68 Chrysanthemum Culture for America. 



even exceed us in the extent of their training. Their stand- 

 ards, half standards, umbrella tops, pyramids and balloon 

 shaped plants, show that endless care is bestowed upon their 

 formation. The feeding and watering of the plants will then 

 be the all-important care. Like human beings they can exist 

 and flourish on one or more staple foods, but a change of food 

 occasionally is best, and will produce surprising results. Use 

 one week a very light dressing of cow manure, old and well 

 pulverized ; the next, liquid manure, and so on. Soot water 

 may also be used with advantage at intervals throughout the 

 whole season. 



The care of watering is best entrusted to one man, and if he 

 is observant, he will soon find out the nature and require- 

 ments of the different varieties. Some varieties require much 

 more water than others, a fact which soon becomes apparent 

 to one entrusted with their keeping, and he should govern the 

 supply of water accordingly. If the plants should ever surfer 

 from want of water and their foliage wilt, it will count against 

 the final success; hence the importance of judicious watering. 

 A good plan is to offer an interest in the final outcome for 

 instance, one-fourth the prize to the man in charge ; it will 

 wonderfully energize him, and many of the successful growers 

 attribute much of their success to this plan. 



In England, according to custom, the head gardener is the 

 recipient of all prize money and profits of all kinds, resulting 

 from the awards made at horticultural exhibitions in favor of 

 the articles he has exhibited, whether chrysanthemums, orchids, 

 or the products of the kitchen garden. He carries with him 

 when he moves, the certificates, cups, medals, and ribbons 

 that at one time graced some object of his care in the exhibi- 

 tion tent or hall, and proudly shows them as evidences of his 

 skill. 



The standard or tree chrysanthemums at exhibitions, or 

 wherever seen, always command attention, towering as they 



