iiarcii 2, 1893. ] 
jOURXAL OF HORTIGULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
iBi 
some seed. In a few days the young plants appeared, after the manner of 
Mustard and Cress. When large enough to handle they were pricked 
oflE into boxes similar to Lobelias ; then in order to try and avoid the large 
number of suckers that seedling Chrysanthemums are always throwing 
up from their base, when they were tall enough, say from I 4 to 
2 inches, 1 cut them all off at the surface of the ground with a sharp 
knife, inserted the tops, and treated them as cuttings. All readily 
rooted in a propagating pit, and from that state they were placed singly 
in pots the same as other Chrysanthemum cuttings are treated, repotting 
as it became necessary. The great variation in foliage and the marked 
diflfereuce in habit afforded me much interest to watch them on 
summer evenings. 
During August, finding that they were somewhat late in showing 
their bloom buds, I became impatient and pinched out the tops of many 
plants. This had the result of producing several breaks ; of these I 
selected five or six of the strongest on each plant, and allowed them to 
grow and bloom without further manipulation. The major part of them 
either proved singles or semi-singles; some resembled the Pompons, 
while a few favoured the Japanese and incurved varieties. The singles 
were remarkably pretty. One was like the yellow Marguerite, while 
another was very similar to the Ox-eyed Daisy, C. Leucanthemum (in 
all but foliage). A very large per-centage of them were highly pleasing 
and interesting, and would be useful in most gardens where a stock of 
flowers are required late in year. 
Chrysanthemums grown thus would be very suitable for standing 
about in corridors, or for fringing or mixing with groups. Ladies, as a 
rule, are very partial to single flowers, and I am sure from my own 
results it would be worth repeating annually, for after flowering all 
could be consigned to the rubbish heap, having performed their 
part exactly in the same way as Cinerarias are treated. To all that c..n 
afford the time for growing seedlings let them try the experiment, and 
I can assure them that the results will amply repay the time spent upon 
them.—J. W. Moorman. 
A PRIMER ON HORTICULTURE. 
Messrs. Macmillan & Co., the well-known London publishers, 
issue shilling primers on various scientific and practical subjects. The 
latest edition is entitled “ Horticulture,” and consists of ten lectures 
delivered by Mr. J. Wright and coadjutors for the Surrey County 
Council. Though necessarily much condensed, the lectures cover a wide 
field in cultivation, about 140 subjects being included in the list of 
contents. The lectures are entitled—1, “ The Advantages of Allotments 
and High Culture of the Land.” 2, “ The Soil: its Nature, Preparation, 
and Improvement.” 3, “ Raising Crops, Trees, and Plants.” 4, “ The 
Food of Crops—Manuring the Soil.” 5, “ Enemies of Crops and Trees.” 
6, ” Planting Vegetables and Fruit.” 7, “ Profitable Culture—Green 
Crops and Small Fruits” 8, “Profitable Culture—Root Crops, Fruit 
Trees, Tomatoes, and Mushrooms.” 9, “ The Preservation and Disposal 
of Garden Produce.” 10, “ Encouragement and Endeavour—High 
Ideals in Gardening.” 
As a sample, we cite the concluding portion of the first lecture, with 
a few of the questions and answers arising therefrom. 
What may be termed the garden culture of fruit and choice vegetable 
crops for sale cannot be successfully conducted in small field plots in remote 
country districts, far distant from railways in direct communication with 
great centres of population ; but such crops can be grown much better than 
they are now in gardens attached to homesteads. Families may have better 
Bupnlies than heretofore of what is wholesome and delicious, while those 
ITG. 3(5.— RAISING AND BLANCHING SEAKALE. 
a, Root cutting made in the autumn ; 6, showing buds in the spring; c, rooted and 
growing, side buds marked for removal; d, rooting and producing leaves; e, root and 
crown with leaves removed in the autumn ready for forcing or covering with soil; /, 
growth from the crown ready for cutting and use. 
who are gardenless in the localities and adjacent towns will be glad to take 
the surplus when fresh and of the first quality. It is low quality produce 
that finds no sale. The best is always in demand at prices which are 
remunerative to the growers. 
