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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 1, 1885. 
Carrots, Beetroot, Parsnips, Onions, Peas, and Scarlet Runners could be 
kept on the top spit. With all such plants and others it seems necessary 
that they should go deeper. It is well known that plants draw their 
nutriment through the extremities of their rootlets, and if the ground is 
only dug one spit deep, such rootlets that are obliged to go into the bottom 
sour, hard, poor, subsoil would find but little nourishment, as a very 
small portion of the goodness of the top soil and manures soak through 
the mass of soil underneath, as worms and other insects have holes bored 
through the bottom which make excellent drains for the water to pass 
away, carrying with it a portion of the nutriment from the top rich soil. 
In ground that has not been trenched for a loDg time, there is formed at 
the bottom of the fir.-t spit a kind of crust, and when the water gets 
down to this it cannot pass so readily through, but it works along the 
surface of this crust until it comes to one of the holes, down which it 
goes into the drains; while if the bottom is broken up, the holes are 
broken also, the ground is equally loose all through, the rains will pass 
through the whole mass, taking with them the nutriment from the manures 
above, the soil acting as a fiiter, and by the time they have percolated 
through the whole mass very little is left in the water to drain away. 
All is in readiness for the roots to feed upon when they have made their 
way into it. It will be found that such vegetables as Cauliflowers, Brussels 
Sprouts, Onions, Peas, Beans, and others will reach this second spit just 
at a time when a great demand is made upon them to finish their crop. 
This is like a turning point to them. Having grown luxuriantly up to this 
time, they have got through the first spit, will they turn back again ? I 
think not, and if not, the crop must be much poorer than if they had a 
rich soil to grow into. 
Our kitchen garden here is rather light, but notwithstanding the hot 
dry summer it has perfected excellent crops. Although Peas felt the need 
of water very much, yet not a drop of wattr could be taken into the 
kitchen garden, as we had none to spare for it, and it is my opinion that 
if the ground had not been well trenched it would not have perfected them 
so satisfactorily. 
I qu'te agree with Mr. Tggulden that fruit trees can, and do, root too 
deeply, yet no one woffid consider the roots of fruit trees deep enough 
that did not go more than one spit down. I think mulching an excellent 
practice, that cannot be too extensively carried on either for fruits, 
flowers, or vegetables.—J. L. B. 
NOTES ON CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Pompon Chrysanthemums. —On page 547 “ L. H. ” draws attention 
to the merits of Pompon Chrysanthemums for exhibition, and quotes an 
instance of the Judges at the Kingston Show awarding the first prize to a 
stand of highly developed blooms that had been disbudded, whereas in 
his opinion stems not so disbudded would have been the most natural and 
proper method of exhibiting them. Although in a decorative sense plants 
of some varieties of Pompons are certainly best not disbudded, I am of 
opinion that they look best and are more attractive for an exhibition when 
disbudded than when they are not. Why not exhibit the large-flowering 
incurved and the Japanese varieties without disbudding? 
When exhibiting plants of the Pompon section a few years ago I 
always adopted the practice of disbudding to one bloom on a shoot all the 
Anemone varieties, such as Antonius, Mr. Wyness, Marie Stuart, Astrea, 
Madame Mouteis, Roquelain, and Rose Marguerite. Such varieties as 
Maille. Marthe, B >b, St. Michael, Golden Circle, and Cedo Nulliwere also 
served the same, with the exception of very strong shoots, and then only 
three blooms were left, and I invariably met with good success—that is so 
far as first prizes were concerned. I will name one instance. Take a 
plant of that fine Anemone varietv Antonius in the middle of October 
and leave three bloom buds on a shoot; take another and disbud to one 
bloom on each shoot, and mark the difference between the plants at show 
time. I have found that the one disbudded to a single bloom has been 
by far the best in size, form, and colour, holding its flower heads erect, 
and showing well its cushion-like florets, while the plant with three 
bloom3 left on each shoot has hung down its head, the flower stalks 
apparently too weak to hold them up. Any grower of such varieties as 
Antonius and Mr. Wyness may have noticed their tendency to droop and 
lose their beauty prematurely, and that when the flower buds are well 
thinned they look very much longer. One of the best dark varieties, 
Bob, expands its blooms when well grown as large as a five-shilling piece, 
but when not so disbudded it is about the size of a shilling. For 
exhibition purposes 1 certainly am of opinion that a plant with from 
fiEty to a hundred well-develope.i blooms is far superior to one with three 
limes that number of inferior blooms. There is one variety of Anemone 
Pompon that does not improve so much as others by disbudding, and that 
is Calliope. It will train well and make an effective specimen in a group 
of six or twelve, its peculiar brickdust-looking colour showing up well 
against whites and yellows. 
Dwarf Plants. —Small decorative plants in 48-pots disbudded to 
about three blooms to a pot would certainly not be c immendable. At 
the present time I have some freely treated plants that have been most 
useful, and wish I had more of them. Cuttings of the four following 
—C<-do Nulli, Lilac Cedo Nulli, Golden Circle, and Salomon—were taken 
and inserted the third week in July in sandy soil and placed on the wall 
of the Cucumber house. Three cuttings were placed in a small 60-pot, 
and in a forlnight they were rooted and placed in a light greenhouse to 
get more air for a week or so. About the middle of August the points 
were pinched out, and the plants were then shifted into 5-inch pots 
without dividing them, placed outdoors with the other Chrysanthemums 
in the full sun, and had the same attention as to watering and housing. 
