
Around the first of September a few of the big, rather coarse California flowers are 
attractive for the store, but in our latitude, we do not find the average returns on 
big shaded stock profitable much earlier than mid-September. We find that the 
earliest propagated stock, that we usually start late January' and early February, is 
frequently not so desirable because it easily gets somewhat hardened or overgrown. 
When young stock gets a check in this way it clearly shows up along side a lot of 
cuttings that have grown right along without a check. 
Complaints are sometimes received of chrysanthemums being diseased,—lower 
foliage dried up and lacking free growth. While much of this is due to lack of 
drainage and diseased soil, we know from experience that it is sometimes caused by 
the young stock becoming hardened or checked before planting. Cuttings put in the 
sand late in March, rooted slow and planted out early in May from the sand, will 
sometimes get ahead of an earlier started lot. However, a February start planted in 
a cold house usually makes very nice planting stock if given reasonable care. 
Pompons 
In our latitude pompons that we start shading July 15th can, three seasons out 
of four, we find, be successfully flowered in the open without glass. Varieties as 
early as Irene are generally safe, but those coming in a week or so later are natur¬ 
ally of better quality, and we find it pays to use them and to run a few inch steam 
pipes through the beds. Further protection is afforded by the black shading cloth 
that is left in position ready to pull over them when and if needed. Also, through¬ 
out the summer we shade them with the same cloth used for aster houses. This 
provides some protection against cold winds but its more important use is to shelter 
against the hot sun and drying winds of summer. This light shade also tends to 
draw the growth and to keep it from hardening. For this outdoor crop that we 
start shading July 15th, with protection as suggested, we use only varieties that 
flower naturally in October. Our preferred list in this class is Nuggets, Improved 
Rodell, Pink Dot, Jewell and Irene, and there are others. 
We find glass protection necessary for such as flower naturally in November— 
shading could be started earlier on the later kind, flowering them around October 
1st or a week later, but we find it difficult to get long enough stems to start shad¬ 
ing much earlier than July 15th. In shading pompons, we find they lengthen from 
the time shading begins 12-15 in.: the height or length of stem, when in flower 
can be figured by their height when shading starts. If the plants are rather short at 
this time, better forget the shade and let them come naturally. 
Every season shaded pompons can be seen on most markets that are unprofitably 
short-stemmed. Planting early is, of course, necessary to get good stems. We try 
to get this finished around May 10th-15th. 
We space most of our pompons 8x8, though 6x8 in. is plenty for such as 
make a rather spare growth;—New York, Chicago Pearl are examples of such. We 
hardly find Princeton profitable either, unless spaced close. Of course, the size of 
the planting stock and the success of its growth will determine how well it will fill 
out, but lots of pompons are planted that would have yielded heavier if closer spac¬ 
ing had been used. 
"Enclose Your Mum With Your Seed Order" 
.. 23 .. 
