THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 208 



A strong bamboo stake should be supplied to each plant, which 

 should be securely tied. As the potting is completed the plants 

 should be placed out of doors on slates or planks of wood in such 

 a position that they can obtain all the sunshine available, so that 

 the wood may be thoroughly ripened. Give the plants plenty of 

 room eighteen inches apart will not be too much and take care 

 to ensure that they are secure against high winds which may blow 

 the top-heavy plants over and cause irretrievable damage. Where 

 a large number of chrysanthemums are grown it is a good plan 

 to insert a stout wooden stake at the extremity of each row and to 

 fix to them two strands of galvanised wire, one at the top of the 

 stake and the other three feet down. The canes already fixed in 

 the pots can then be tied to the wires and the plants will be 

 safe from harm. 



The subsequent treatment of the plants will depend largely 

 on the purpose for which the flowers are intended. If it be 

 desired merely to secure a brilliant display in the greenhouse, 

 the process depicted in Diagram 23 may be followed with an 

 assured prospect of success. This consists in pinching out the 

 top of the stem when the young plant is six or eight inches high. 

 Lateral shoots will speedily develop below from the axils of the 

 leaves. These shoots when they attain a length of six or eight 

 inches should be pinched out, and each succeeding six or eight 

 inches of growth be in turn similarly treated. This repeated 

 " pinching out," as it is called, will induce a bushy habit of growth 

 and will ensure the production of a large number of blossoms on 

 each plant. 



If the intention be to secure enormous flowers that are intended 

 for exhibition the process will be entirely different. After the 

 first pinching the plant should produce three new shoots, as 

 indicated in Figure 4 of Diagram 23. During May, if the cuttings 

 were " taken " in December, the growth of the stem will be 

 arrested by the formation of a flower-bud at the top. This bud 

 must be pinched out, so that new lateral shoots may be allowed 

 to develop. The three best lateral shoots should now be selected 

 and all the rest removed. After a few weeks these shoots will form 



