The Garden Magazine, November, 1921 



13S 



shine can penetrate; but stagnant dampness will do much 

 harm. The bed is 3 ft. in width and as long as you please. 

 Plough to the depth of a few inches. Especially see to good 

 irrigation. If you think the ground a little too watery, strew 

 sand about 4 or 5 inches deep, for this will keep the bed from 

 dampness. Cover this sandy layer with good soil, (the com- 

 pound of 70 per cent, of ordinary soil, 25 per cent, of small sand, 

 and 5 per cent, of straw ashes) by sifting through a close mesh 

 until the sifted matter is a few inches high. This soil must not 

 be fed with manure. The soil on which Potatoes and Beans 

 were reared last year will serve most suitably. 



Take advantage of a spell of fine weather for setting out 

 your Chrysanthemum sprouts. The day must be windless, 

 and the afternoon is preferable. Take a trowel and a pair of 

 sharp scissors. With the trowel lift the roots of the sprouts 

 about the old plant and ascertain whether the sprouts are 

 coming from the trunks. Part them from the trunks with 

 your scissors and immediately set in the prepared bed. The 

 newly planted Chrysanthemums stand about one inch deep in 

 the ground with a three-inch space one from another. The roots 

 are to be pressed lightly with six of your fingers, three of each 

 hand. 



Similarly the second or "real" transplantation is handled. 

 The last, but not least thing to do is making up a tent of 

 straw mats for the protection of the plants. Three sides are 

 covered; the roof and the eastern side are protected with two 

 sheets of reed blinds. The height of the tent is 2 or 2\ ft. 



For two or three days after this, water is out of the question. 

 A part of the roof should be open at night, but not in the day- 

 time. Fine weather still continuing, water the bed with a water- 



OF RARE DECORATIVE QUALITY 



The Japanese have been quick to see the artistic pos- 

 sibilities of this variety and have frequently used it 

 as a basis for design. (See Japanese screen, page 137) 



ing-pot at dusk for the first time. If it rains, the tent must 

 be made waterproof. From this time onward give water tilF 

 the rains come. At the end of a week take away one sheet 

 of reed-blind. One week later all protection is removed. At 

 the end of three or four weeks the sprouts are ready for the 

 second or "real" transplanting. If the sprouts are withered 

 from long travel or heat, keep them in a well about one foot 

 from the surface of the water or leave them in a cool storage room 

 to recover. 



The young Chrysanthemums are liable to fall victim to in- 

 sects, for which a strict watch must be kept, and if any plant be 

 found with withered leaves, root it out. 



ANOTHER PLEASING VARIETY 



Note the crisply upturned petals in striking contrast to the 

 falling, plume-like habit pictured on opposite page; in such 

 surprising variation does the Chrysanthemum delight 



THE Chrysanthemum as grown in American gardens is also 

 of two types; the large, tender, greenhouse varieties being 

 the big kiku of Japan and the hardy, smaller flowered 

 Pompons, the little kiku. These two groups are derived 

 directly from two distinct species which have become closely 

 intermingled in cultivation, and the resulting progeny is 

 inclined to hardiness or tenderness according to the respective 

 influence of the parents. The large-flowered, hardy forms of 

 more recent introduction are in fact intermediate, and in culti- 

 vation are not quite so hardy as the old-fashioned "button "of 

 the little kiku. The reader will be able to draw culturaL 

 deductions from the preceding material ; and practice has clearly 

 demonstrated that the Chrysanthemum likes a rich soil and 

 plenty of water. 



