84 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



obtainable by any system of pinching. It must be men- 

 tioned that some of the Singles and other decorative varieties 

 are disbudded to one flower on a stem, and in such cases 

 good sized flowers are produced, varying in numbers from 

 fifteen to thirty on each plant, according to the variety. 

 There are certain varieties of tall growth that may not 

 be suitable for this system of cultivation, but I have found 

 that they grow very little taller than when they are stopped 

 once, or twice, provided they are kept on the hard side all 

 through their season of growth. The really high -class 

 decorative flowers which are so prominently displayed in 

 the florists' windows, such as may be termed half-specimen 

 flowers, are usually grown from six to ten on a plant which 

 has been stopped once this just previous to making its 

 first natural break. The stopping has a tendency to reduce 

 the number of shoots in comparison to when it is allowed 

 to break naturally ; many growers strike their plants two or 

 three in a pot for obtaining this class of flower, thus getting 

 three or four blooms from each plant. In some instances 

 the first-crown bud is secured, but in others the plants are 

 allowed to produce the second crown or even the terminal 

 bud, in just the same way as exhibition varieties. Such 

 plants have to be fed liberally, being in rather small pots, 

 and it is astonishing the number of high-class blooms that 

 a plant growing in a Q-inch pot will produce, many of them 

 being only slightly smaller than exhibition size. In this 

 connection it should be remembered that the houses of the 

 market growers are more adapted for favouring the develop- 

 ment of the flowers than the smaller houses of the private 

 establishment, hence the excellent quality frequently to be 

 seen in many of these high-grade market flowers. 



There are hundreds of varieties of Chrysanthemums 



