THE CHRYSANTHEMUM, AND ITS CULTURE. 



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iKari encourage it. In September the frost 

 may come pretty sharply, and damage pot- 

 ted plants, so that about the middle of that 

 month they should be placed in frames, and 

 carefully closed and covered at night, on 

 the least sign of severe weather ; but if this 

 be not expected or likely, the glass is 

 covering enough. The latest struck cut- 

 tings may be kept under glass all through, 

 for as they may be potted off the first time 

 as late as the end of August, they cannot 

 draw up much, but they ought to have all 

 the air that can be given in mild weather 

 and only be closed in cold winds, and of 

 evenings towards the middle or end of Sep- 

 tember ; after this period they will show 

 their bloom-buds, and when these once ap- 

 pear the plants do not grow materially. If 

 fine flowers are the object, they must not 

 be checked with cold, and many persons 

 make up a house full of them, and regulate 

 the temperature with great exactness. It 

 will, however, always be found that the 

 less artificial heat they have, the better 

 will be the colour of the flowers and foli- 

 age, and the latter will be retained best on 

 the stems; which, in spite of the best ma- 

 nagement, will shrivel, turn yellow, or fall 

 off altogether, when the plant is attempted 

 to be forced, or, by the neglect of the wa- 

 tering, gets starved. It has been the cus- 

 tom of many nurserymen to take off cut- 

 tings as soon as they were strong enough ; 

 but the great object of taking cuttings is 

 lost under this treatment. The plants run 

 up nearly as tall as if they were not taken 

 off at all, but were left to grow their full 

 height ; whereas, when their growth is half 

 made, or even more than half, the tops 

 have so much less to do, that they form 

 really dwarf specimens when of the tallest 

 kinds. Some, who appear to lose sight of 

 the object in view, or, perhaps, never 

 thought of it seriously, recommend cuttings 

 to be taken in April, fancying, perhaps, 

 they have made a great discovery, when 

 they find that April cuttings strike more 

 freely : but they answer no purpose, be- 

 cause in April they are scarcely any length, 

 while the June, July, and August cuttings 

 are taken from the top of shoots two feet 

 long. Now, we will not say that the top 

 of a shoot two feet long, that would only 

 grow to three feet if left on, would only 



grow the other foot, because fresh impulse 

 gives vigorous growth; but they will not 

 grow one-half the length that April cuttings 

 would, nor be half the trouble. The flow- 

 ers as they advance and begin to open, be- 

 come still more susceptible of damage by 

 frost, and the prevention of this is the only 

 care required at this late period of their 

 cultivation. The nurserymen put them in 

 houses, and give them a little heat, but the 

 object is to bring them into flower earlier 

 than they would come otherwise, and not 

 with any hope of bringing them finer. 

 Those in houses will commence flowering 

 in October and November, and continue 

 until some unlucky frost gets to them, or 

 they may be removed from time to time 

 into the places their flowers may be wanted 

 in. But the culture of chrysanthemums 

 may be considered complete, up to the 

 period when the buds swell, and the flowers 

 are opening ; the plants seldom grow much 

 after that, unles they are in heat, and 

 shaded, and this should always be avoided 

 as much as possible, for the stems by elon- 

 gating throw the leaves farther apart, and 

 destroy the shrubby habit, which is, whe- 

 ther natural or artificially produced, essen- 

 tial to the beauty of the plant. 



INCREASING THE BUSHY HABIT. 



Although we may obtain from cuttings 

 much more free growth and larger flowers, 

 and by taking them late keep the plants 

 very dwarf without topping, they may also 

 be dwarfed a good deal more by topping 

 the strong shoots, and encouraging laterals. 

 This is resorted to chiefly for large speci- 

 mens, but the small potted plants that we 

 have been treating of may be topped as 

 soon as they are fairly established, and the 

 side branches grow more numerous, and 

 get forwarder than they would otherwise. 

 The plant becomes more bushy, but the 

 foliage and flowers come smaller. In short, 

 we obtain more branches and bloom, but we 

 sacrifice size to number, and sometimes it 

 will be found necessary to top the laterals 

 as well, for they would grow nearly as long 

 as the original shoot would, and we have 

 known plants so managed difficult to bloom 

 at all until very late in the winter. The 

 way to manage these with the best chance 

 of success, is to take one of the plants from 

 the July cuttings, and as soon as it is plant- 



