i88i.] CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR CONSERVATORY. 515 



is paid to it, in numerous instances, than there is any occasion for, or 

 than is good for their appearance. With many. Chrysanthemum-grow- 

 ing is looked on as a much greater concern than growing fruit-trees; 

 and the attention bestowed on training, thinning, and disbudding 

 Chrysanthemums, is double that given to fruit-trees. If all this rendered 

 them good, useful conservatory plants, the matter would be easily un- 

 derstood, and its general application recommended ; but as a rule, all 

 the training they get only tends to make them more unnatural-looking, 

 and more unfit to be what they ought — and that is, the most useful of 

 all conservatory plants at this season. Size of bloom is the first and 

 only consideration with many. Anything or everything will be done 

 to secure this. From the first, the greatest care will be taken that the 

 main stems are not stopped or retarded in any way. If they can be 

 induced to grow to 5 or 6 feet, it is considered something wonderful, 

 and as near perfection as possible has been attained ; but the training 

 does not stop here. As soon as ever the buds are visible they are all 

 thinned off to two or three, and in some cases only one is left. Then 

 the great bloom which so much has been done to produce opens, and 

 it is neither an ornament in the conservatory nor useful in a cut state, 

 at least sufficient numbers cannot be had to make them useful. 

 This and other equally useless practices are what is termed specimen- 

 Chrysanthemum growing; but to the great majority of cultivators the 

 systems have nothing to recommend them, and should be avoided, 

 however highly the results may be pictured. To our mind, the real 

 conservatory Chrysanthemum is a low-growing, natural-like spreading 

 bush, which may be placed on a side shelf, or centre bed, or anywhere 

 on the ground-level, and still retain its individual attraction, the rich 

 clusters of bloom being looked down on, and not stared up at. Chiefly 

 for want of water and nourishment in summer and autumn, many 

 Chrysanthemums lose all their bottom leaves, and the bare stems be- 

 come rather prominent to view. This does not improve their appear- 

 ance when in the conservatory, unless there are some long-growing 

 bushy plants placed in front of them; and their appearance in this 

 way is worse still when a large number of stakes are used to support 

 the stems. Frequently these are so numerous, that the stakes are more 

 bulky than anything else ; but fine ornamental Chrysanthemum plants 

 may be grown for conservatory decoration without any stakes. At 

 the present time our Chrysanthemums are just showing bud. They 

 are mostly growing in 8 -inch pots, each potful being composed of 

 about a score of shoots from 12 to 36 inches in height. These have 

 been grown, well exposed to light on all sides and plenty of sun, since 

 last spring, and every shoot is so robust that it is self-supporting, 

 which does away with the use and time of staking altogether; and the 

 plants when in bloom are very pleasing, as, at the end of every shoot, 

 fine-sized blooms come out in massive clusters. These plants are used 

 here and there in the conservatory, and a single row of them, over 300 



2l 



