all our growing is done on deep ground 
beds which are all right if well drained 
and not watered until they need it. We 
use two lines of 4 in. tile in a 4 or 5 ft. 
bed. Besides their drainage value, these 
tiles are used for sub-irrigating some 
crops; also for steam sterilizing. Subirri¬ 
gating should be used only for winter and 
perhaps spring crops because this method 
should leave the surface soil quite dry, 
which greatly encourages the spread of red 
spider during hot weather. Overhead wet¬ 
ting down or spraying 1-3 times daily dur¬ 
ing late spring and summer maintains a 
damp atmosphere so necessary for good 
Mum growth. Furthermore, if this is regu¬ 
larly attended to as it should be, there 
will be little or no outbreak of red spider 
that sometimes ruins a Mum crop. If this 
pest definitely breaks out, clean it up with 
the hose and clear water. The various 
chemicals recommended for this purpose 
we find tend to stunt or harden the growth, 
besides being costly. 
We rarely change soil for any green¬ 
house crop, depending on either hot water 
or steam sterilizing. This treatment puts 
our soil in fine shape for any crop and is 
done annually for the main or winter crop 
and without further sterilizing or treat¬ 
ment, the soil will be in good shape for 
Mums. Because of the manure applied for 
the winter crop, nothing is needed for the 
Mums until the fall top dressings referred 
to. If not in position to sterilize soil, 
it will pay to change annually for Mums. 
We believe failures are sometimes, per¬ 
haps frequently due to excess water at the 
roots during summer. During hot weather, 
growth of this cool temperature crop is not 
at all active; for this reason it is easily 
overwatered and overmanured, resulting 
in decay of roots, explaining why they 
sometimes just won’t grow. When this 
happens, their foundation is undermined 
and in a weakened condition; they become 
more susceptible to such diseases as dry 
up the foliage. But don't carry them too 
dry thru the summer, of course; watch this 
carefully. IT IS FAR MORE PROFIT¬ 
ABLE TO RESIST DISEASE WITH 
SOUND CLEAN GROWING METHODS 
THAN WITH COSTLY FUNGICIDES. On 
the other hand, we recognize that such viru¬ 
lent diseases as Verticillium are not easily 
overcome with the best cultural methods. 
Such, or similar diseases, are best handled 
by pulling up and destroying infected 
plants. Also, some varieties are distinctly 
more susceptible or less resistant than 
others and should be discarded. Aphis must 
be held down with some form of nicotine 
in either spray or fumigant form. The 
same material is used to combat midge. 
This is the most costly pest the Mum 
grower has to contend with. An infesta¬ 
tion of it requires months of steady appli¬ 
cation to really clean it up. It is quite safe 
to say very few growers are entirely free 
of it, and until they are 100% free of it, 
continual costly spraying is necessary to 
hold it in check, for it spreads fast, especi¬ 
ally during the active growing season of 
the crop. Midge has shown up in England, 
but they seem able to control it there, prob¬ 
ably because their growing, especially of 
propagating stock, is so largely done under 
the influence of the outdoors. Many va¬ 
rieties can be cleaned up here by growing 
stock plants in the open. But this doesn’t 
apply to all, for some are clearly more sus¬ 
ceptible than others. This is a striking 
example of the variation in the inherent 
nature of varieties. The most profitable 
suggestion for cleaning an infestation of 
this pest is to hold it in check as well as 
possible until the crop is cut away, then 
burn every vestige of the stock plants. 
Don’t take a chance on throwing them out 
for the frost to destroy it. There is no 
available information to the effect that it 
won’t live over in the greenhouse on other 
plants, but we don’t believe it will. Grow¬ 
ers who supply young stock should be in 
position to furnish proof of inspection 
from their state authorities showing them 
to be clean of midge. The spread of this 
pest in the greenhouse, especially during 
the Spring months, is remarkably fast and 
widespread. It has happened that cuttings 
furnished by us were a few months later 
reported full of midge, leaves being sent 
in to prove it. This is a very clear example 
of spread from the grower’s own stock 
that was infected without him knowing it. 
The fact that a light infestation is easily 
overlooked by most growers makes it so 
difficult to clean out 100%. 
SPACING 
Spacing is an important planting detail 
and depends on the grade of flowers wanted. 
In growing the big ones, the largest flowers 
are not usually most profitable. An ex¬ 
cellent market size is produced with a 7 x 8 
in. spacing, one to a plant; but in growing 
for most markets, it will pay better to 
carry two flowers to each plant with this, 
or 8x8 in. spacing. This calls for less 
plants, but you should be prepared to re¬ 
place the few weak ones that develop in 
any planting, for a miss when 2 flowers 
are involved is a loss. Most retail growers 
will find it more profitable with at least 
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