680 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 25, 1898. 
INTS FOR MMATEURS. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS 
The time has at last arrived when the final potting 
into the flowering pots can no longer be delayed. 
Professional cultivators have by this time given all 
their plants, with perhaps the exception of the late 
ones, their final shift. Those who have to show in 
strong competitions have thus to be bright and 
early with the work, for experience has proved that 
a good long season of growth in the final stage is 
necessary to procure sound, well ripened wood, 
which in turn will produce fine, well coloured 
flowers. There is a distinct danger to be run by too 
late potting. The plants (unless they are late right 
from the cutting, when a deal of difference results) 
are starved and stunted in their pots, usually 32 s, 
and the roots become an interlacing fibrous mass, 
which it is impossible to disentangle or to avoid in¬ 
juring in a very considerable degree. The check of 
potting is thus, in itself, considerable. It is some 
time before the poor plants recover from it, and 
when they do it is not infrequently at the expense of 
all their lower leaves. The consequence is that 
during the months ot July and August, when the 
plants should be in full vigour of growth, they are 
struggling for a bare and miserable existence. Then 
they commence to grow, just as the summer shows 
signs that its course is merging to a close. The rich 
soil causes undue rankness, and corresponding sappi¬ 
ness of growth, as if an attempt were being made 
to make up for lost time, and the plants finish the 
season in anything but that condition which the 
gardener would like to see them. 
These are some of the dangers involved by 
neglecting to shift the plants at the proper time, and 
we would urge all who may be growers in a small 
way to avoid these dangers by getting their 'Mums 
into flowering pots at least by the end of the present 
month. 
Up to this time the plants have had a somewhat 
chequered experience. They were placed out-of- 
doors during the third week in May, but since that 
time they have been subjected to a variety of 
climatical conditions that has sorely tried their 
patience. During the late cold weather they have 
been almost, if not quite, at a standstill. 
Soil.—This is naturally of the first importance, 
and the amateur will do well to go to a little extra 
trouble to procure the right kind of stuff. Large 
cultivators are very particular with their soil. The 
loam, which is the staple of the compost, is cut from 
good old pastures and stacked under cover, with or 
without manure, for months previous to the time at 
which it will be required. When it is cut out for use 
it will then be in a capital condition as far as mois¬ 
ture goes, the grass will have rotted, but all the 
fibrous roots will be there, and the whole will be 
sweet and friable. This loam is then chopped up 
with a spade—not sifted in any way be it noticed— 
and mixed with the other ingredients. Loam that 
has been employed for Cucumbers or Melons is 
usually in capital fettle for Chrysanthemums, and, 
should no fresh material offer, may be used with the 
greatest confidence. The proportions of the various 
ingredients may be as follows :—To a cubic yard of 
the loam add a barrowful of leaf soil, that obtained 
from. Oak or Beech leaves being the best, a similar 
quantity of old mortar rubbish broken up to the size 
of Hazel Nuts, half the quantity of old Mushroom 
bed manure, from ten to twelve pounds of Clay’s 
Fertiliser or Thomson’s Vine and Plant Manure, and 
enough rough river sand to keep the whole open, say 
a little over half a bushel to the above quantity of 
compost if the loam be heavy, and a little less if it 
be light. The whole must be mixed thoroughly to¬ 
gether by turning it three or tour times. In doing this 
the outside of the heap should be turned into the 
centre each time, and the centre to the outside. The 
chemical manure added will thus get well spread 
throughout the whole, which is of vital importance. 
Some growers advocate the addition of more of 
these artificial manures to the soil than we have re¬ 
commended, but this is a practice that can very 
easily be overdone, and, to our way of thinking, one 
that is overdone by more than one professional 
grower. If the loam be good it would be far better 
to add no chemical fertiliser at all than to put a 
thimbleful too much. The evil effects of an over¬ 
dose in conjunction with carelsss watering will soon 
be seen by even a tyro. Besides, any stimulants 
that may be necessary may easily be applied after¬ 
wards, as the plants call for them. 
