26 CHRYSANTHEMUMS 



planted and are growing. If the soil is 

 not in good mechanical condition before the 

 plants have begun to take root nothing 

 can be done to improve it without injury 

 to the plants. If the mechanical character 

 of the soil intended for use is bad, some 

 means should be used to improve it; for 

 while plants may be successfully grown in 

 soils varying considerably in this respect, 

 extremes of any kind are sure to prove 

 detrimental to the health of the plants. 

 The soil generally conceded to be best for 

 growing chrysanthemums is a friable clay 

 loam. Stiff, heavy clay, muck, sandy or 

 gravelly soils are not good for the purpose, 

 and when from necessity any of them must 

 be used, efforts should be made to improve 

 them by the addition of other materials 

 or soils of opposite character. Heavy clay 

 soil will be improved by the addition of 

 about one sixth each of sand and leaf mould 

 to four sixths of the clay. Gravelly and 

 sandy soils will be improved, both mechani- 

 cally and chemically, by having a greater 

 proportion of heavy manure added to the 

 compost than soils of heavier texture can 

 stand. 



