CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR MARKET 63 



of the roof, and will have a good soaking at the roots, 

 which will also help settle the soil round about them. 



Many of the early flowering forms will be allowed to 

 remain outside, and supplies of cut-flowers will be ob- 

 tained from them until those planted in the houses will 

 be able to furnish their quota of bloom in succession. 

 Sometimes a rough structure is erected over outdoor 

 ones, should any variety merit it, and over this is drawn 

 some scrim canvas or other cheap material as a slight 

 protection against frost. 



It is surprising what a large quantity of bloom can be 

 gathered out of one of those long, low houses usually 

 associated with market nurseries. The plants are put 

 in fairly close together, and in their different colours 

 and varieties so as to simplify the labour of cutting. In 

 packing they are graded, varieties kept separate for 

 colour, etc. 



When plants are grown for pot work, that is, sent 

 into the market as such, a little different system is 

 chosen. The plants are grown on in pots from the 

 cutting-boxes, and usually have two shifts, into a thumb- 

 pot and then into one of about six-inch diameter, and 

 this latter is the size it is sent to market in. 



Of course it is only growers near large towns that 

 can follow this latter process. They usually have 

 their own horses and vans and send their produce by 

 road. 



I was once round a nursery of this description in the 

 neighbourhood of London, where Chrysanthemums were 

 grown on a fairly extensive scale for the market. I saw 

 several houses filled with these pot plants, and remark- 

 ably good they were. All the pots were of the size 

 previously mentioned, and each plant had seven to nine 

 or more growths, each carrying a fair-sized bloom. 

 They had been disbudded, and were of uniform height. 

 The colours were Mdme. Fabre, pink ; L. Canning, 



