March 18, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
217 
may be known to some readers. I do not remember having seen it 
recorded. 
My kindly critic, “ A Wisher,” See., who says he is not a farmer, but 
proves that he is one, and a gardener to boot, appears to fancy I have 
been overthinking myself. Possibly he may be right. It is a question of 
fact, however, that English Apples well grown are quite equal to American 
fruit in value ; another fact being that tons are produced in this country 
that can hardly be sold. It is a question of selection and culture more 
than anything else, and American growers wonder that we are so kind as 
to afford them such a market. With a good choice of sorts and better 
culture plenty of Apples can be grown in this country, and, well marketed, 
will meet with a ready sale. We are just jogging along on the old lines 
and permitting our more enterprising competitors to glide past us, that is 
all. It is a mistake to send small colourless Apples from the north to 
Covent Garden, because better samples are grown in the south. It 
answers to send Celery and Turnips from the north to London, because 
they are better than those grown in the south. That is the simple expla¬ 
nation, and there is a slight difference between those crops and Apples. A 
northern friend of mine planted an orchard twenty years ago, and it paid 
him so well that he has recently planted another, but he knows better 
than to send his fruit to Covent Garden. He could send a thousand tons 
of Turnips to London if he chose next week, but as he has a thousand 
sheep he will probably not do so. He can, and does, make farming pay 
well; so can any competent man with sufficient skill and capital, under a 
rental of 25s. an acre for land that is capable of producing 5 quarters of 
Wheat. That was my assertion. The constant clamour for still lower 
rents, and waiting for more abatements, are ruining British agriculture, 
waiting for grants meaning neglect in culture and management. I am 
reminded of the hours of labour on farms. Let me assure “ Wisher,” 
&c., 1 know all about them, have done all he suggests, and could tell him, 
if needed, how he spent his afternoons. He was in error in implying I 
had not spent “one year” on a farm. It is “never safe to prophesy 
unless yon know.” 
“ Utilitarian ” also appears to be a farmer as well as a gardener, so 
there are three of us. It is clear he knows the evil and the remedy. 
“ Treat the land fairly,” he says, “ and it will pay good interest on in¬ 
vestments.” He is right. I am intimately acquainted with much land 
that has been doing so all through the “ depression.” I daresay I shall 
shock some tenderly constituted individuals when I state that in my 
opinion “ depression ” in thousands of cases, not in all, is only another 
name for wasted means and bad farming. By the way, I have one or 
two items of news for your correspondent. Since the discussion on 
gentlemen competing with market gardeners two of the former have re¬ 
linquished the practice, one because he thought it was “ not right,” the 
other because he was “ no better off ” by marketing. There may be more, 
but those two cases have been made known to me. I have farther been 
told on good authority that a gentleman has prohibited premiums being 
paid by young gardeners in part payment of his own gardeners’ wages, 
which he has increased in proportion. I should like to ask for three 
genuine gardeners’ cheers for this considerate and just man. Deeply 
conscious of my own failings, I rest in the hope that not much more harm 
than good has been done by the random notes of— A Thinker. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND THEIR CULTURE. 
(Continued from page 106.) 
POMPONS FOR LARGE BLOOMS AND BUSHES. 
Pompon and Anemone Pompon varieties of Chrysanthemums are 
particularly adapted for amateurs whose space is often of a limited 
nature. They can be grown quite dwarf, and their freedom in flower¬ 
ing renders them specially useful for cutting. Opinions differ as to 
the manner in which the cut flowers should be staged for exhibition 
—whether in bunches of three blooms, one on each spike, supported 
3 or 4 inches above the stand to show the foliage, or in bunches 
comprising an undefined number of flowers without any disbudding. 
The former I regard as the more satisfactory, for under what is 
termed the “ big bloom method ” the real character of the variety 
is brought out both in size, form, and colour. The foliage too is 
much better, which enhances their appearance ; and in staging for 
exhibition a much more uniform stand can be obtained than by 
irregular-sized bunches. It is much easier also for judges to deter¬ 
mine the merits or demerits of a stand when an equal number of 
blooms are staged in all stands. 
Where the plants are grown solely for home decoration, and 
quantity of flowers is the chief object, the bush method of cultiva¬ 
tion is the one to be adopted. To grow the plants for the produc¬ 
tion of large blooms for exhibition the cuttings should be inserted 
in single pots towards the end of December, shifting and trans¬ 
ferring to frames as required. Do not top the plants, but allow 
them to grow till the first break occurs, when four or five of the 
strongest branches should be selected, removing the others, also all 
shoots as fast as they appear from the main stems. Should a 
second break occur by the formation of a flower bud early in 
August, the bud and the shoots must be again taken off, retaining 
only those branches which were selected at the first break. If the 
break occurs during the last days of August rub out the shoots then 
made and retain the flower bud formed at the end of each branch. 
