GROWING CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR PROFIT. 



185 



the season. The cuttings should be inserted the end of June 

 or early in July, giving them a shady place under a north wall. 

 When well rooted pot on into 5 -inch pots, giving plenty of 

 elbow room, to prevent drawing. The cuttings are taken from 

 a few old stumps planted out for the purpose ; or, in case of the 

 Pompons, which will bear late stopping, from the tops of the 

 strongest leaders on the sale plants. 



You w 7 ill observe that in my selection for plants I have not 

 included anything llowering later than the end of October, as I 

 do not think the late varieties pay at all as pot plants. The 

 reason is that, if placed too closely when housed, they lose all the 

 lower foliage and become unsightly ; while to give sufficient 

 space to ensure good foliage to the pot, means that the house will 

 take less than a quarter the number it would hold if intended 

 for cutting. 



Any remarks on the commercial aspect of Chrysanthemum 

 growing w T ould be incomplete without some reference to the 

 exceptionally early frosts which have visited many districts 

 lately, and made such havoc with the plants that the title of my 

 paper will appear unpleasantly ironical to many growers. It is 

 not advisable, I think, to go in for housing the plants much 

 before October 1, as the blooms suffer seriously if placed under 

 glass too early, especially if the weather be warm and close, in 

 addition to which the houses are not generally ready for their 

 reception before that date. On the other hand, the erection of 

 light framework, to carry rollers and tiffany in the fashion of 

 greenhouse blinds, as has been proposed, would be so expensive, 

 where the plants are grown in large quantities, as to absorb any 

 probable profits. If these early frosts attacked the whole country 

 equally, an enterprising man might recoup himself for the cost 

 of protection by the enhanced prices he would obtain owing to 

 the scarcity following them ; but as they are generally very 

 local, he would probably have to compete in the market against 

 men whose flowers had escaped without the cost of sheltering. 



I have come to the conclusion that in this matter we shall 

 have to go on as we are, taking comfort from the fact that we 

 have to go back nearly forty years to find parallels to the Sep- 

 tember frosts of the last few seasons, and hoping that another 

 forty may elapse before we are called to exercise our ingenuity in 

 providing against them again. 



