Our cloth house planting figured out profitably last season, but they must be 
planted by Mid May and sometimes we get hard frosts after that. 
diseases are encouraged 
and spread by excessive 
atmospheric moisture. 
Overhead spraying or 
wetting down refreshes 
and promotes growth: 
also keeps red spider 
in check. This should 
be done once or twice 
daily during July and 
August, but, if this is 
done after 3 or 4 o’clock 
in the afternoon it will 
leave the plants too 
wet, overnight. 
TAKING BUDS 
Dates for selecting 
them for all large or 
standard varieties will 
be found in connection 
with their listing in this 
catalog. It is difficult 
to be accurate with this 
information because of varying seasons, 
climates and planting dates, all of which 
have more or less influence on the type of 
buds produced, so the dates given can 
only be approximately right. 
Large Mums produce two types of buds. 
Briefly stated “crown” buds appear early, 
are rather large and are not surrounded 
by a number of other buds as are the 
“terminals” that come later and terminate 
the growth. Generally speaking the early 
or October flowering varieties come best 
on crown buds, but such should not be 
used if they show up quite early—a week 
or two before the dates given in the list, 
that is based on experience in the north¬ 
ern or central states. Where the days do 
not shorten so early as in the south, bud 
selection or development will be deferred 
some. 
SHADING FOR EARLY FLOWERING 
Lack of space will not permit much de¬ 
tail on this valuable subject: it will be 
found more fully treated in the last or 
5th edition of our Ball Red Book, that will 
go to press soon as this catalog gets in 
your hands. Early flowering thru this 
simple process is based on the “short day” 
nature of Mums by which is meant set¬ 
ting of buds is induced by the shortening 
daylight hours. If daylight hours did not 
shorten, buds would not set at all on any 
class of Mums. 
This is proven by using electric lights 
to defer bud setting and flowering of spe¬ 
cial varieties wanted later. We will touch 
on this subject later. All classes of Mums 
respond alike to the shading treatment. For 
3-4 weeks from the time shading is started, 
buds are set regardless of length of stem: 
for this reason early planting is neces¬ 
sarily important or short stems will of 
course, result. With our growing condi¬ 
tions planting of shading stock should be 
done from May 1 to 15—^not later. For 
varieties not naturally long stemmed such 
as Apricot Queen pictured on front cover, 
center bed, later April planting is better. 
From 50-60 days should be figured from 
start of shading to cutting of crop. This 
varies some with varieties: the later varie¬ 
ties require some more time than the early 
or October kind. Our earliest shading of 
big standards begins July 10. Successive 
starts are made a week or 10 days apart 
to spread the crop. A black sateen cloth 
furnished by a number of firms is largely 
used and if cared for, will last 3-4 years, 
but after two years, some light will filter 
thru it, requiring a few days or a week 
longer to set buds. This cloth costs 22c 
per square yard. We are inclined to favor 
a grade of kraft paper, made by the Sisal- 
kraft Company, 205 W. Wacker Drive, 
Chicago. This costs in quantity 10c per 
square yard, and if not too much exposed 
will do for two seasons. We find this works 
out well for the top of beds: it is rolled 
up or out on a pole in 15 foot sections; 
but for sides, cloth attached to a wire, and 
that can be pushed back and forth should 
be used. For small houses, we cover the 
roof and sides with one piece. There is 
considerable saving in material in this 
over all plan for when beds are shaded 
individually the sides of each must be in- 
— 25 
