1892.] ESSAYS. 157 



melting flower of sulphur in a porcelain lined kettle on an oil 

 stove or lamp, giving a sufficient heat to melt the sulphur and 

 throw off the vapor but not enough to burn the sulphur, as the 

 fumes are fatal to all plant life. The above treatment should 

 give satisfactory results with bush plants. 



Within the last three or four years the demand for large flowers 

 instead of sprays has caused the commercial growers to change 

 their method of growing the Chrysanthemum. Some of the 

 larger growers devote several houses to growing the plants to 

 produce but a single flower ; they are grown on benches with six 

 inches depth of soil. The bottom of the benches is made with 

 narrow boards witli spaces between the boards three-fourths to 

 one inch in width, and covered with some coarse refuse to 

 prevent the soil washing through. The advantage of a bench 

 over a solid bed, is that in the latter, at the time when it is most 

 necessary to feed the plants with liquid manure, the soil is liable 

 to become sour, while the bench aff'ords free and quick drainage. 



When, the plants are ready the bench should be filled with a 

 compost the same as recommended for bush plants. The plants 

 are struck in April or early in May, and potted in three inch 

 pots or pricked out into boxes and placed in the open air; the 

 cold frame makes a convenient place to grow the young plants, 

 removing the glass as soon as the plants become established. 



The plants may be turned out of the pots into the benches 

 any time in the month of June, in rows six inches apart, and 

 the plants six inches apart in the rows; when established, a stake 

 should be placed to each plant and the plants tied to them as 

 they continue to grow. The dwarf-growing varieties will require 

 stakes from three to four feet in length, the taller varieties six or 

 eight feet. All lateral or side shoots should be broken oflT as 

 soon as they appear. 



The most important point in growing large blooms, is securing 

 the right bud at the right time. To do this no definite rule can 

 be given ; it can only be learned by experience with the diflerent 

 varieties. The crown bud is the most desirable if it can be 

 secured at the right time. Occasionally buds will appear on the 

 ends of the shoots in July, they should be treated as freaks and 

 removed. The crown bud appears at the end of the growth, 



