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Among- our fall flowering hardy plants but few 
can be found more desirable than the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum, or Artemisia, as it used to be termed in my 
childhood. For profusion of bloom, variety of col¬ 
oring, number of sorts, lateness of flowering, ease of 
propagation, and freedom from insects it can hardly 
be equalled, and surely not surpassed. It is within 
the memory of some of our older florists that only 
the large flowering sorts were known; and when 
the beautiful little Pompone varieties came out, they 
could scarcely be enough admired. These were soon 
followed by the Japanese, which fill the place among 
Chrysanthemums that the quilled varieties do among 
Asters. The Chrysanthemum is as easy of propaga¬ 
tion as a Geranium, or even easier. Cuttings may 
be rooted with the greatest ease, and seeds also will 
produce new varieties if hybridized. There are al¬ 
most innumerable varieties which have been thus 
obtained. Each plant will also send up a number 
of shoots in spring or after blooming, each of which, 
if taken off, will make a nice rooted plant. Cuttings 
of the tops, taken in April or May, and placed in 
light soil, either in pots or the open ground in the 
latter month, will speedily take root, if kept watered, 
those in the ground of course needing less attention 
than those in pots, unless in an unusually dry spring, 
such as we have had a few of lately. Several may 
be placed in one pot around the sides. 
When rooted, and about six inches in height, pinch 
back to the third leaf. This will make them put forth 
side branches, which should be again pinched back 
in their turn as soon as they get four or five leaves. 
In this way the plant will become almost a perfect 
bouquet of bloom. After the first of July pinching 
should be discontinued, or your plants will not flow¬ 
er. 
Although very hardy, a little protection from strong- 
northerly winds will prove a great advantage, both 
by increasing the bloom, and also prolonging it. 
Plants set on the south side of an open picket fence 
I think do the best, as it allows of a free circulation 
of air around, though a close board fence or the side 
of a building does perfectly well, if the plants are not 
too closely in contact with them. A little rotten 
manure or a few dry leaves, or both combined, will 
be found very beneficial, applied around them in 
fall after flowering. Many people take them up, put 
them in boxes in a cellar, at the approach of winter, 
but I have never had any difficulty in keeping them 
out of doors when treated as described, or even when 
growing on an open border along a walk in a very 
bleak situation. However, if one has a new variety 
in limited quantity, “ caution is the parent of safe¬ 
ty.” 
Although a sheltered place is recommended, Chry¬ 
santhemums do not do well under the shade of trees. 
They are then apt to be attacked with a sort of mil¬ 
dew which .quite disables them. Soapsuds on the 
foliage will sometimes benefit them in a measure 
when thus attacked. 
In case plants are wanted for the house, the cut¬ 
tings may be started in pots, and shifted from time 
to time until placed in a six-inch pot, or they may 
be grown in the ground until well budded, and pot¬ 
ted soon after the buds begin to show color. In either 
case the pinching process is the same. A little ma¬ 
nure-water once or twice a week will be very bene¬ 
ficial—not too strong, or the buds may suffer. 
They are capable of sustaining a great deal of 
drought when growing in the open ground, but if in 
pots should not be allowed to become too dry if ex¬ 
pected to flower abundantly. 
After blooming the pots may be placed in the cel¬ 
lar, leaving the room they had occupied free for 
other plants, an advantage which will not fail to be 
appreciated by those whose window-room is limited 
Among the most desirable sorts with which I am 
acquainted, I would mention of the large flowered 
kind: Virgin Queen, Rotundiflora, Beauty of St. 
John’s Wood, all white ■ Yellow Perfection, Julia 
Lagrovere, purple; Pink Perfection; and of the 
Pompons, La Fiancee, white; Begun de Horticulture, 
creamy white extra; Rose d’Amour, extra; Pearl 
of Autumn, pale pink; St. Justin, deep yellow and 
maroon, fine ; Bob, deep maroon ; Plnie d’Or, straw 
color; L’Erbenelle, deep golden yellow, etc. 
The Japanese kinds bloom all winter if the early 
buds are removed in the fall. Among these will be 
found great variety of sizes, from the monstrous Red 
Dragon down to the smallest Pompone. Laciniata is 
a particularly desirable variety. The flowers are 
pure white, and greatly resemble a double White 
Pink. 
