General Culture. 53 



particularly among amateurs, the secret of success is sup- 

 posed to lie in the proper selection of a compost in which to 

 grow them. This is a mistake, as the best compost that can 

 be secured is useless unless the watering and general manage- 

 ment afterwards are correct. It is also a mistake to suppose 

 that soil must be prepared and stacked from six to twelve 

 months before using. 



No absolute rule can be laid down as to what mixture is the 

 best, as soils differ so much in various parts of the country, 

 and nearly every grower has his particular compost, made of 

 ingredients he deems best suited to this purpose, which he 

 finds in his own particular locality. 



Loam, as it is called, is of great importance, and is com- 

 posed of the top sod or upper surface of an old pasture, cut 

 below the fibrous roots of the grass. In some places it may 

 be cut three inches deep, and in others one-and-a-half inches 

 will be deep enough to obtain all the fibrous parts, as much 

 depends upon the time the pasture has been laid down. It 

 should be cut some time previous to using, long enough 

 for the grass to decay, but preserving the fibrous roots intact. 

 Such loam should form the staple of the compos,t, but in some 

 districts it is hard to obtain. Many growers of chrysanthe- 

 mums have to content themselves with very inferior soil, and 

 such growers are very heavily handicapped compared with 

 those who live in sections where there are large and fertile 

 pasture lands. 



If the sod is light in character and cut where the land is of 

 a sandy nature, ground oyster shells should be added, but if 

 the sod is cut from a limestone region, they may be dispensed 

 with, as the soil already contains too much lime, a large 

 amount of which is unfavorable to the chrysanthemum, the 

 foliage through the summer in this case not being of such a 

 deep green and vigorous character as where the loam is of a 

 different character. Charcoal is of great assistance in keep- 



