58 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



The old plants that were cut down be- 

 fore winter, are now full of promising 

 suckers, and from every old stool as 

 many young plants may be propagated 

 as may be required, even if it be hun- 

 dreds, by successive stopping and 

 striking, until the time comes to leave 

 the plants to set for bloom. The best cut- 

 tings are young shoots of three inches 

 long, trimmed of the lower leaves, and 

 cut across underthe lowest joint. The 

 best soil in which to strike them, is a 

 mixture of powdery peat and silver- 

 sand, with a coating of fine sand on the 

 surface ; and they root speedily in a 

 moist heat, of from 60 to 80 degs., and 

 must have air and a reduced tempera- 

 ture as soon as they get hold of the 

 soil. When fairly rooted, they should 

 be potted into thumbs in peat, silver- 

 sand, and fine turfy loam ; be stopped 

 at the third joint, have a little bottom 

 heat", to give them another start, and 

 then, as soon as they will bear it, be 

 hardened gradually by admission of 

 air. After that, they should never 

 get pot-bound, and at the next shift, 

 should have proper Chrysanthemum 

 soil, and the most generous culture, 

 and be regularly stopped to cause the 

 formation of a fine head. The best 

 compost for specimen plants, is one of 

 sweet turfy loam two parts, decayed 

 dung two parts, and one part peat, 

 with the admixture of some sharp 

 sand and potsherds, to keep the whole 

 open. Well pulverised night-soil 

 is the best of all things to top-dress 

 the pots with, after every shift. A soil 

 composed of two parts loam, one leaf- 

 mould, and one well rotted dung, 

 serves for the ordinary culture of pot 

 and border plants, and where the soil 

 is a good sound loam, an annual dres- 



sing with dung will be sufficient for 

 those who simply want a gay effect, and 

 have no intention of becoming com- 

 petitors for prizes. The grand thing in 

 Chrysanthemum culture is manur» 

 water, and plenty of it ; they ought 

 never to flag, even in the hottest July 

 sun. 



The directions often given in garden- 

 ing books to take plants up from the 

 borders to pot for in-door blooming, is 

 one that leads many beginners astray. 

 Plants removed into pots from the open 

 ground, do very well for ordinary pur- 

 poses, but for completeness and beauty, 

 can never be compared with those that 

 have been grown in pots from the first. 

 The check the removal gives them, and 

 every check they may afterwards suffer 

 through want of water, causes them 

 to cast their lower leaves, and one chief 

 excellence of a Chrysanthemum in a 

 pot is, to be leafed to the bottom, and 

 not one inch of bare stem visible. If 

 you want first-rate pot plants, grow 

 them in pots from the very first, and 

 shift them as fast as they fill them with 

 roots, till you get them into their 

 blooming pots, about the middle of 

 June, when all required for early 

 blooming should be stopped for the 

 last time. It should be remembered, 

 that though very hardy when grown 

 in the open air, pot culture, and espe- 

 cially the striking of cuttings in heat, 

 renders the Chrysanthemum a little 

 tender, and young stocks after being 

 potted off, must be guarded against 

 these late spring frosts, which are more 

 trying to the gardener than the sternest 

 severities of real winter. Next month 

 we shall give a full list of old and new 

 Chrysanthemums. 



