CHAPTER VII. 



"UFTED" CHRYSANTHEMUMS 



FROM October till January the chrysanthemum reigns supreme. 

 Of that there can be no doubt. It comes into the scheme of 

 special glasshouse crops, but we are not here going to treat of 

 it as a pot plant, but as being grown in the open ground 

 throughout the summer and " lifted " into the greenhouses 

 on the approach of frosty weather in October. As a pot plant 

 it will be duly dealt with in a later volume of this work. 



The method we are going now to describe is a much more 

 economical way of producing quantities of cut flowers than 

 cultivating them in pots. This latter is too expensive for market 

 work, and current prices demand their production in great 

 quantities at the least possible cost and with the rigid economy 

 of space and labour. 



It is not every variety that can adapt itself to this method 

 of culture, and the grower must make his selection from proved 

 varieties. There is no scarcity of these, and new ones are added 

 to them every year. This selection should be limited in number, 

 it being a better policy to grow large quantities of a few leading 

 varieties rather than many varieties in reduced quantities. 



The young plants should be propagated and brought on as 

 described in Vol. I, and should be hardened off in pots or boxes 

 in readiness for planting immediately after mid-April. The 

 ground should be dug deeply and manured, the soil open, 

 warm and well drained, so that the young plants may find a 

 congenial and comfortable root run. A good workable distance 

 at which to plant is i foot from plant to plant and 2 feet from 

 row to row, except in the case of strong growing varieties, 

 like Source d'Or, which requires 18 inches from plant to 

 plant. 



Their general cultivation is not exacting if the soil is good, 

 for it consists only of frequent hoeing and sticking, tying and 

 disbudding, with a thinning out of the growths of some of the 

 densely growing sorts. 



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