saves time in adjusting it. The over-the-roof plan cannot of course be used 
in a regulation house with ridge ventilators, but for our cold house plan it 
works perfectly. And let us repeat such inexpensive houses produce better 
flowers at less cost than when grown in a regulation hot greenhouse. A few 
words on the fundamentals of black cloth shading—Mums come under the 
heading of what is known as "short day” plants which means that the setting 
of buds is influenced by the shortening days of fall. If daylight is prolonged 
with artificial lights, their setting or formation is delayed, and this is taken 
advantage of commercially and at small cost. The flowering of any choice 
November variety can be delayed until December or a December variety 
until January. 
To Defer Flowering 
The planting should be done fairly early for this delayed flowering be¬ 
cause a substantial growth naturally produces better results. For all mid¬ 
season kinds, light should be started Aug. 20th. For the December kind, delay 
lighting until August 25th,—a later start than these dates results in long necks 
and frequently malformed flowers. 
Use 40 Watt bulbs with reflectors, of course. Suspend these lights at in¬ 
tervals of 5 ft. and high enough to spread the light well over the bed. Use 
the lights three hours each night. We prefer to lengthen daylight by turning 
on lights when darkness is reached, continuing for the prescribed three hours. 
Continue the lights each day for three-fourths as many days as it is wished 
to delay flowering, for example if we wish to delay flowering 20 days, use 
the lights 15 days. It is not considered practical to delay flowering more than 
three, possibly four weeks. Take first bud showing after light treatment has 
stopped. The behavior of varieties varies some under this treatment, but suc¬ 
cess with the above suggestions has been fairly uniform. But, naturally enough 
most interest centers on getting flowers in early and this calls for the artificial 
shortening of daylight hours. This is done by pulling cloth or paper over 
them about 6 o'clock, leaving it on until 7 o'clock, the following morning. In us¬ 
ing cloth, inside of shaded bed will not be totally dark, but no opening should 
be left that will let light stream in. Wherever this happens, settinq of buds 
will be delaved accordingly. Should the shading be missed a night or two, 
no appreciable difference will result. No need for it after dark, of course, so 
if it should be blown off in the night, nothing will happen. With big Mums, 
buds will set in between three and four weeks after shading begins. When 
all are well set, discontinue shade, and take or select the center bud which 
is usually a terminal. The late flowering kind will take a few days longer 
to appear, in fact, they might be from one to two weeks longer in finishing. 
Most October varieties we find can be finished, ready to cut, in 60 days from 
starting shade, while 70-75 days should be counted on for the November kind. 
We have flowered early October kind in 50 days from starting shade. Pom¬ 
pons call for about the same length of time to finish, but shade should be 
maintained until lower or side buds are set. If stopped with the appearance 
of the first or terminal bud, all below it will, of course, be undeveloped. The 
general rule is to shade until the top buds show some color. This should be 
done for pot plants but it is unnecessary for cutting because three or four 
flowers is usually all that have time to open. 
"Enclose Your Mum With Your Seed Order" 
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