Devloping Incurved Chrysanthemums

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 May 1915, Page 2

Devloping Incurved Chrysanthemums

Fifteen years since, when tliu Queens'," the "Princesses'," and the

"leeks'," quite tailed to give even a <!ecent flower, raisers set about introducing varieties with too great an admixture of Japanese strain, and this gave coarseness of petal. quite depriving the blooms of that globular l.)Mn so pleasing to ardent cultivators and admirers of this section. Frosii twenty to thirty years back these older growers shuddered to see the introduction of varieties like Thomas Bevan. which is a typical example of a mixed •Japanese and incurved. The most simjrfe definition of an incurved bloom is that it should, as nearly as possible, represent a glob , .'. The leading authority—the X. C. iS.—de scribes an incurved bk«ini thus: "Tiie incurved bloom should be as nearly as possible a globe, as 'depth' is an important point in estimating its value : the florets (should be broad, smooth, rounded at the tip. and of sufficient length to form a graceful curve. They ought to ; 'be regularly arranged, a roughness in the blooms or uuevennesis in outline is a serious defect Cultivators have lately paid more attention to these points than formerly, bringing "the' Chinese section before the public in a manner more pleasing to them. The method of staging in vases, recently adopted, line proved to the public that incurved blooms have much beauty in decoration and nut a stiffness •of form entirely objectionable. No doubt the long sterna and deep green foliage with which they arc acenmpanted has much to do with their appearance. The bc-st cultivators present them much liiorp neatly nowd-ivs, eliminating that coarseness of p , '.- !so objectionable to the older florist. Tii obtaining blooms of the best tw, ? much may be attained in that direction (writes Mr E. Molyneux) by assistance rendered the developing blossoms. Tn the first place, the "taking" of the buds must have been at the right period for each .variety, as it is useless to expect good results. The best plan of dealing with any blooms that promise to be rough by the time they are half expanded is to place the pots in such a position that the blooms hang downwards. This downward .position induces the florets to incline towards the centre, but bending alone will not make perfect blooms of them. Any misshapen florets must be removed to make room for those- of correct shape. For instance, fiorets that are tubular are quite useless, and are better pulled out. By holding the bloom securely in the left hand the useless petals can easily be removed with a pair of longnarrow steel tweezers. Tho improvement in a few days is very great, sin the space where the ill-shapen florets wore is filled up by the fuller development of petals of better form. Even where the blooms do not promise to be particularly rough much may be done to improve thorn by removing ! short and seed florets, which are uee- ! less; in fact they but rob more perfect ' florets of useful space. Blooms treated j in this way are so much more easily staged on the exhibition table in a per- j feet condition that any time spent in their manipulation while on the plants is profitable. Tf nil cultivator were to do something towards preparing the . flowers thus early they would be doing ■ much to raise the standard of excellence in the incurved section.