4 THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 



multitudinous details as set forth in the pages of 

 this work. 



PROPAGATION 



In all its stages the Chrysanthemum is a plant 

 easy to grow and easy to propagate. Carelessness is 

 begotten of ease, and future hopes may be foundered 

 at the start by the very simplicity of the commence- 

 ment. In every case the strongest and the best cut- 

 tings procurable should be selected. The time to 

 think about the cuttings is immediately after the 

 plants have ceased flowering. Two to three months 

 have then to elapse before they are actually required, 

 and it is just in this period of the plant's comparative 

 inactivity that proper treatment is most essential and as 

 often is neglected. If the plants are allowed to stand 

 around in any out-of-the-way place, perhaps even 

 under the greenhouse bench, without regard to tem- 

 perature or light, and to make a weak, attenuated 

 growth, they will produce cuttings that will grow into 

 plants, but not such as produce exhibition blooms. To 

 raise these, immediately after flowering the old plants 

 must be given a. light, airy position and the best atten- 

 tion in a temperature of about forty degrees; and in 

 return they will give the right kind of cuttings when 

 time for propagation arrives. 



Another method that has been followed with 

 marked success, with economy of space, and that avoids 

 the retaining of a lot of old plants, is to take a batch 

 of cuttings of each variety in November, root these in 

 sand; when rooted, plant into flats and treat the same 

 as old plants. When growing nicely the young plants 

 may be pinched once and they will break into several 

 shoots which make admirable cuttings, even better than 

 those secured from the old stock. If the old plants are 

 to be relied upon for the future cuttings, they should 



