70 



THE PRACTICAL GARDEN -BOOK 



8-inch pots or in small soap boxes. There is a fine yellow- 

 flowered variety. 



In variety of form and color, and in size of bloom, the 

 florists' Chrysanthemum 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 possible for 

 the amateur to grow such specimen flowers 

 as the professional florist or gardener does; 

 chrysanthemums m a bo ne ither 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 im- 

 mense flower at the apex. Their culture is simple, much 

 more so than that of many of the plants commonly grown 

 for house decoration. Although their 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. 



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 they 

 are planted 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 enough flowers to make 

 a fine display. As to the receptacle into which to put 

 them when lifted from the border, it need not be a 

 flower pot. A pail or soap box, with holes bored for drain- 



