320 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



to the beginner I would like to say that the Chrysanthemum is 

 anything but a hothouse plant. In starting out, and even in the 

 case of the man already established but with only a limited amount 

 of space in which to carry his stock plants properly over Winter and 

 not under a bench, the best way to grow commercial sorts is either 

 to purchase, during March and April, rooted cuttings of the desired 

 varieties and pot them up into 2j/2-in. pots, or to buy healthy 2j/2-in. 

 stock ready for planting out by the end of April and during May. 



Just as soon as you can get the benches ready for planting 

 after they have been emptied of bedding stock and thoroughly 

 cleaned, provide proper drainage by spreading on the bottom a thin 

 layer of partly rotted sod or strawy manure. While a mellow, 

 sandy loam mixed with one-fourth well-decomposed manure makes, 

 perhaps, the best material for filling of the benches, almost any good 

 garden soil with a liberal amount of manure will grow good Chrysan- 

 anthemums. Allow 8 to 10 in. for the single stems and 12 in. for 

 the Pompons. For single stems remove all side shoots and growth 

 from the base of the plants; for the early ones select your buds 

 around the first part of August; the end of August and early Sep- 

 tember is time enough to disbud the midseason and late sorts. 



Bear in mind that in order to obtain good stems and large 

 flowers the sooner after the middle of April you can bench the 

 plants the better. Not that you cannot obtain good results from 

 such as are planted out by the end of May, but in this case, you 

 should have heavy stock to start out with. Midseason and late 

 sorts can be planted all through the month of June, and also the 

 Pompons, which should be kept pinched up to August so as to ob- 

 tain from six to eight branches. All the buds on these branches are 

 usually left to flower unless you have sorts on which you prefer 

 to have, say, three or four flowers to the stem instead of six or eight, 

 which means that you must select the largest buds, properly spaced, 

 and remove the balance. 



THE ART OF DISBUDDING 



In the single-stem sorts we have crown and terminal buds. 

 The crown buds appear first and alone. In the case of early sorts 

 consisting of plants which have been benched in early May so 

 that by the time this bud appears the stems are 2J/2 ft. and over in 

 height, heavy, and with good foliage, these buds are allowed to re- 

 main and flower. This of course necessitates the removal of the 

 lateral growth surrounding them and any and all of the growths 

 which may appear along the stems afterward, as you want to direct 

 all the energy of the plant toward developing this bud. On the 

 other hand, if this bud is removed and a lateral shoot is allowed to 

 continue the growth of the plant, while some sorts make a second 



