M Alien. 85 



hoop about their middle, and then to a smaller hoop at their top. 

 Bend the shoots of the plant round this, so as to cover it regularly ; 

 and when the young branches have begun to grow freely, train the 

 strongest of them near the bottom of the trellis, so as to have your 

 plant regularly covered with flowers, which it will be by the middle 

 of Julv, if the foregoing directions have been carefully carried out. 



In' the third and fourth years it will flower earlier and better 

 than in the second, and it will not require to be shifted ; but it 

 should be fed occasionally with clear liquid- manure water, to keep 

 it healthy and vigorous, without being over-luxuriant. By liquid 

 manure, I mean clear dung- water from the stable-yard. 



G, M. 



MUTABILITY OF COLOURS IN THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 



Our attention has been directed to this subject on account of our 

 having received from a correspondent in Norfolk two flowers re- 

 ported to have been picked from one plant, all of whose stems pro- 

 ceeded from one root, and on which there was about an equal number 

 of blossoms of each colour. One of the flowers measured 2^ inches 

 in diameter, bronze-coloured in the body, with yellow-tipped petals, 

 inchned to quill, full centre ; the other measured 31 inches in diame- 

 ter, and was a deep red maroon, with petals inclined to reflex, cen- 

 tre starry. 



Our correspondent speaks confidently as to these two very dif- 

 ferently coloured flowers having been produced by one plant ; and 

 this being the case, we have ventured to bring the matter under the 

 notice of our readers, in tlie hope that some one may be able to 

 throw such light on the subject as may lead to an explanation of 

 the anomaly. 



We have ourselves seen the old two -coloured incurved come 

 sometimes bright yellow or orange, while at other times it would 

 be a fine maroon; but it has always maintained the same shape, 

 which our correspondent's flowers have not. 



Mr. Gordon, superintendent of the ornamental department in 

 the Horticultural Society's Garden, whose knowledge of flowers and 

 plants is very great, says, that " the mutabiUty of colours in the 

 Chr}-santhemum flower is of old date, and was observed to occur 

 many years ago, when it w-as no doubt more common than it is now, 

 and probably was owing to some diff^"erences caused by change of 

 climate on the plants being first introduced ; for the more common 

 cases happened in plants first propagated from the original stock, 

 shortly after they were imported from China. Mr. Sabine, in a 

 paper read before the Horticultural Society so far back as February 

 1820, states that the old changeable white, or Lee's white, as it was 

 sometimes called, was obtained from a sport of the old quilled purple ; 

 and that the variations in its colours were great : sometimes the florets 

 were pure white, especially in cold seasons ; sometimes the backs of 