Pots.—The size of pots most suitable for general 
purposes is the " large sixteen,’’ which has a top, in¬ 
side diameter of about 9 inches. A larger pot, the 
“twelve,” which has a top inside diameter of 10 
inches, is occasionally employed, but only in the case 
of especially tall growing and heavy rooting varieties, 
that is when one plant only is put into a pot. The 
alternative plan of growing more than one plant in a 
pot has not much to recommend it. It may be a sav¬ 
ing of space, but at the expense of the quality and 
quantity of the bloom. All pots should be clean, 
and if new they should be soaked for a few hours to 
take the " fire ” out of them. New, unsoaked pots 
are exceedingly harsh and unkindly, and their dry 
and thirsty nature would take too much moisture 
out of the soil. 
Drainage.—Seeing the vast quantities of water 
that will pass through the soil in the pots during the 
next three or four months, it is obvious that the 
drainage must be of the best if things are to be kept 
sweet and wholesome. After crocking the pots care¬ 
fully with clean crocks, a sprinkling of half-inch 
bones may be put in, say a small handful to each 
pot. Over this place a layer of the roughest part of 
the compost, to keep the finer particles from being 
washed down amongst the crocks, and the drainage 
is complete. The addition of the crushed bones has 
been criticised by some growers, and declared to 
make the soil sour and evil smelling when wet 
weather has supervened immediately after the pot¬ 
ting, but we have followed the practice for a number 
of years, and only in one case have we known bad 
results to follow, and that was in the case of a very 
weakly plant of Golden Wedding. The bones give 
out their goodness slowly, and in that respect do not 
give the immediate surfeit of good things that is pro¬ 
duced by too much chemical manure powders which 
are stronger and speedier in their action from 
obvious mechanical reasons. The most valid 
objection to bones is one that might be made on the 
score of economy, for their value as a manurial 
agent is not nearly exhausted by the end of the 
year, but then the Chrysanthemum soil of this year 
will come in for something else next year so that 
their virtue is not wasted after all, and the Chrysan¬ 
themums only have the first share. 
Ramming.—In order to obtain short-jointed and 
sturdy growth the rammer has to play a prominent 
part in the final potting of the Chrysanthemum, but 
just as one can have " Too Much Johnson,” so there 
can be, and very frequently is, too much rammer. 
Directions to pot firmly are generally construed 
pretty literally, and the result is that the soii, when 
it chances to be heavy, is made so hard that the 
roots cannot penetrate, nor the water percolate, the 
results being simply disastrous. As in other written 
directions as to the way to perform gardening opera¬ 
tions, the operator’s own sense of discretion must be 
called actively into play in this instance, judgment 
must direct the rammer and tne ” rammist," if we 
may be allowed the word to distinguish between the 
instrument and the operator who works it. 
Don't fill the pots too full of soil, but allow room 
for enough water to be given at one application to 
soak the ball right through. Also never attempt to 
pot a plant that is dry at the time. This would be 
folly, for the probability is that the dry kernel in the 
centre of the pot would remain dry, and then good¬ 
bye to the roots and the plant’s chance of success. 
All plants, therefore, that it is intended to pot, should 
be looked over on the evening previous, and well- 
watered if they are at all inclined to be dry. 
After Potting.—A very usual but a mistaken plan 
of action is to deluge the plants with water immedi¬ 
ately after potting. Instead of doing this, the plants 
should be stood in a shady corner, and, if the 
weather be fine, sprinkled overhead twice or thrice a 
day by means of the syringe. Two or three days of 
such treatment and the plants will have recovered 
themselves of the check, and will then be ready for 
drafting to the quarters wherein they are to remain 
for the summer months.— Rex. 
