Perri ie lage MUMS F-O7R 
summarize, the grower must consider the con- 
dition not only of his plants and soil, but gen- 
eral conditions as well, before watering. 
INSECTS—DISEASE. Midge is undoubtedly 
the most costly insect with which the Mum 
grower must contend. It is a product of green- 
house conditions and will disappear when stock 
is exposed to the outdoors long enuf. In Eng- 
land where Mums are more or less hardy and 
stock plants as well as growing crops are largely 
exposed to the outdoors, midge is not serious or 
difficult to control. It can be controlled under 
glass, but it is difficult to clean out 100% and 
until this is done it has to be fought continually. 
The material known as Loro, diluted 1 to 400 
without spreader used every 2 or 3 days for a 
month will clean it out. 1 to 6 or 800 ts safer 
if used when growth is soft as it is during the 
Spring months. Fumigation with nicotine or 
cyanide will also control it, but to clean it up 
this must be used at midnight for a month for 
they hatch out and spread around that time. 
Cleaning an infestation is more easily done 
when in the limited area of the stock plant 
stage. Next most serious pest is the leaf tier 
that rolls up the leaf: Arsenate of lead will get 
them but it discolors the leaves some, and in 
the later stages of growth this might not dis- 
appear before the crop is cut away. We have 
destroyed this pest in the butterfly stage thru 
heavy nicotine fumigating that will floor them. 
But in a few hours they showed signs of life, 
and it was necessary to turn the hose on them 
to finish them off. There are numerous mate- 
tials for cleaning out red spider but the past 
season growers are complaining of their lack 
of effectiveness. If this is due to war shortages 
or substitutions it should be necessary to make 
it known, but it is possible that lack of thoro 
or vigorous application might explain the oc- 
casional complaints heard. We depend almost 
entirely on syringing with clear water and 
maintaining a moist atmosphere thru spraying 
overhead. We find that when this is carried 
out regularly, the costly materials recommended 
for controlling red spider are unnecessary. The 
Mexican mealy bug as well as midge are ex- 
amples of how insects can be spread thru getting 
in infected plants or somebody's “surplus stock’’ 
at a low price. 
The margin in Mums largely disappears when 
an unsuccessful fight with insects and disease 
must be carried on. So the first step is to get 
stock cleaned up 100%. If it is badly infected 
with such as midge chances are it will pay well 
to destroy every vestige of it on hand and buy 
in cleaned up stock. Usually you can distinguish 
growers of good clean stock by the price they 
ask for it. 
“TAKING” BUDS. By which 1s meant se- 
lecting the proper bud or doing so at the proper 
time or date. The suggesting of buds to be 
taken has been somewhat simplified and made 
clearer in this catalog by giving the date that it 
should be taken. However, there are two dis- 
tinct forms of buds, the earliest to appear 
usually is a rather large individual one that is 
al 
pag 
GX 
1944 FROM — 
not surrounded by smaller buds as is the later 
or terminal one. The terminal bud terminates 
the growth, for this reason it should be taken, 
when it appears. If removed, the growth will 
be continued with a lateral or side growth 
(unless you have rubbed them all out) but there 
is usually no advantage in doing this for such 
side growths should immediately produce another 
set of terminal buds. As a general rule terminal 
buds are safest, and at the dates given for tak- 
ing buds of the large flowering varieties, the 
terminals will usually, but not always appear. 
In our listing of large flowering kind note the 
column headed “Select Bud’. For the middle 
states these dates will be found generally safe, 
but temperature or seasonal conditions may 
vary the setting of buds. Higher or more pro- 
longed temperature in the south usually causes 
later setting, which will mean that buds may 
not be formed when the date given arrives. In 
this case you should be quite safe in selecting 
the first bud that appears. 

Speen a 
Apricot Queen, two to a plant, with Albatross on the 
right grown in a Flexo Glass house photoed October 
7th, started shading July 30th. 
SHADING FOR EARLY FLOWERING. 
Mums belong to what is known as “Short day 
plants,’ by which is meant they set buds as the 
fall days shorten. They would not do so if 
summer or long days are prolonged. Conversely 
Mum buds will set if days are shortened arti- 
ficially during mid-summer. Taking advantage of 
this has not only lengthened their season, but 
has added greatly to the value of the middle 
states crop. The requirement simply calls for 
exposing the plants to complete shade from 
about 5 o'clock in the evening until 7 the fol- 
lowing morning. The strength or penetration 
of daylight is so strong that it is practically im- 
possible to attain total darkness, with black 
cloth or even the opaque paper sometimes used, 
and neither is complete darkness necessary, but 
if real light streams in thru even a small open- 
ing the plants exposed to it will not get an early 
dare oo 
