200 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
December 12. 
bottom of tbe pot, but some beauties bad run freely 
over tbe surface, and these went easily into the larger 
pot, to which the plant was transferred, and tbe soil 
being rich and open, a good proportion being rougliish 
leaf-mould, tbe plants hardly felt the change, when kept 
in a shady place for a few days, while the fresh potting 
gave fulness to the buds and size to the flower. 
4. Striking the cuttings under a handlight in tbe 
i open ground in the middle of April. I used to cover 
the place intended with an inch or so of clear sand; 
the soil below being sandy-loam and leaf-mould. The 
cuttings were generally stopped some time before they 
were taken off. This caused them to have buds swell- 
| ingin the axils of the leaves, ready to break into shoots. 
For this mode, I liked to have the base of the cutting as 
! near to where the surface soil came to as possible, or 
j even a litle beneath it, that it might be firm ; and, as in 
j the other case, rubbing off the buds, where shoots were 
not wanted. Tbe handlight merely required shading in 
very hot days. The cuttings having been stopped at the 
point before they were made, less time was lost in form¬ 
ing shoots. Some of these I have potted, and then 
plunged; and others I have planted out in a rich, pre¬ 
pared border, some tvvo-and-a-half feet apart, to be 
properly trained and fitted in the autumn. The best 
mode, however, with these, is to have narrow trenches 
made, as wide as would do for a row of Celery, but not 
above half the depth ; the sides beat firm ; and part of 
the soil nicely incorporated with leaf-mould, and fresh 
sandy-loam, to fill the trench ; and the plants brought 
from the handlight, and inserted, about two feet apart, 
will, if duly watered, grow very fast, and after being 
thinned, disbudded, and stopped for the last time, by 
the middle of June, will make nice plants, that will rise 
with nice balls full of fibres, when you wish to pot 
them, which should be done by the time the flower buds 
are perceptible. A north aspect, and syringing several 
times a-day, will keep them from flagging, until they are 
growing freely; and then a cloudy day should be chosen 
to put them in a permanent position. 
I find that much mistake exists as to stopping a plant 
when more shoots are wanted. Many suppose, that it 
merely means nipping out the point of the shoot, as 
you would do with a small cutting; but this is not the 
thing meant, when we speak of the final stopping of 
these plants. For instance, here is a young Chrysan¬ 
themum plant that has been early stopped; it has four 
shoots; two of them are about three or four inches in 
length, and weak in proportion; one eight inches; another 
fourteen, and strong in proportion. Now, by merely stop 
ping these two shoots, by nipping the points out, you 
would throw more strength into the two weak ones; 
but these stopped shoots will be of no use until they 
( form others, as the plants bloom at the points of the 
: unmutilated shoots. For a symmetrical plant, it is 
| desirable that the shoots should start from points not 
i far apart; but by merely nipping out the point of the 
stronger shoot, you have no security where the two or 
' three you expect from it will come from ; and to equalize 
, such a plant as this, you would require two fresh shoots 
I from the one stem, and three from the other. These 
I strong shoots must, therefore, be cut back nearly to the 
j point, from which secondary shoots are expected; or, 
what I prefer, in such a case, as giving less of a check 
to the growing principle of tbe plant, nip off an inch or so 
from the point of the shoots, and then tie them down, 
so as to give a slight strain over the place where you 
wish the shoots t-o come from. It will often be neces¬ 
sary to do this with all the shoots when nearly equal in 
size, because any inequality in their strength may be 
easily regulated by the number of shoots you finally 
leave to each. Provided this last stopping is effected 
early in June, and the plants are well attended to, there 
will be no danger of having shoots destitute of bloom. 
One advantage of giving plants all this labour in 
growing them from cuttings every year is, that they 
present a more artistic appearance, as they may be 
trained as regularly from a short, stout, upright stem, as 
is done in the case of a Gooseberry or Currant-bush. 
I have frequently struck cuttings in May and the be¬ 
ginning of June; and from plunging, or planting-out, as 
soon as struck, I have obtained very fair flowering 
plants ; but if by stopping, I had tried to give such 
plants an equal number of shoots with those struck six 
weeks or two months before, I should expect the beauty 
to consist more in symmetry of form than in plenty of 
flowers. Every shoot on a plant that is well-grown has 
had plenty of sun, air, and water, and from four to five 
months of our best weather to mature itself, will be 
terminated with a fine bunch of flowers, be there one 
shoot to a plant, or a dozen, or twenty. 1 may also add, 
that in growing in pots, though far from impossible, yet 
it is very difficult to keep the stems clothed with fine, 
large leaves to their very bottom, unless the pots are 
plunged, as well as properly attended to in waterings. 
5. Growing by Suckers and Division , dec .—These are 
the modes the humblest cottager can try, and my ex¬ 
perience leads me to the conclusion that the results will 
be little inferior to the modes requiring hand-lights and 
hotbeds. In most kinds, soon after blooming, if not 
before, suckers will commence rising from the bottom. 
If these are very thick, it would be advisable to thin 
them considerably. In breaking the old ball in the 
spring, you will find that each of these suckers are rooted 
to your hand, though the roots are easily injured by 
exposure to the air. If you manage to get the most of 
the incipient buds picked out, these will trouble you with 
few more ground shoots than cuttings. These rooted 
suckers may either be potted or planted at once in a 
preparatory bed, where you can shelter them a little 
from sunshine and cold, by means of a mat, a cloth, or a 
branch ; and, when well rooted, you may either pot, or 
plant out, as advised for cuttings. Small plants of this 
autumn, instead of being divided, may bare the earth 
shaken away, the redundant or smaller shoots thinned 
out, and the plant at once repotted or replanted; 
all the care required being to train the shoots left, as 
if they start of an equal strength, they will, generally, 
remain so. At one time, for a number of years, I 
had a great deal to do with the Chrysanthemum as an 
out-door flower, in borders, and against fences, on all 
aspects. I found that old plants, properly thinned out in 
tbe spring, part of the surface-soil removed, fresh loam 
added, and a good mulching of dung over all, beat, 
for years, younger plants, treated otherwise alike, that 
had been raised by cuttings. I also found that divisions 
or lumps of such old plants, planted without allowing 
the roots, and especially the surface ones, to get dry, 
and allowing only the requisite number of shoots to 
remain, beat, at flowering time, those plants raised either 
by cuttings, or single-rooted suckers. I also found, 
that though less artistic and graceful in outline at the 
base, a small plant thus treated, and grown in a pot, right 
on, or taken up and potted, after being previously planted 
in prepared ground on purpose, gave more flowers, with 
less trouble, than a plant struck as a cutting, and several 
times stopped, to give it something of the bush shape. 
My advice to cottage gardeners, who have no glass, and 
yet wish to have these Chrysanthemums on their walls, 
and in their windows, is to stop the shoots, little or 
none, and to content themselves with suckers, and either 
dividing or thinning the shoots of their older plants; 
and if, in other respects, they follow the directions given 
as to the summer treatment, they will have no reason to 
be disappointed. Towards the end of April will be 
early enough to repot or replant; and in late springs, 
the middle of May woidd do. 
6. The Pomjpones I have had less experience with, 
