68 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
Chrysanthemums require liberal supplies of water throughout, 
but care must be taken not to overwater them when newly potted. 
After the pots in which they are to bloom are well filled with roots, 
the use of liquid manure may be commenced. Guano mixed with 
soft water, at the rate of half an ounce of guano to the gallon of 
water, makes a very excellent stimulant for chrysanthemums, and 
after it has been supplied to them for six weeks or so, a double 
quantity of guano—or one ounce to the gallon—may be employed. - 
It should be applied alternately with soft water, and all watering 
should be done in the evening, or early in the morning. In warm 
and bright weather syringing them overhead once a day will be 
most advantageous, inasmuch as it will refresh the plants, and assist 
in the maintenance of the foliage in a clean state, by the removal of 
the dust that usually settles upon it. They must not at any time 
suffer from dryness at the roots, or they will lose the greater portion 
of the lower leaves. 
PyRAMIDAL SPECIMENS require precisely the same culture as the 
dwarf examples, with the exception that they have to be trained 
differently. The young plants required for pyramids should not be 
stopped until after they have been shifted into the six-inch pots. 
When established in these nip out the points, and as soon as the 
shoots are a few inches in length, select the one at the top, and 
train it in an upright direction, and tie the others out loosely. 
Stop again when the top shoot has attained a length of nine inches, 
and again select the uppermost shoot for a leader, and repeat this 
process until the desired height is attained. Specimens about thirty 
inches high, and twenty-four inches across the base, are the most 
desirable as regards size, and when attempts are made to have 
them larger, they are frequently objectionably thin, both in foliage 
and flowers. A stake for the support of the leader will be required 
from the first, and at the time mentioned for putting the trainers to 
bush specimens, fix a stout wire ring, twenty inches in diameter, 
down on the pot, and a stout stake thirty inches in height in the 
centre, and let it be firmly inserted in the soil. Then from a frame- 
work, by means of pieces of wire secured at the lower end to the 
ring, and at the upper end to the top of the stake. The whole of 
the framework must be well covered, and the flowers should be 
allowed to project about four inches beyond it. The pompone 
varieties are more easily grown in the form of pyramids than the 
large flowering sorts. The latter are wonderfully effective trained 
in that form, but even the most experienced cultivators frequently 
fail in producing first-class specimens. 
STanDARDS when nicely grown are very effective, both in the 
conservatory and upon the exhibition stage. The best course is to 
select an early struck cutting or a sucker, and sbift on as advised 
for the dwarf specimens. Instead of stopping the plants, encourage 
the development of a straight stem, and nip off the side-shoots as 
fast as they make their appearance. Avoid injury to the leaves, and 
when the stem has attained a height of two feet nip out the point. 
After the stopping they will break freely down the stem, but only 
those shoots within four or five inches of the top must be allowed to 