These will produce large blooms if all other details are properly 
carried out. Pots 8 inches in diameter are quite large enough for 
Pompons, the soil and manner of potting to be the same as for the 
other sections. House the plants from five to six weeks prior to- 
the time they are required to be in bloom, placing them in a light 
position as near the glass as possible. 
There are two methods of growing Pompons as bush plants— 
tall and dwarf. Where suitable places are available I prefer plants 
4 and 5 feet high, as their long branches of flowers are much 
handsomer than those on dwarf plants, which are, however, valu¬ 
able for low houses and special positions and purposes. The middle 
of January is soon enough to take the cuttings. As soon as the 
plants are 4 inches high top them, and from this topping several 
other shoots will spring. Those that are intended to be tall plants 
should have three of the strongest branches selected, which should 
be allowed to extend, retaining all side shoots. Do not top them 
again. Buds will form in September, and all may remain to flower. 
For producing dwarf plants top when the shoots are 4 inches long, 
and continue the practice till the first week in July. Secure the 
growths to prevent breakage by wind, and when the flower buds 
are formed at the end of September tie out the branches according 
to requirements and consideration of the position the plants are 
intended to occupy when in bloom. 
NATURAL-GROWN PLANTS. 
In a treatise in which I hope to touch on all matters connected 
with Chrysanthemum culture I should like to express my opinion 
on so-called natural-grown plants, not with a view of encouraging 
their growth, but simply to define what is really a natural-grown 
plant. The term is, I fancy, applied in many instances in a wrong 
way. What I consider natural-grown plants are those grown from 
cuttings, never topped, the shoots not thinned, nor any flower buds 
taken off. I do not think anyone would care to grow Chrysanthe¬ 
mums in that way if they knew what would be the results. The 
plants would range in height from 2 to 10 feet according to the 
varieties and seasons ; the blooms borne at the top would be small, 
many hollow-eyed and almost unrecognisable if compared with good 
flowers of the same varieties. If any person wishes to grow them 
in the way indicated, strike the cuttings any time during January, 
treating the plants in the usual way as to potting and watering, and 
when they make their first break in May, instead of thinning the 
shoots to a few as is necessary in other methods of culture, all 
should be allowed to grow, continuing this “ natural ” treatment at 
the next break also.—E. Molyneux. 
(To be continued.) 
HOME-GROWN LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
The belief in the superiority of home-grown Lily of the Valley is 
gaining ground, and wherever the plants are attended to there can be no 
mistake in the matter. We can have these Lilies of the Valley in flower 
earlier, in less heat, with absolute certainty, and with foliage and flowers, 
while with these advantages the spikes are on the average longer than 
those from the foreign roots. Lily of the Valley has a peculiarity which I 
presume it has inherited from its wild progenitor of the woods, and that 
is a decided liking for partial darkness. The flower spikes can be pro¬ 
duced in the light; but in order to have foliage with the flowers, partial 
darkness is necessary. A covering of straw I have found most suitable to 
gain this end. But even after the straw has been removed it is sometimes 
necessary to keep the plants away from the light in order to develope the 
foliage. This is specially the case with clumps which have been lifted 
from the open and forced for the first time. The curious thing about it 
is that plants standing, for instance, under the stage of a stove, do not have 
the foliage drawn either to one side or the other, but itjgrows just as up¬ 
right as if in the full sunshine out of doors. This liking of the plant to shade 
can be taken advantage of, after the flower spikes are removed, by stand¬ 
ing the plants along the sides of pathways, where very few other plants 
would grow. Lifted clumps produce splendid spikes and foliage if placed 
on the surface of Vine borders under the Bhade of the Vines, or under 
Roses or other climbers. At the same time it must not be forgotten that 
the finest out-of-door flowers are grown in the open sunshine—at least, we 
find it so.—B. 
HARBINGERS OF SPRING. 
The present winter, if not one of the most severe of late years, is one 
of the most prolonged, and as a consequence our earliest plants are very 
much behind their usual time of flowering. The plants which have dared 
to raise themselves above the soil are at present few as compared with the 
end of February last year, when Daffodils were springing up abundantly 
and Winter Aconites and Snowdrops were numerous everywhere. This 
season even the Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), though in flower, is 
much later than usual. This is one of the most brilliant and effective of 
our earliest flowers. It is a plant suited for naturalising in shady spots 
beneath trees, or fringing a bed of Rhododendrons, for the margin of a 