Three small sticks about 6 inches long were placed to each plant to draw 
them out a little, and at the present time the Cedo Nullis are about 
6 inches in height and the other two 9 inches, with about twenty to 
twenty-four blooms on each. Thus grown, although the blooms are not 
so large, they are very pretty, and make excellent window plants. It is 
not, however, every variety of Chrysanthemum that will succeed with 
such treatment. 
A very good suggestion is that on page 548, taken from the Essex 
County Chronicle, and that is for societies to offer prizes for the best 
plants grown in 32-size pots. It would not only be a novel and interesting 
class, but would bring to the front varieties most useful for decorative 
purposes, as most gardeners that exhibit not only have to grow for exhi¬ 
bition but have to furnish small plants for conservatory or use in rooms. 
I have no doubt that many of the Japanese would answer for this purpose 
—one I know will (Fair Maid of Guernsey), struck late and grown in 
5 or 6- inch pots.—A. Harding. 
Striking Cuttings op Chrysanthemums. —There are many 
opinions about the best time to strike cuttings of Chrysanthemums, 
but much depends upon the use they are intended for. For specimen 
plants my advice is to take the earliest and strongest cutting that can be 
found. As some varieties are very shy in producing shoots, I would 
advise taking cuttings from the green tops in September, but they must 
not be allowed to produce flowers, as many of them will ; they shoul i be 
kept growing slowly. To obtain large blooms for exhibition I find the 
latter part of February quite early enough, or even March is not too late 
for the purpose. The cuttings take root more freely than autumn 
cuttings do as a rule ; they grow with greater vigour, and are not so 
liable to receive injury as autumn plants. By striking cuttings in March 
I find the ladder or steps can be dispensed with in disbudding or 
examining the blooms for insects, &c. ; and tall-growing varieties can be 
cut down in May with greater certamty of their breaking readily at the 
point where cut. Autumn-struck plants become bard in the growth in 
April and May, and the consequence is the plants throw up suckers from 
the base. Should they break at the cut they are more liable to be broken 
by winds, in fact they will hardly support their own weight; whereas 
spring cuttings can be shortened almost where you please, and will show 
very little of the operation afterwards. March is a good month to strike 
cuttings for general decorative purposes, in fact I prefer it to any other 
month, and my experience extends to nearly twenty years,—R. OWEN, 
Floral Fur series, Maidenhead. 
Late Chrysanthemums—Miss MarAchaux. —I am glad to see 
this valuable variety is receiving notice in your paper. I have cultivated 
Miss Marechaux for some years, and in my opinion we have no variety so 
good in substance of petal and so lasting after being cut. The chief 
difficulty I have found to be is obtaining strong cuttings early enough 
to make a good plant, as it is a slow grower.—S. A. Taylor. 
Raising New Varieties of Chrysanthemums from Seed — 
There are many interesting and suggestive hints in Mr. Burbidge’s new 
book on the Chrysanthemum, which you kindly permitted me to refer 
to in your last issue, deserving of much more than passing notice, aDd 
the above is a point to which he frequently refers. “ I most earnestly,” 
says he, “ counsel all growers of the Chrysanthemum to raise a few 
seedlings every year, even if it be from imported seed,” with the view of 
securing better varieties in the several sections, and to emphasise colour, 
and that fragrance a few kinds possess. I may premise I am not now 
referring to raising single varieties from seed—that seems easy enough— 
but how are we to get seed from the customary double varieties? Well, 
I am going to mention a method I propose to try the coming season, and 
that so far as I know has not hitherto been resorted to, though accessible 
to all, that I should like your opinion and the specialists among your 
correspondents as to the probabilities of success. All Chrysanthemum 
growers are acquainted with the premature flower buds that appear from 
May to July, not the crown bud, according to the variety and the 
system of growth, and that all authorities invariably recommend to be 
pinched out, more especially when grown for exhibition purposes. The 
few hundreds I grow are for church decoration and cutting purposes 
chiefly, with a few dozen for large blooms, so I was curious enough to 
allow those early flowers to remain in a few instances. The result has 
been that with about half a dozen varieties the buds referred to came 
single or semi-double, and now show every indication of perfecting heads 
of seeds. The most promising heads are on Refulgence, Eve, Prince of 
Wales, Alicia, two PompoDS, and a Japanese I got as Daimio, a beautiful 
lilac-pink, tinted white in the centre. Unfortunately three of them were 
trained and nailed against a south wall, and may not have as much fair 
play as if under glass, and lifting might only spoil the chance of any 
seed. Over those I have placed sheets of glass, and they so far seem 
promising—no frost having done them any harm so far. Those in pots I 
have removed from the greenhouse to my sitting-room, where a minimum 
temperature of 50° Fahr. can be maintained, and that indispensable 
adjunct—a dry atmosphere. Do Dot you therefore think I may succeed ? 
If so, here is a method of raising Chrysanthemums from seed open to all. 
—W. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
[The experiment alluded to is well worth trying. The late Mr. Beaton 
described many years ago a method of flowering Chrysanthemums in early 
summer, and such early flowers ought to produce and ripen seed in this 
coun'ry. The buds re'Vred to by Mr. Murphy are crown buds.] 
