November 29, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
201 
abler men than myself, remarking only that my system, 
so far as practicable, was the same as that followed by 
some of the best known growers up to about the third 
week in April, -when a portion of the stock was planted 
out in an open quarter, most of them being good plants 
in 32-in pots. The objects I had in view where three¬ 
fold : First, to te3t the possibility of producing really 
first-class flowers without an excessive amount of 
labour, which at least some employers think wasted, 
and which many gardeners, moreover, find it utterly 
impossible to bestow upon them ; secondly, to demon¬ 
strate the possibility or otherwise of producing show 
flowers in pots of small dimensions ; and thirdly, to 
show those who have limited 
accommodation for housing 
their plants during the 
flowering period, that they 
can grow them with extra 
fine flowers, without having 
them of hop pole propor¬ 
tions, needing the aid of a 
step-ladder to get a good 
look at them, and without a 
tithe of the labour and ex¬ 
pense ordinarily incurred. 
The result of the experi¬ 
ment proved conclusively 
that Chrysanthemums can be 
grown and staged in houses 
in which the growers can 
scarcely stand upright them¬ 
selves, and which bear 
flowers that they may with 
pride and pleasure show 
to the greatest devotee of 
the “Mums” who may 
favour them with a visit. 
Having set forth the objects 
aimed at, I will in a few 
lines give the results effected 
in detail. In the first place, 
as to the saving of labour. 
The economy here was in 
the time saved, principally 
in watering. The difference 
in the amount of time 
taken to look over the 
two sets of plants—those 
grown on in pots and the 
planted-out ones — during 
May, June, July, and August, 
was immense, and even 
during September, when the 
layers were well rooted in 
their pots (No. 32’s), the 
difference was very consider¬ 
able. Neither is there the 
necessity for that constant 
feeding practised by many 
with their pot plants. On 
this system, the Chrysan¬ 
themum being a surface 
feeder, the rootlets will travel 
in search of fresh food as the 
plants require it. In the 
second place, as to the 
production of fine flowers, I 
will confine myself to one 
instance. I have beside me 
as I write, a flower of Queen 
of England 6 ins. across, 
and 3 ins. deep, one of 
three similar blooms from a 
plant in a 32-inch pot. 
From untoward circum¬ 
stances the layering was not done so early as originally 
intended, from which circumstance some of the earlier 
flowering vaneties were not sufficiently rooted when 
housing time came to secure the best results. But 
from my present experience I feel quite justified in 
asserting that fully as good blooms can be produced on 
a plant m a 32 or even a 48-sized pot, as the best 
grower in the kingdom can produce on any other plan. 
WH tT' f/ ant \ Se t0 th ° Se Wh0 have P^es of 
im ted height in which to display their plants is this, 
that really fine show flowers can be produced on plants 
not exceeding 3 ft. in height. 1 
A few remarks bearing on their culture must conclude 
this paper, which has exceeded the limits of length I 
intended it to be. I planted out as before mentioned 
during the third week in April, but instead of statin- 
exactly what I did, I may be permitted to say what I 
intended to do, which was to place the rows about 5 ft 
apart, and the plants 18 ins. apart in the rows ; and 
instead of staking the plants upright, to train them 
from 6 ins. to 12 ins. from the ground, the object of 
which is to keep the end of the shoots pointed upwards, 
so that when the layering is done the future plant will 
be more upright than if suddenly bent down. I found 
a difficulty in bringing ours into correct shape, from 
this part of our programme being omitted. The 
layering was done during the last week of July ; but at 
least a fortnight earlier would have been better. One 
thing in connection with the layering was very notice¬ 
able—namely, that when the rootlets from the layers 
began to sustain the plants the stems above the point 
CvrRiPEDiuji Schroder.*:. 
where they were layered swelled to about double tile 
thickness of the stem below the point of contact with 
the soil. After they were well rooted I gradually dis¬ 
severed them from the parent plant by cutting the 
stems below the layer. This process was carried on 
over six weeks. Our plants when layered had most of 
them three breaks, and were layered in the main stem 
below them ; but if thought desirable, instead of havin- 
one plant with three flowers in a 32 in. pot, three 
might be had from one stem by layering the shoots 
separately in 43’s. Much dwarfer plants could be 
obtained by this method, carrying one fine flower each. 