Splendid culture is displayed in some field plots, and evidence of taste 
and loving care is apparent in bright windows and forecourts, as well as in 
full and well-cropped gardens generally; but these are in the minority, a 
minority, however, which is happily becoming less yearly, especially in dis¬ 
tricts where encouragement has been given to induce a more general indul¬ 
gence in the healthful and delightful pursuit of domestic gardening. 
Our wish is that all shall be taught to make their gardens and p’ots to 
the fullest extent useful and enjoyable. We are earnest in this work, and 
hope to incite earnestness in others, because we know it is for the good of 
all. We wish to see mutnal trust, confidence, and goodwill prevail among 
all sections of the community, for it is only by a linking together of the best 
efforts of all that the greatest number of homes can be made happy and the 
nation prosperous and strong. 
FIG. 37.—SEED POTATOES AND RESULTING CROPS. 
Prepared set (as in tray) and its crop on the left; weakened set and its crop on the right 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
Q. How much land can an employed labourer work fairly in his leisure 
hours ? 
A. That depends on the land and the man. Heavy land needs twice the 
labour that light land does ; and a man who delights in gardening will do 
twice the work that another will who takes no pleasure in it. It is better 
to work twenty rods well than forty badly ; or to have a rood clean and 
fertile than an acre slovenly and exhausted. Those men should have the 
most land who manage it the best, whether it is apportioned in rods to 
labourers or acres to farmers, because the one class improves and the other 
depreciates the value of land, 
Q. Do you think a man who is in full and regular employment can 
manage a rood of land to his advantage in his spare hours ? 
A, Many do this ; but others would be better with half the quantity. A 
rood (quarter of an acre) of good land well managed will grow from 2 to 3 
tons of Potatoes besides some other crops, and the produce must be of 
advantage to the tillers. 
Q. Do you know of any instances of working men having allotments of 
an acre ? 
A. Yes; many, and many who have 2 acres managed well, but the men 
are not in full employment as wage-earners, and are always ready and glad 
to work when wanted by the farmers of the district. 
Q. Do the farmers object to the man having so much land ? 
A. Not in the least in the district where it has been the custom for many 
years, because they know they can get men to do their work when the work 
needs doing. 
Q. Are you of opinion that small plots of about 20 rods can be of any 
real service to working men and give them satisfaction? 
A. Decidedly. There are at least 5000of such plots around Nottingham 
alone, and so greatly are they valued that if such an impossible thing were 
to happen as a movement for dispossession it would lead to a provincial 
revolution. 
Q,. Can you say what crops are chiefly grown on these plots ? 
A. It may fairly be said that in one or the other of them everything 
may be seen in its season that is pleasant to the eye and good for food- 
flowers of various kinds, fruit trees and bushes in thousands, and vegetables 
of the best varieties and the highest quality. The gardens are mnch 
cherished, and so are thousands of others still smaller in various parts of 
the country. 
Q. What is a fair price to pay for land in allotments ? 
A. You may as well ask me what is a fair price to pay for a watch. I 
have one I would rather sell for 10s. than another for £10; and I would 
much sooner pay at the rate of £5 an acre for the best land than lOs. for the 
poverty-stricken and inferior. 
Q, Do you think that increasing the number of small cultivators will 
increase the wage-rate of workers on the land ? 
A, I do not; because it has not done so in parishes where the land has 
been largely tilled by small cultivators for generations. Where men are 
content to remain by earning a little in addition to their wages the numbers 
are apt to increase; where they are not they diminish, and scarcity in any¬ 
thing raises its value, abundance having a contrary tendency. It is not, 
however, within my province to answer questions of a controversial niture 
connected with the acquirement and value of land, and I ask that they may 
be limited to points of cultivation and management during our course of 
lectures. 
The work contains thirty-seven illustrations. Pig. 36 represents the 
raising and blanching of Seakale by covering the crowns with soil; 
