366 MANUAL OF GARDENING 



improved of late years, and they are very satisfactory plants of easy 

 culture. The plants should be renewed from seed every year or two. 



In variety of form and color, and in size of bloom, the florists' chrys- 

 anthemum is one of the most wonderful of plants. It is a late autumn 

 flower, and it needs little artificial heat to bring it to perfection. The 

 great blooms of the exhibitions are produced by growing only one 

 flower to a plant and by feeding the plant heavily. It is hardly pos- 

 sible for the amateur to grow such specimen flowers as the profes- 

 sional florist or gardener does; neither is it necessary. A well-grown 

 plant with fourteen to twenty flowers is far more satisfactory as a 

 window-plant than a long, stiff stem with only one immense flower at 

 the apex. The culture is simple, much more so than that of many of 

 the plants commonly grown for house decoration. Although the 

 season of bloom is short, the satisfaction of having a fall display of 

 flowers before the geraniums, begonias, and other house-plants have 

 recovered from their removal from out of doors, repays all efforts. 

 Very good plants can be grown under a temporary shed cover, as shown 

 in Fig. 268. The roof need not necessarily be of glass. Under such 

 a cover, also, potted plants, in bloom, may be set for protection when 

 the weather becomes too cold. 



Cuttings taken in March or April, planted out in the border in May, 

 well tended through the summer and lifted before frost in September, 

 will bloom in October or November. The ground in which the plants 

 are to bloom should be moderately rich and moist. The plants may be 

 tied to stakes. When the buds show, all but the center one of each 

 cluster on the leading shoots should be picked off, as also the small 

 lateral branches. A thrifty bushy plant thus treated will usually have 

 flowers large enough to show the character of the variety, also num- 

 bers enough to make a fine display. 



After blooming, the plants are lifted from the border. As to the re- 

 ceptacle into which to put them, it need not be a flower-pot. A pail 

 or soap-box, with holes bored for drainage, will suit the plant just as 

 well, and by covering the box with cloth or paper the difference will 

 not be noticed. 



If cuttings are not to be had, young plants may be bought of the 

 florists and treated in the manner described. Buy them in midsummer 

 or earlier. 



