One of our cold houses showing- cloth used on roof. This material is waterproofed canvas 
cost around 16c per sq. yd. and is used for early flowering- shade, after which it is left 
in position to be used for protecting- the crop in flower. The sash bars used in this cold 
house are spaced 2 ft. and are only for supporting- the rather heavy cloth. If we were 
to put up another, we would use pipe frame construction, believing it would pay because 
of being more rigid. 
CULTURAL NOTES 
The minor details of propagating and 
planting are pretty well understood, so 
we will confine this heading to a few 
fundamentals. The soil might be con¬ 
sidered the basic one, tho it is generally 
felt that any old soil is good enough for 
this crop. With some reservations this is 
not far from so. We really prefer 2-3 yr. 
old used greenhouse soil to fresh well 
manured material because the fertility in 
the used seems usually more completely 
available. Anyhow, we generally note 
better results from its use for mums if 
the soil is sterilized or has been within a 
year. If soil has been used 3 years and 
it can’t be sterilized, we suggest that 
fresh, well manured soil will be safer. 
We find that such fresh soil will stand 
considerable top dressing during the grow¬ 
ing season of the crop. 
If ground beds are used they must be 
well drained, but this is equally impor¬ 
tant for any crop. The tendency with 
ground beds is to get overwatered. This 
is especially so during the high temper¬ 
ature months of midsummer when much 
overhead spraying is done. In the heat 
of midsummer, growth is inclined to 
stand still and this, of course, means that 
the roots are not active and for that 
reason are easily overwatered. With the 
coming of cooler weather, growth picks 
up and will stand freer water and feed. 
Mums are naturally cool temperature 
plants. It follows that they become 
weakened by high temperatures. 
When overwatering is combined with 
excessive heat, the spread of a form of 
fungous rot on the foliage is encouraged. 
When this gets bad, it accounts for the 
weak spots in the bed so frequently 
noted especially in pompons on the 
ground. The spread of this rot can be 
checked some by spraying with Bordeaux 
Mixture, but it is far better to keep 
growth as resistant to this rot as pos¬ 
sible, by good cultural practices. An¬ 
other cause for rot that frequently weak¬ 
ens growth is lack of free air circulation, 
that might in turn be caused by over¬ 
crowding. Also, we believe black cloth 
shading, thru shutting the free circulation 
of air from them all night is responsible 
for the spread of this trouble. For this 
reason it is better to remove at least the 
side cloth after darkness sets in and ad¬ 
justing it in place before daylight. This 
work might be simplified by applying the 
shade several hours earlier in the after¬ 
noon and removing it after dark. This 
"Enclose Your Mum With Your Seed Order 
19 — 
