/QRCHRRD 
46 
March, 1890. 
How to Grow Chrysanthemums from desired, this “pinching back” must be done 
1P,a,,,! ‘• every two or three weeks up to the middle 
If the young plants of chrysanthemums j of August, but not later: the plants will 
are received in the Winter or Spring before 
the weather is warm enough to plant them 
in the open ground, they should be planted 
in small flower pots, say 3 or 4 inches in 
width, or in shallow boxes, such as cigar 
boxes, in any good soil such as is used for 
any ordinary house plant. It will be neces- 
sary to shift the Crysantliemuins into larger 
pots or boxes at least once during the sea- 
son. otherwise they would not have suffi- 
cient soil in the smaller pot to grow the 
plauts in the best manner. 
After planting give them one good water- 
ing, which will usually be sufficient for the 
first six or eight days ; after that, if the 
surface of the soil appears dry, they may 
again be watered, but very lightly, as they 
will not start to grow much for three or 
four weeks after planting. As soon as they 
begin to grew freely they will require water 
oftener and in greater quantity. As the 
Chrysanthemum is quite a hardy plant, it 
may be kept in a cool room or greenhouse 
where the tem- 
perature runs 
from 50 to 60 
degrees. If de- 
sired to be 
grown for in- 
door decora- 
tion, the plants 
should be 
placed in any 
good, rich soil 
in flower pots 
of not less than 
six inches in 
diameter and 
depth : or, if 
flower pots are 
not convenient, boxes of about the same 
capacity will do equally well, and placed 
out doors in a good, sunny exposure. It is 
rather the best plan for amateurs to sink 
the pot or box containing the plant, so as 
to be level with the surface ; this keeps it 
cool and prevents it getting too dry in hot 
weather. The pots or boxes should be 
moved every two or three weeks, so as to 
prevent the roots getting through into the 
ground, as they must all be kept within the 
limits of the pot or box, otherwise they 
would wilt when taken up in the fall. 
The time for setting the plants outdoors 
is best told by saying that they should be 
set out about the time com and tomatoes 
are planted, which, in the vicinity of New 
York, is about the middle of May ; of course, 
if you are farther north, it must be later ; 
if farther south, earlier. Soon after the 
Chrysanthemums are put in the ground 
they will grow rapidly. As soon as the 
shoots attain a height of nine or ten inches 
they should be “pinched back,” as it is 
called, that is, with the finger and thumb 
pinch out an inch or so of the centre of the 
shoot, that at once stops the upward spind- 
ling growth and causes the shoots to branch 
out from below. It fine, bushy plants are 
then have attained a growth of 1% to 2 
feet in width and height. Although when 
the pots or boxes have been sunk to the 
level of the surface, they are not likely to 
require much water, yet, in long continued 
dry spells, it will be necessary to give them 
a good soaking once a week, hut that will 
usually be sufficient. By October, the plants, 
if treated as already directed, will have at- 
tained a height and width of two or three 
feet, having from fifteen to thirty shoots on 
each plant. On each shoot will be found, 
about the first of October, a cluster of flower 
buds. If the finest flowers are desired, all 
the buds except one — the strongest — should 
be rubbed off. By the middle of October 
they should be placed under cover in some 
plant room or green-house, where the tem- 
perature ranges say from 50 to 70 degrees, 
and for five or six weeks you will be repaid 
for your labor by the gorgeous blooms suit- 
able for exhibition purposes. Treated in 
this way, many kinds give flowers eight 
ersp eC 
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END 
elevation 
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Bed 4-Ff 
Bed 4- Ft 
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Protection for Chrysanthemums. 
inches in diameter. 
The above directions for culture refer to 
plants that are to be grown in boxes or pots 
for indoor culture, but where it is mild 
enough for Chrysanthemums to flower in 
the open ground, they had better be taken 
from the pots and planted at once in the 
open border (as soon as the ground is warm 
enough in spring); but treated by “pinch- 
ing” and “ disbudding” exactly as already 
described if fine flowers are an object ; if 
not, they may be left to nature and still 
make a grand display, if the different varie- 
ties are used. In nearly all sections south 
of Baltimore the Chrysanthemums will per- 
fect their flowers in the open garden and 
will stand the winter without protection ; 
but very few of the finer kinds will perfect 
their flowers or prove hardy north of Balti- 
more, so when grown in pots or boxes the 
best way to save the plants is, after they 
are done blooming, to place them in a cool 
cellar until they can be again grown the 
next year. 
A cheap and simple plan now extensively 
used to protect Chrysanthemums from the 
slight fronts that we usually have in the — Peter Henderson. 
North — which in different sections come 
from the 20th of October to the 20th of p or a disordered Liver try Beecham’s Pills. 
November — is to use the green -house pro- 
tecting cloth in the form of a tent, as shown 
by the cut. This tent may be (if 10 feet in 
width) 4 feet high at the front and 7 feet 
high at the apex ; or if 20 feet wide, 4 feet 
high at the front and 10 lo 11 feet high at 
the apex ; if 10 feet wide, the walk (2 feet 
in width) should be in the centre, as shown 
in “End Elevation if 20 feet, there should 
be two walks (each 2 feet wide), which 
would leave the front beds 4 feet wide and 
the centre bed 8 feet. The tent may be of 
any length desired, and if necessary may be 
heated by an ordinary self-feeding coal 
stove, or an oil stove as desired, but in most 
sections the covering of the protecting cloth 
would be sufficient to keep out frost. This 
cloth can be bought of the best heavv grade 
at ten cents per yard in lots of fiftv yards 
and upwards, so that for a Chrysanthemum 
tent 20 feet wide by 25 feet long, the coff 
for the protecting cloth would not exceed 
$10.00, and the wood framework to sup- 
port it, say $15.00, so that for $25 00 you 
can have a protection for Chrysanthemums 
just as effective as a green-house costing ten 
times as much. 
The cloth is 
simply nailed 
tight on the 
framework, as 
there is no need 
o f providing 
for ventilation 
as in a green- 
house. The ra- 
tio of cost will 
be about the 
same whether 
the tent is 12 
or 20 feet wide, 
small or large. 
These tents are 
now largely used by florists not only to 
protect Chrysanthemums in fall, but also to 
protect tender plants in spring, but they 
will not answer for the winter months. 
The best plan for using the tent is to have 
the plants set out where they are to be cov- 
ered by it at a distance of about 20 inches 
apart each way, if set out in spring ; if set 
out in July or August, they should be set 
closer, say 12 inches apart, but at whatever 
season they are planted, if before the mid- 
dle of August, small, healthy plants will 
grow enough to fill up the space. When 
this provision has not been made before- 
hand, plants can be lifted from the garden 
and planted under the protection of the 
tent, or plants grown in pots or boxes can 
be placed under it. The date for covering 
the plants by the tent in this section is usu- 
ally about the first of October — or before 
there is any chance of even slight frosts. 
It may be stated that if Chrysanthemums 
are wanted to he propagated in summer, 
that slips takm any time from May to 
August will root freelv and produce flower- 
ing plants by November of the same year. 
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