CHRYSANTHEMUM SEEDS AND SEEDING. 



105 



been seen and preserved for sowing. I have saved seeds in Ire- 

 land from the golden pompon St. Michael as trained to a sunny 

 wall, and have now and then found good seeds in the heads of 

 Japanese varieties, which had ripened as they lay on the rubbish- 

 heap after having been cut from the plants. 



When once good seed is secured, the rest is easy. Sown in 

 March in a gentle bottom heat of 65° to 70° F. it germinates as 

 freely as Cress seed, and in a few weeks from sowing the plants 

 are large enough for pricking out in boxes or pans. Their after- 

 culture is similar to that of cuttings, and, as a rule, all the 

 seedlings flower the same year in which they are sown, i.e., in 

 about eight or nine months from seed sowing. 



The main good points raisers everywhere should strive to 

 obtain may be grouped under the following heads : — 



1. Constitutional Vigour. — That best of all hardy kinds, 

 old Emperor of China, is the type of vigour and hardihood 

 •desirable in new seedling Chrysanthemums. Hardy outdoor 

 kinds are most desirable. 



2. Habit. — May vary, but dwarf and bushy habited kinds 

 fulfil the desires of the majority of growers, and a dwarf free- 

 flowering habit is a point w r orth striving for, even although by 

 adopting the "cutting-down" and other cultural methods, we 

 can render even the tallest kinds dwarfer than they naturally are. 



3. Quality and Size of Blooms. — It ought to be more gene- 

 rally recognised that mere size is by no means an element in 

 beauty. Blooms of 9 to 12 inches in diameter are now not very 

 uncommon, and such blooms of good and refined quality are 

 quite large enough. Some of the smallest of Roses and Chrys- 

 anthemums are the most exquisite after all. 



4. Shape or Form of Flower. — This again maybe as variable 

 as size, and new forms are, of course, always to be welcomed, 

 seeing that variety is proverbially charming. Incurved flowers, 

 showing the backs of the florets, will never equal the reflexed or 

 Japanese varieties in colour, as in these the face of the florets is 

 shown. All forms are welcome. We want more quaint flowers 

 of the Belle Paule, Fabian de Mediana, and Sceur Dorothee 

 Souille type — the so-called Japanese Anemone -flowered race. 

 In a word, let us emancipate ourselves from the dogma of the 

 old globe and circle school, and take our feast of beauty as nature 

 and art can best develop it to our hands. Beauty is not definable 



