TliE FLOUAL WOULD AxN'I) GARDEN GUIDE. 
15 
June, and then making an end of the pincliing business, is that 
about the middle of June the plants should be shifted into eight- 
inch pots, to give them a good chance in the height of the growing 
season. Keep them freely watered at the root, and overhead in dry 
weather, and even in rainy weather see that they are moist enough 
at the root, for it often happens that, while the leaves are well 
washed by rain, the roots get none of it. 
By the middle of July it will be necessary to settle another point 
— which are to be shifted and which are not. Here, again, the sorts 
may be classified very nearly as above ; hut the first thing to con- 
sider is the size and general appearance of the plants. The first- 
class show kinds will be the better for a shift into eleven-inch pots 
where large specimens are required, but the reflexed and smaller 
kinds may be allowed to flower in eight-inch pots, and may be 
helped to the end of their journey by liquid manure as soon as they 
have quite filled their pots with roots. In any case, however, 
robust plants that have quite filled their pots with roots, and that 
appear, by their ample leafage and stout stems, to be capable of 
growing considerably larger yet, should be shifted to give them a 
chance of making a grand show when their day of triumph arrives. 
The question will arise in the ambitious mind — why stop at eleven- 
inch pots ■? why not go on far beyond that ? The proper reply, per- 
haps, would be, that experience has proved that to overpot these plants 
is to waste labour, and render them unwieldy without the slightest 
gain, but probably a loss both in quantity and quality of flower. 
The growing season extends from about the 1st of March to the 1st 
of August, say, to put it roughly, six months. In that time the 
plant will attain to a certain size, according to its advantages, and it 
is the business of the cultivator to provide all the advantages the 
plant can make use of. But when the growing season ends, the 
wood begins to ripen, and the flower-buds to swell, and the increase 
of root-room then is more harm than good. In case of any large 
vase or basket or tub requiring to be filled with chrysanthemums, 
the best way would be to plant it with a lot of healthy plants out of 
forty-eight-sized pots about the middle of May, taking care not to 
overcrowd them, and to keep them nicely tied out to prevent de- 
struction of the lower leaves by overlapping. 
In preparing a conservatory display, the greatest care should be 
taken to keep the plants green to the bottom. In growing for cut 
flowers this is of less importance, although it is not unimportant. 
In selecting for conservatory decoration, free-flowering kinds of 
the most distinct and striking colours are always to be preferred. 
Many of the most perfect exhibition incurved flowers are not showy, 
and, although a connoisseur will prefer them to all others, many of 
the high-coloured reflexed flowers will he preferred by those who 
are less critical. Plenty of flowers and plenty of colour are the 
principal desiderata in selecting for conservatory decoration, and 
happily there are a few of the very finest exhibition kinds, such, for 
example, as Jardin des Plantes, Mrs. G. Bundle, Dr. Sharp, and the 
Prince of Wales, which give us an abundance of flowers, of the 
most attractive character. It is not important to select early- 
Jannary. 
