312 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



height, to take off the tops three inches long, cut off the 

 lower leaves, plant them in sandy soil, and cover with a 

 hand-glass : they must be kept moist, and the pots set in 

 a gentle hot-bed, and the glass wiped every morning. In a 

 short time they will strike root ; then pot them in five-inch 

 pots, and grow them in the open air in a situation where 

 they will have all sun. The soil in which they are potted 

 should be loam and rotted dung, with a little silver sand. 

 When the blooms are showing, they may be changed into 

 larger pots, and removed into the house, where they will 

 bloom in perfection. The plants having nearly expended 

 their growth before the tops were taken off, the cuttings have 

 not much more growth to develop, and therefore bloom in 

 a dwarf state. There are other ways of growing this plant. 

 The young suckers, or shoots from the root, may be taken 

 off in February, placed in a gentle hot-bed till well rooted, 

 and then potted singly in light soil, hardened off, and pro- 

 tected in a cold well-aired frame until May, when they may 

 be set out of doors in an open place until the end of Sep- 

 tember. They must have two good shifts, and the tops may 

 be twice or thrice pinched out, after two or three inches' 

 growth, to produce bushy plants. In this way, large plants 

 are formed, which become very ornamental. In all cases, 

 the plants should have weak liquid manure or clarified soot- 

 water, at every watering from the time the flower-buds show 

 distinctly : nothing else is so effective in producing fine high- 

 colored flowers. 



There are two distinct classes of Chrysanthemums now 

 cultivated : one tall-growing, with large flowers ; the other 

 dwarf, compact, with numerous smaller flowers. Both are 

 highly ornamental ; the latter class, called Pompones, being 

 perhaps the most useful where only small greenhouses are 

 available for blooming them. These naturally grow dwarf 



