SPECIMEN PLANTS 71 



pinching the growing point of a young plant when only 

 about four inches in hight. 



STANDABD PLANTS 



Standard plants differ only in that the branched 

 head is borne at a hight according to desire of from 

 three feet to six feet upon a single supporting stem, and 

 the plant $mst first be grown to the desired hight before 

 the point is pinched out. There are great possibilities 

 in Chrysanthemum culture along these lines. The 

 Japanese, particularly, excel in growing plants, which 

 they, with marvelous patience and skill, train into 

 many shapes and grow of enormous size. Although 

 those who grow these specimens in America are 

 few in number compared with the many who grow 

 Chrysanthemums for cutting, the plants they produce 

 and pkce on exhibition could hardly be surpassed. It 

 is not uncommon to hear these specimens decried as 

 ugly, stiff and formal, but it is more than probable those 

 who deny them the striking beauty they possess never 

 grew a specimen in their life, and would fail in the 

 attempt. Specimen plants appear each year at most 

 of our large Chrysanthemum exhibitions, but the best 

 justification of them is furnished by the annual exhi- 

 bition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 

 Boston, where, for many years, specimen bush plants 

 have been the leading feature, and continue so to be. 

 A superb specimen bush plant, with standards in the 

 rear, is seen in Fig. 19. 



To grow good specimen plants is to tax to the 

 fullest extent the individual skill of the grower, who 

 must be an enthusiast and manifest a keen interest in 

 his plants all the time. It takes nearly a year to grow 

 one of these great specimens because an early start 

 must be made to lav the foundation of abundant 



