14 THE ELOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



good soakings of water, at intervals of a few days ; this, if the 

 weather is genial, will aid the formation of rootlets. 



"Where rose trees are planted singly they always require plenty 

 of moisture at their roots, and especially when blooming ; for in the 

 absence of quantity and depth of soil, they always suffer more 

 quickly from drought. The garden engine, or a powerful syringe, 

 should be frequently used to cleanse their leaves of insects or dirt 

 that may accumulate on the surface. Of course they are subject 

 more readily to be infested with vermin, mildew, and dust when 

 cultivated near cities or towns than in the country. Attention to 

 the above requirements during the past season has been, with very 

 few exceptions as compared with the number of plants we grow, 

 both in quantity and quality of bloom, satisfactory. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM IN 1SGS. 



BY GEORGE GORDON. 



]HE season of this useful autumn flower is now past aud 

 gone, and I think we can spend a short time very pro- 

 fitably in taking a retrospective glance of the most 

 important points connected therewith. The public 

 exhibitions of all kinds, including those held by nur- 

 serymen as well as societies, have been unusually brilliant during 

 the past season : sufficiently so to prove that this " middle-class 

 flower " is fast increasing in popularity ; and further, that private 

 growers are becoming alive to its value as a decorative plant, 

 thanks to the able advocacy of our Editor, which has had no small 

 share in bringing about this happy state of things. Every private 

 grower ought to have his conservatory as gay during the cold, damp, 

 foo-gy month of November, as he does in any other month of the 

 twelve. That month is usually looked upon as the most miserable 

 of the whole year, and the one most deficient of floral beauty to 

 enliven it. At this point I stop to inquire, "Whose fault is this ? 

 Not Dame Nature's, certainly. Therefore, it must be that of those 

 who have the management of the conservatories. To show by what 

 simple means a grand display of chrysanthemums can be had, 

 I will just detail the way Mr. James, of Isleworth, treats his plants. 

 Nothing can be easier, and a more beautiful sight than that pre- 

 sented by the grand bank of chrysanthemums in the conservatory 

 under his charge cannot be well imagined. He grows the large 

 flowering kinds only, which when grown moderately well, quite 

 surpass the pompones when seen en masse. The cuttings are struck 

 in March, and directly they are rooted, potted off singly, and as fast 

 as the pots get filled with roots, shifted into a couple of sizes larger 

 at each shift, until they reach No. 12 size, in which they are 

 flowered. They are gradually hardened off in a cold frame, and 

 finally exposed to the open air directly all danger from frost is past. 

 The only attention required from this time until they come into 



