young stock is used. This easily happens with cuttings rooted in February. 
March, or even April, cuttings are much better. The best plan we find is to plant 
our cuttings directly from the sand. Such stock usually gets ahead of an early 
started lot. Cuttings put in early in March, rooted cool and either planted out 
or potted early in April make excellent stock to plant out a month later. 
It is rather significant to note that an increasing number of the most suc¬ 
cessful growers are depending entirely on cutting specialists for their stock. 
When delivery and cuttings can be depended on this plan is clearly the most 
profitable one. It costs considerable to winter a well exposed bench of stock 
plants. If we figure the value of what can be grown on the bench occupied 
by stock plants thru the most valuable part of winter, we will arrive at part 
of the cost of Mum cuttings. To this must be added insecticide bills to keep 
them clean. We can say from costly experience that if there is any midge 
in any of your stock , it will pg^ many times over to destroy it completely 
after the crop is cut and get in clean stock. 
Operation of Black Cloth Shading 
The largest convenient width for handling cloth we find is 18 ft.; cut it in lengths long enough 
to go clear across house—from ground, over ridge, and down other side. 
Cloth still off, fasten a rope to ridge 4 ft. inward from where each edge of each 18 ft. width 
of cloth comes. Let this rope trail to the ground. Next spread an 18 ft. width of cloth across ridge 
of house, over the ropes tied to the ridge. With lath and small nails, tack the cloth down to the 
ridge, allowing 1 ft. for overlap onto next section. This is necessary to prevent wind flapping it 
over and letting light in. 
Staple two pulleys to the ridge above the cloth at the same point where ropes were tied pre¬ 
viously—4 ft. in from edge of each 18 ft. strip. Now, get two 18 ft. pieces of 2" x 1 " strip for each 
section, and nail one to each edge of cloth along the ground. Next atttach a cord to each strip at 
center, long enough to reach ground even when cloth is rolled up to ridge. This is used to pull 
the cloth down. 
The two ropes tied onto the ridge before cloth was applied, should now be brot up over cloth, 
thru the pulleys, and down to the ground. Pulling these ropes, of course, draws the cloth up—- 
or rather rolls it up. —VIC. 
"'Enclose Your Mum With Your Seed Order" 
— 24 «—» 