The lovers of foliage plants will also find some¬ 
thing to admire in the variegated-leaved Clirysan- 
themurn Sensation, which is white, with beautiful 
green and white foliage. I am sorry to say that 
this, in common with many other variegated plants, 
will prove less able to withstand hardship than its 
plainer relations, being rather impatient of having 
its leaves wet or being exposed to too strong sun. 
Nevertheless, it is so pretty that it is quite desirable. 
The fine aromatic perfume of the foliage of Chrysan¬ 
themums is much liked by many, while their cousin, 
the Wormwood, is well known for its medicinal 
qualities. 
A moderate temperature will be found most condu¬ 
cive to the welfare of potted specimens, as the flowers 
will retain their beauty longer. When used for cut 
flowers thej r will keep an almost incredible length of 
time, and are especially good for decorating the hair, 
as they do not droop as quickly as most flowers when 
not placed in water. Those who need flowers for 
church decoration will find them especially adapted 
to their needs, either in pots or cut. The dwarf 
varieties grow about eighteen inches in height, while 
the larger, stronger growing sorts will often attain to 
four feet. 
The first Chrysanthemum ever grown in this city 
was raised from a cutting of an imported plant, by 
the writer’s grandmother, over seventy years ago, 
and so precious was the slip deemed that a hole was 
actually drilled through a China vase to afford it a 
fitting receptacle. 1 have often wished that ancient 
dame could have seen the plants of the present day. 
Probably no one will confound the annual Chry¬ 
santhemums with those of which we have been 
speaking. There arc several colors of these, and in 
a favorable soil some of them are very handsome. A 
light, sandy soil seems unsuited to them. They are 
more fastidious in that respect than the perennials. 
They are a good border flower, as they bloom early 
and continue late. A striking peculiarity is the fact 
that the first blooms on a plant are often single or 
semi-double, while the succeeding ones are double 
as roses. These are propagated by seed alone. 
I remember reading an anecdote of a celebrated 
Italian who had some plants of the first perennial 
varieties brought to Europe, of which lie refused to 
impart seeds or cuttings. A cardinal who was an 
intimate friend, after many endeavors to obtain some, 
determined to try the effect of strategy. He accord¬ 
ingly called often, and walked in the garden to feast 
his eyes on the rare beauties, jealously watched, how¬ 
ever, by the owner. At last one day he made his 
appearance with a velvet mantle loosely thrown over 
his shoulders, which he contrived to drag over the 
plants and drop to the ground. Turning to his ser¬ 
vant who walked behind him, he ordered him to pick 
it up and take charge of it. As soon as possible he 
left, and a close inspection of the mantle rewarded 
him with a few seeds, and in a few months he was 
able to invite the puzzled flower-fancier to an inspec¬ 
tion of his specimens. 
At the present time, however, there is but little in¬ 
ducement to resort to subterfuge, as the finest varie¬ 
ties may be purchased for from fifteen to twenty-five 
cents each, and even less in quantities. Two or 
three neighbors, by clubbing and purchasing a dozen, 
may each of them be the owners of a dozen sorts the 
succeeding spring, owing to the ease with which they 
are propagated. I have said that the Japanese oc¬ 
cupied the same place among the species that the 
quilled varieties do among Asters, but there are 
some of them which in appearance resemble tassels; 
others look like bunches of thread, being, like most 
Japanese things, very curious. Some of them are 
spotted purple and white, and crimson and white. 
F. A. A. 
PEONIES. 
No flowering plants capable of enduring our nor¬ 
thern winters are more satisfactory than the Peonies. 
Massive without being coarse, fragrant without 
being pungent, grand without being gaudy, various 
in form and color beyond the possibility of being 
successfully superseded, they stand in the first rank 
of hardy flowers. They are derived principally from 
four species, each of which is beautiful—P. motitan, 
P. Sinensis, P. officinalis, P. paradoxa. A few 
varieties are from species of less importance. The 
Peony belongs to the natural order RanunculacEc, 
which fact alone is a warrant of its worth. 
I have had much experience in ordering Peonies 
from catalogue description, and it has been so ex¬ 
pensive and the result so vexatious that I have about 
reached the conclusion that color-blindness, careless¬ 
ness, or worse are all that is needed to write a de¬ 
scriptive catalogue of them. I have rejected a good 
load of roots, after giving them a trial; not that tiny 
were inferior in any way, but because I had others 
so near like them that I could not readily tell one 