I would suggest to the. committees of Chrysanthe’- 
mum societies the propriety of offering prizes next 
season for plants grown as suggested. ° These would 
have a more pleasing effect at exhibitions than some of 
the exhibits now seen, and would reflect greater credit 
on the growers. With the exception of the details here 
given the general treatment of the plants was that 
usually followed by growers for competition.— IF. B . 
Glasscock, Shirley House, Croydon. 
LILIES IN 1890. 
I send a short note on our Lilies of the past season. 
The spring was very fine, followed by a frost in the 
beginning of June, a long spell of cold wet weather, and 
a beautiful autumn. Lilium auratum were very good, 
some leaves and flowers were spotted during the wet 
time, but the later flowers were especially fine ; the 
variety rubro-vittatum, sometimes erroneously called 
cruentum, in rather a cold quarter at Wisley, had the 
leaves much spotted, and I thought the flowers would 
suffer, and began to fear that this variety could not 
always be trusted out-of-doors ; on visiting my friend 
Mr. McIntosh’s garden I found these Lilies as beautiful 
as ever, so was comforted 
and soon afterwards ours 
bloomed with quite fine 
flowers. 
In the garden here, where 
we have few places for 
planting free from the roots 
of trees and shrubs, I am 
more than ever convinced 
of the desirability of secur¬ 
ing against the drying and 
impoverishing effects of 
these by sinking casks, 
with the bottoms out, a 
little below the surface of 
the ground, filling them up 
with Lily soil and planting 
the bulbs in them. We 
have some good evidence 
of the advantage of this in 
two casks side by side, 
which started with bulbs 
of L. a. macranthum of the 
same size ; the plants in the 
one which have been pro¬ 
tected against roots for two 
years are much stronger 
and finer than those in 
the other cask, which 
suffered one year from tree 
roots before they had the 
benefit of a cask. We had 
a number of L. a. rubro- 
vittatum in pots in the 
conservatory; these had 
grand flowers, though, as in 
the case of out-of-door 
plants, the fine crimson 
colour before many days 
turns to a dull claret. 
L. speciosum in the 
different varieties were a 
good deal out in the early 
season, but were especially 
fine later ; our finest were in 
a sunk cask in this garden, 
where they were in full 
beauty till quite the end of 
October. Others were nearly 
as fine in a new and per¬ 
fectly different situation, 
planted on a miniature 
mountain of loam; these 
planted, some about 8 ft., 
others 10 ft. high, facing 
east in full exposure, showed 
no spot on their leaves, and 
had very fine flowers. 
L. giganteum made a great 
show. A bed of seedlings 
had twenty - three stems, 
all about the same height, 
between 7 ft. and 8 ft. ; others planted with trees as a 
background had a very good effect. L. cordifolium in 
a shaded part of the wood flowered well, but the colour 
was not so good as when in more open places. L. 
superbum is always thoroughly happy at Oakwood, 
and gets finer and finer every year. Our tallest plant 
was 10 ft. 4 ins. high ; but plants of all heights flower 
with much variety in the colouring. I have this year 
tried an experiment with these Lilies—and which, with 
your permission, I will report the result hereafter— • 
planting single bulbs at intervals in the shallow 
winding ditches by which our wood garden is drained ; 
if these thrive, as I think they will, the effect should 
be good. 
L. Brownii were fine, but not equal to last year ; I 
do not think they liked the early cold. L. pajdalinum, 
L. californicum, and some L. Humboldtii were very 
good, but some of these latter went off. 
