CHRYSANTHEMUMS 47 



every encouragement to throw up healthy cuttings and plenty 

 of them. The late large-flowering varieties often throw up 

 their new growth while yet the plant is in bloom, and these may 

 be taken as cuttings directly they are fit, but with the earlier- 

 flowering section, including the November kinds, February has, 

 in practice, proved early enough for all practical purposes to 

 take cuttings. 



The production of strong healthy cuttings, should, as we sa} r , 

 be encouraged, but that does not imply that they should in any 

 way be forced. We never subject our old plants to heat, but 

 allow them to take their natural course under normal conditions, 

 viz., cool treatment. Not that there can be any serious objec- 

 tion to a heat which excludes frost and does not rise (except by 

 sun heat) above 50 in winter. There are exceptions : a few 

 varieties are exceedingly shy of growth and simply will not 

 produce cuttings unless they are assisted, but these are the 

 exceptions which prove the rule, and, on the whole, we may 

 take it for granted that a cold frame will turn out stronger and 

 better cuttings than a greenhouse. 



Cuttings should be made of short firm growths, real basal 

 growths, before the wood hardens. All puny, thin growths 

 should be shunned, unless they are novelties which must be 

 increased rapidly. lyet them be about 2 to 3 inches long, cut 

 immediately below a joint. Remove the lower leaves with a sharp 

 knife that will cut clean without bruising. Use a light sandy 

 soil for them to root in, avoiding all nitrogenous matter, and 

 whether in beds, pots, or pans do not crowd them or their rather 

 ample and soft foliage will arrest and hold too much moisture 

 and " damp off." 



Even the cuttings do not need great heat. In the South of 

 England we have stood pots of cuttings in cold frames in Novem- 

 ber and they have remained there throughout the winter and 

 done well ; but in the Midlands and North, where the bulk of 

 the propagation has taken place in February and March, we 

 have found a little heat very helpful, if not indispensable. And 

 indeed when the numbers to be propagated amount to many 

 thousands heat must be used to accelerate rooting, but it is 

 rather the exigencies of trade that demand this, not the well-being 



