366 MANUAL OF GARDENING 
improved of late years, and they are very satisfactory plants of easy 
culture. The plants should be renewed from seed every year or two. 
In variety of form and color, and in size of bloom, the florists’ chrys- 
anthemum is one of the most wonderful of plants. It is a late autumn 
flower, and it needs little artificial heat to bring it to perfection. The 
great blooms of the exhibitions are produced by growing only one 
flower to a plant and by feeding the plant heavily. It is hardly pos- 
sible for the amateur to grow such specimen flowers as the profes- 
sional florist or gardener does; neither is it necessary. A well-grown 
plant with fourteen to twenty flowers is far more satisfactory as a 
window-plant than a long, stiff stem with only one immense flower at 
the apex. The culture is simple, much more so than that of many of 
the plants commonly grown for house decoration. Although the 
season of bloom is short, the satisfaction of having a fall display of 
flowers before the geraniums, begonias, and other house-plants have 
recovered from their removal from out of doors, repays all efforts. 
Very good plants can be grown under a temporary shed cover, as shown 
in Fig. 268. The roof need not necessarily be of glass. Under such 
a cover, also, potted plants, in bloom, may be set for protection when 
the weather becomes too cold. 
Cuttings taken in March or April, planted out in the border in May, 
well tended through the summer and lifted before frost in September, 
will bloom in October or November. The ground in which the plants 
are to bloom should be moderately rich and moist. The plants may be 
tied to stakes. When the buds show, all but the center one of each 
cluster on the leading shoots should be picked off, as also the small 
lateral branches. A thrifty bushy plant thus treated will usually have 
flowers large enough to show the character of the variety, also num- 
bers enough to make a fine display. 
After blooming, the plants are lifted from the border. As to the re- 
ceptacle into which to put them, it need not be a flower-pot. A pail 
or soap-box, with holes bored for drainage, will suit the plant just as 
well, and by covering the box with cloth or paper the difference will 
not be noticed. 
If cuttings are not to be had, young plants may be bought of the 
florists and treated in the manner described. Buy them in midsummer 
or earlier. 
