3<H 



THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Of late years chrysanthemums have not been so profitable as they were at one 

 time. This is owing to the exceptionally rapid increase in their production. Mild 

 autumns have also militated against the sale of house-grown chrysanthemums, and, as 

 a consequence, the prices realised at times have been very low indeed. Pure white 

 varieties pay the best, especially those which are good and marketed either very 

 early or very late in the season. During September and the early part of October, 

 good (disbudded) blooms of Madame Desgranges, My tchett White, Queen of the Earlies, 

 Barbara Forbes, and Lady Fitzwigram, frequently fetch 2s. per dozen, and at Is. they pay 

 well ; while smaller flowers bunched (not as shown in Fig. 174, page 305, but after the 

 manner shown in Fig. 175, page 306) realise from 9s. to 12s. per dozen bunches. Directly 

 they become more plentiful the prices fall at least 50 per cent. During the " glut " which 

 usually takes place late in October and the early part of November, chrysanthemums 

 bring very poor returns indeed. Towards the end of November and all through 

 December prices slowly improve, and for the Christmas demand they stiffen consider- 

 ably. Well-grown blooms, with long stems, of Lady Lawrence, Princess Yictoria, L. 

 Canning, Princess Blanche, Niveus, Mdlle. Therese Panckoucke, J. Agate, and any 

 other good white variety, may fetch as much as 2s. per dozen then, but Is. 6d. is 

 nearer the average. Medium-sized blooms realise about Is. per dozen, and small flowers 

 Gd. to 9d. per dozen bunches. The prices for coloured varieties are 25 per cent, lower 

 all through; good yellows and bronzes, however, at Christmas and a few following 

 weeks, sell nearly as well as whites. 



There is a fairly good demand for plants in pots. The bulk are grown in 8-inch 

 pots, but many arc also flowered in the 7 -inch size. If the plants are dwarf, bushy, 

 well furnished with leaves, and the flowers are good, remunerative prices are obtained, 

 or from 6s. to 14s. per dozen plants. 



Every season many novelties are introduced, and a trial ought to be given to a few 

 of the more promising with a view to increasing those which prove more satisfactory 

 than the older varieties. Those that require much staking, or which produce blooms on 

 weak peduncles, are of small use to market growers. They prefer plants of branching 

 and fairly erect habit of growth, carrying blooms that stand up boldly after the style 

 of Lady Lawrence and W. H. Lincoln. Especially ought those with soft stems and 

 leaves to be discarded in favour of others of a more woody disease-resisting nature. A 



