
ammonium sulphate has a beneficial effect on growth and 
color of foliage. Also, most soils or growth will respond 
to similar applications of such balanced material as Vigoro. 
The best results with Mum pot plants is usually had in 
low, well ventilated houses; but after they become well 
started, or for at least 6 weeks of mid-summer, they can 
be moved outdoors to advantage. Not only does this ex- 
posure make for compactness, but if the watering is 
properly watched the outdoors makes for a harder and 
better character of growth. But chewing insects must be 
anticipated. By late August we like to see them indoors 
where they finish cleaner. The advantage of indoors for 
this can be well afforded with their wholesale price at as 
high as $2.00. Since they require no artificial heat, well 
grown pot plants are profitable; and while they are some- 
thing of a labor crop, most of it is summer work. 
We have already referred to what can be done with pot 
plants by growing them in the open soil outdoors until 
early September. This of course calls for pinching them 
regularly. Their heavy root development sometimes makes 
it difficult to get them into a 6 in. pot without considerable 
disturbance and loss of lower leaves, but by keeping them 
close for some days we have produced fairly good plants 
that probably netted as much as the regular pot grown 
stock. With this plan avoid putting out large plants early 
to start with, for their tendency is to become overgrown. 
We have also lifted and sold early pompons in full flower 
to be planted out where more tender stock was destroyed 
by early frosts. Fall weather conditions are usually cool 
and moist enuf for the plants to stand this transplanting 
pretty well. 
POT PLANT VARIETIES 
In the past small flowering varieties were used almost 
exclusively. Today the largest standards are on the pot 
plant list, the following being popular: Ambassador, Blaz- 
ing Gold, Friendly Rival, Marketeer, Sun Gold and Apri- 
cot Queen. When using such naturally tall growers, all 
the factors that make for compact growth should of course 
be made use of, including the later planting. But ad- 
vantage should be taken of other attractive types, par- 
ticularly the “‘disbuds’”’ and those fine anemones and singles. 
The Caprice, buttons and pompons, seem the least called 
for by today’s pot plant specialists. Probably the nearest 
to making an ideal pot plant is our Granite State. Flower 
size and formy seem combined to make it ideal for this 
purpose. And note the foliage pushed right against the 
flower. 
Rooted Cuttings 
No cultural points under this heading, but there are 
economic ones that should be of interest. There are a 

Our new “Granite State.” The most outstanding white pot 
plant Mum to date. 
number of questions to this phase of Mum growing that* 
should be faced squarely. The prime one is, what does it 
cost us to produce rooted cuttings? or to get to the point, 
can we produce good cuttings for the price that we can buy 
good cuttings? In counting costs it might profit us to con- 
sider all costs involved. First, we will agree that a well ex- 
posed bed, preferably a raised one, is necessary for the 
stock plants, and that the bed will be occupied for about 
6 months of winter. This fully covers a crop of Stocks 
or Snaps that should return 50-75c per sq. ft. Hard to 
estimate the cost of keeping them clean of insects, but it’s 
something. The time spent getting cuttings in the sand 
and watching them thru the spring months is something 
too, especially since it comes during the most pressing 
months of the year, when some costly details are usually 
overlooked. Most of us lose some cuttings in the sand, 
and that adds some to costs, sometimes substantially. We 
should also consider the difficulty or advantage of having 
all the cuttings needed when we are ready to plant. That 
usually calls for more stock plants than we have. To have 
cuttings rooted—ready to plant when beds are ready is a 
considerable advantage as we have already pointed out. 
With a normal supply of stock plants this is not easily 
accomplished. Usually our planting stock is put in the 
sand at 2-3 different times and is in varying stages. Also, 
it sometimes happens that the most valuable varieties are 
the poorest cutting producers and more ordinary ones the 
freest—something of a natural law that we find in seed 
produced stock. In buying in one’s stock we have the 
advantage of changing to only the best to be had; not 
carrying on old-timers because we have the stock. 
[e245I 
