74 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



suffer from want of either root room or water, and after the buds 

 are set to encourage with liquid manure. After the plants have 

 done flowering they should be cut down to about a foot from the 

 ground and put in the cool house or a well-Tentilated frame. 



In January the offshoots from below the ground, and also from 

 the stems or branches, will be from four to six inches long, when 

 they should be cut and planted in sand, either in pots, boxes, or 

 the propagating bench ; a south aspect, and temperature not above 

 55° by artificial heat, are very essential. As soon as the cuttings 

 have rooted, they should be potted into two inch pots ; from these 

 they should be repotted in three weeks into three or four inch pots, 

 and again, when well rooted, into five or six inch pots, by which 

 time the first pinching takes place. "When the plants are well 

 established in the five or six inch pots, they should be planted in 

 their final quarters ; if in pots, those of from ten to twelve inches 

 are large enough to grow the best plants ; if in benches or boxes, 

 four inches of depth will suffice for the roots. Then comes the 

 fixing of the plant to a neat stake, and tying it firml}- ; meanwhile, 

 pinching and pruning should not be neglected. The last pinching 

 is done at the end of July, and the ground shoots are not allowed 

 to grow, in order that the whole strength should go into the main 

 stem. When the buds are well set, liquid manure should be 

 freely given, and attention should be paid to the disbudding, as 

 by leaving one bud to each twig you will have finer flowers than if 

 all were allowed to remain, and the plants will also look better 

 with fifty perfect blooms than with a hundred imperfect ones. 

 "Where large specimen flowers are desired, not more than from 

 four to six flowers should be left on each plant, that this very 

 limited number may have the benefit of the whole vigor of the 

 plant. "When standard plants are desired the best way is to 

 secure a strong shoot early in January-, and leave it growing, 

 without stopping, until it reaches the required height, when it 

 should be pinched and treated in the same way as a bush plant. 

 Planting out, and potting in August, may be practical, yet plants 

 will suffer more or less by being lifted. 



The place where chrysanthemums are grown should have all the 

 light, air, and sun from the time the cuttings are rooted until the 

 cuttings are again ready to be taken. The soil that these plants 

 seem to prefer is good turfy loam, well mixed with cla}-, and 

 enriched by ground bone, sheep manure, or other manure or 

 fertilizer. 



