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kept sprinkled among the plants the insects will never 
molest them. If you have a water supply and a garden 
hose, and give your plants a good syringing each even- 
ing, it will also make it unpleasant for the bugs, and the 
chances are they will not want to stay on your plants 
any great length of time. If grown indoors, a smoking 
as recommended for Roses will kill them. In the Fall a 
sort of a brown catterpillar preys upon them; there is no 
antidote for this better than the finger and thumb system 
of picking them off and destroying them. 
TO RETARD THE BLOOMING SEASON. 
~ During recent years the Chrysanthemum has become 
so essential for all early Winter decorations, that various 
eultural practices have’ been devised and resorted to in 
order to obtain dwarf bushy plants, as also to induce a 
later habit of blooming, so that, instead of having a glut 
of flowers all at one time, there should be a gradual suc- 
eession from late in October until late in January—that 
is to sav, during the most dreary period of our floral year. 
Wherever decorative bushes are required, a portion of 
the collection should be treated as follows: Early in May, 
when the plants are eighteen inches or two feet in height, 
cut back the whole of the shoots to within one foot or 
six inches of the pot. This causes the plants to break 
out fresh and bushy, and also throws back the plants, so 
that they bloom later than would otherwise have been 
the case. Cutafew plants down in succession from May 
until the end of June. We have seen some plants last 
season cut down in June, that made nice bushy plants, 
covered with fresh flowers early in January, or nearly 
six weeks after others not so treated had bloomed. These 
plants were cut off level with the pot tops, and were kept 
moist only until new growths appeared. It must be 
