«G THE COTTAGE GARDENER. May 8. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
They should not be allowed to flower more than two 
years running on the same soil. This is a good time to 
turn up the old stools, with all the soil they will carry, 
to get rid ot' it, and to put a couple of spadefuls of 
fresh soil in the hole, as all the soil next to the roots 
is sure to be “ done for.” Then begin to divide the old 
stool into colonics, taking so many of the outside shoots 
as the best; about five or six of these shoots in one 
piece, and with the small young roots only, will make 
very large plants by next autumn, to flower better 
than they have yet done, as, besides having fresh soil 
round about, they must have a spadeful of rotten dung 
put under them, but not near the roots, for that, indeed, 
would be daft work ; the rotten dung must be down one 
foot lower than the roots, and a quantity of fresh soil 
must come between it and the said roots. The reason 
for this is very clear,—all the shoots must be topped 
about the last day in May, and the strongest of them 
again about the 20tli of June, and it is not till the side- 
shoots from this last stopping are coming up that the 
roots ought to enter the rotten dung. Where a long 
stretch of a low wall is to be covered with Chrysan¬ 
themums, it is a good plan not to stop every other plant, 
but to let them run as fast and as high as they can go ; 
then, by stopping the other half, the bottom of the wall 
will be better covered, and the top of the wall will be 
better filled with bloom. 
I do not approve much of watering Chrysanthemums 
in the open ground, and this rotten dung, at such a 
depth, will do away with the necessity of watering, in a 
great measure; the roots are apt to run nigh the surface, 
and as the surface of the richest ground is not so rich 
as lower down, the best way is to entice the roots to go 
deeper than is their wont, and nothing will do so well 
as the rotten dung. To attempt to grow Chrysan¬ 
themums in pots all the summer is little short of 
madness; it is all very well for gardeners, and people 
who study to “ do” them for shows, and all that kind of 
excitement, but for the general run of the world, nothing 
is so foolish, or more likely to be a dead loss, as com¬ 
pared to the health, bloom, and foliage, that can be had 
from growing them in an open piece of ground, in the 
kitchen-garden, till the buds are fully set; then, by cutting 
the roots round and round a fortnight or so before the 
time of potting them, and by a good dose of water as 
soon as the roots are cut, you may expect the balls to 
rise as safe as anything. 
Instead of bothering about cuttings to get smaller 
plants for potting, what I would advise would be this, to 
select the stoutest shoots on a stool, when you are 
parting them to cut off the bottom of the shoot, all but 
one inch, with roots to it, and to plant all these singly, 
and only a few inches apart each way, for a time; as 
soon as they got hold, and began to grow away freely, I 
would then stop them down to within four inches of the 
ground, and when they broke afresh, so that you could 
just see the young sprouts, I would up with them, trim 
the roots a little, and plant them in a piece of good 
ground, eighteen inches apart in the row, and thirty 
inches, row from row, if there were more than one row 
of them. I would stop three of the longest or strongest 
shoots on each plant again about the beginning of July, 
and let the rest have their chance. 
The way I would do with new Chrysanthemums which 
were bought in this spring, would be to take a cutting 
or two from each as early in May as 1 could get them, 
and I would call that the first stopping—nothing roots 
easier than these cuttings in cold or heat, with or 
without glasses, if the weather is favourable, and they 
dislike messing about as some people do with almost all 
their cuttings. I would then plant out the new comers 
with the balls untouched, just as I would colonies from 
an old stool, and the plants from the cuttings I would 
treat, after they were rooted, just like the single shoots 
from the said stools. I would no more think of keeping 
either of them in pots, because they were new, or scarce 
to me, than I would think of flying; but if they did 
not grow as strong as my other plants from the old 
stools, I might be tempted to pot them along with the 
rest in September. I was quite shocked, one day last 
autumn, on going from here, through Richmond and 
Kew, to London, on seeing nothing better, on either side 
of the way, than the very commonest kinds of Chrysan¬ 
themums, so near London, pale, draggled, long-legged, 
half-starved, poor-looking, miserable things, not worth 
their salt, and altogether unworthy of the finest drive 
in England. The fact is, we want a thorough routing 
out of old Chrysanthemums all over the country, and to 
turn a new leaf in their management. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE GENISTAS AND CYTISUS. 
“Which is the best mode of propagating the yellow 
Genista of the greenhouses? When is the best time to 
do it; and what is their treatment?” I think this 
matter has previously received considerable attention, 
but I cannot lay my hands at present upon the article. 
A few of the chief points referred to will, however, bear 
repeating, for the benefit of fresh subscribers. 
There are few things more attractive in the winter 
and spring months than these yellow-flowering plants. 
In a house kept to a temperature of from 15° to 50°, 
with a rise of 10°, or more, from sunshine, these plants 
may be had in bloom all the winter. With an average 
temperature of 40°, they will not bloom until the days 
lengthen in March and April. There is a little difficulty 
in fixing upon a generic name for a particular species; 
as what is a Genista in some places is called a Cytisus 
in another. One of the most beautiful of the group, 
and most suited for small houses, is a species or variety 
seldom met with in catalogues, called Attlecina, but 
which is grown by the London nurserymen; a dense, 
compact little bush; a fine specimen, ranging from 
fifteen to twenty-four inches in height, and quite as 
much in the diameter of the head. This I should con¬ 
sider to be a Genista, but better authorities term it a 
Cytisus. Taking the recognised nomenclature, and 
merely hinting that the treatment necessary for the two 
genera are very much alike, the following, after 
Attlecina, may be considered the sorts best worth 
growing : — Genista congesta and monosperma, both 
deciduous, and requiring to be merely kept from frost 
and damp in winter. Genista canariensis and linifolia, 
both evergreens, and requiring in winter, to keep them 
healthy, a temperature not much below 40°. Of the 
Cytisus group, the hardiest used for the greenhouse is 
racemosus, then prolifer us and latifolius. The spikes of 
the latter are large, and of a deep yellow-orange colour. 
All these will bloom freely the second and third year, 
and may be grown to a height of five or six feet, if 
desirable, with width of diameter of head in proportion. 
For small houses, plants two to three feet high will be 
large enough, and frequent propagating will keep up a 
nice, healthy, clean stock. Great quantities of these 
different varieties are grown for the London market; 
there will, therefore, be little difficulty in getting the 
best kinds, though different growers have them by 
different names. For market purposes, proli/enis and 
racemosus seem the most common. 
Propagation. —The easiest mode is by seed. This 
should be sown in a hotbed in spring, and the plants 
bo potted off when two or three inches in height. These 
make the most robust plants, but they require a good 
amount of stopping to make them bushy, and are not 
inclined to bloom freely quite so soon as those raised by 
