154 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS 



Chrysanthemums From the Seed. When the flower was at the 

 height of fashion at the East and propagators were athirst to get 

 striking new forms and colors for exhibition and trade, the fact was 

 demonstrated, which from knowledge of the climate could have been 

 easily implied, that California had marked advantages in the produc- 

 tion of the seed and in the growth of seedlings. The demonstration 

 came at the Madison Avenue Flower Show in New York in 1892. In 

 its report of this display, the publication entitled "Gardening," intro- 

 duced the decision of one of the best-known New York growers in 

 these words: "My greatest surprise this year was the California seed- 

 lings. I tried only >a few of them this year, for to tell you the truth, in 

 face of what we have in the East I did not think we could get much, 

 if anything better, or as good, from California. But see what I've got! 

 Aren't they beauties? Rest assured I will send for every seedling they 

 send out in California this season." These seedlings were so notable 

 that "Gardening" gave engravings of eight of them. But California 

 did not follow up its lead in propagation and these varieties disap- 

 peared. 



There remains from this experience the practical assurance that the 

 growing of seedling chrysanthemums promises satisfaction to the ama- 

 teur at least and that it is very easy to grow them. In fact they are apt 

 to volunteer freely. At one of the San Francisco flower shows there 

 was a very interesting exhibit of volunteer seedlings from a garden near 

 Haywards in which the offspring was shown in connection with the 

 bloom from the parent plants. But, of course, seed from the common 

 plants is likely to give something worse than its parentage, and select- 

 ed plants hybridized toward some particular characters foreseen to be 

 desirable, by taking pollen also from selected plants, constitute a prop- 

 er basis for operations in seed production. The method is, in general, 

 similar to that given for carnations in the last chapter. One can buy, 

 however, from the best seedsmen, seed taken from the best florists' 

 flowers and thus take a simple step toward novelties, if his curiosity 

 leads him that way. The seeds should be handled according to the 

 suggestions on growing plants from seed and transplanting in Chapter 

 VII. 



GROWING CHRYSANTHEMUMS FROM CUTTINGS. 



Growth from cuttings is the universal way because the plant re- 

 sponds so loyally to the objects in view and because one escapes un- 

 desirable variations. There are very many ways of growing and 

 handling cuttings each of them leading toward definite and very 

 different results. 



Chrysanthemum plants are sometimes left to take care of themselves 

 in some out-of-the-way place in the garden, new plants being made 

 by merely dividing the tangled mass of roots when the spring spading 