Oranges and Salt.—The Mexicans when eating 
Oranges season them with salt, the fruit being con¬ 
sidered more wholesome when so seasoned. 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
Anyone may give additional or more explanatory answers 
to questions that have already appeared. Those who desire 
their communications to appear on this page should write 
" Amateurs' Page ” on the top of their letters. 
Hyacinths.— Forester : You will see an answer to 
part of your question about Hyacinths on p. 671 of 
last week's Gardening World. The bulbs that 
have been grown in water in glasses are of no further 
value, and may as well be thrown away at once. 
Ridge Cucumbers.— Geo. Need : Ridge Cucumbers 
are not grown to any great extent, partly because they 
are often a very qualified success. They may be grown 
out-of-doors on heaps of fermenting matter, it is 
true, but they only do well in warm seasons, whilst 
the fruit is apt to be rather bitter. To do them 
properly they want the shelter of a frame, more 
particularly in the earlier stages. Now we have so 
many really good Cucumbers of far better quality 
than the ridge varieties that can be grown in a frame 
that it is no wonder that they are chosen in prefer¬ 
ence to the latter. The best of the ridge Cucumbers 
is King of the Ridge, which is nearly as good in 
quality as the frame or tenderer sorts. Stockwood 
Ridge is a good old variety that is to be depended on. 
It is a good bearer, but the fruit is shorter, fatter 
and more prickly than that of King of the Ridge. 
Watering Yines.— K.: Now that the fruit is 
ripening you must stop giving manure water, and 
clear water must be very judiciously administered. 
Water will be occasionally required, it is true, but 
only very seldom, otherwise the fruit will be apt to 
split or crack, and this will spoil its appearance. 
You might cover the border with straw, if you like. 
It will certainly tend to prevent evaporation of 
moisture, and cannot do any harm. 
Apple Tree Backward.— E. R. L. : If your tree 
had been going to fruit this season it would certainly 
have made some show of flower buds before this, as 
well as of ordinary foliage. It must be in a bad way. 
Was it in good condition when you purchased it ? 
The variety, Melon, is not one that we should re¬ 
commend for a cold soil and a bleak situation. 
Kentias Dying.—I recently bought several Palms 
(Kentias) which looked exceedingly healthy and 
vigorous at the time, but which have since all died 
off. In pulling one of them out of the pot I dis¬ 
covered that there were no roots, and this proved to 
be the case with all of them. Can you tell me what 
is the reason ? The soil in which the plants were 
growing was not at all sour or wet; indeed.it looked 
as if the plants had been newly potted.— Palms. 
You are probably correct in your latter surmise. 
It seems to us most likely that the plants had been 
hastily potted up and sent out to sell, not to grow. 
Taken from a warm house, subjected to the potting 
process, perhaps half of their roots destroyed, and 
sent out straight away into a low temperature, then 
into the comparatively arid atmosphere of a dwelling, 
it is no wonder that the plants succumbed. Palms 
are really tropical or sub-tropical subjects, and need 
a certain amount of training, so to speak, before they 
can be expected to stand a lower temperature. 
Crushed Bones for Chrysanthemums.— P. E.A.: 
You may sprinkle a small handful of the J-in. bones 
over the crocks at the bottom of a No. 12 pot. 
Some nutriment will, of course, be afforded to the 
Chrysanthemums from these bones, but their em¬ 
ployment is not really economical, for they are not 
nearly exhausted by the end of the season. 
Melons in Frames.— L. James: You are in time, 
but have no time to waste if your Melons are to do 
any good in the frames, unless, of course, these 
frames are well supplied with hotwater pipes, when 
a longer season can be counted upon. You will find 
that two plants will be enough for each light. Plant 
at once on mounds of soil which should be raised up 
close to the glass. Do not stop (pinch) the plants 
until they have got a hold of their new surroundings. 
After the stopping two or three main shoots may be 
taken along from each plant, according to the space 
there is at command. Soil may be added at a later 
date when the white roots have made their appear¬ 
ance at the sides of the mound. 
