King 
Chrysanthemum 
POINTERS THAT WILL ENABLE 
YOU TO TO SUPPLY YOUR HOUSE 
WITH THESE HANDSOME AUTUMN 
FLOWERS—WHAT VARIETIES TO 
GROW AND HOW TO GROW THEM 
Photographs by the Author 
wn . T . , THANKSGIVING 
White Jerome Jones is symmetrical and _|^ and chrysanthe- 
of a beautiful ivory tint , ,, 
J mums — chrysanthe¬ 
mums for Thanksgiv¬ 
ing; the two have become so intertwined in our thoughts that it 
is touch and go to remember which was made for the other. 
Surely, he who has “the golden flower - ’ can find gratitude in its 
heart; and he who has nursed and trained and educated his own 
chrysanthemums and brought them to glorious perfection has 
wherewith for a Thanksgiving paean all his own. 
Suppose you make up your mind to grow for yourself the 
golden, pink and snowy wonders, of size unbelievable. What is 
the first move ? A greenhouse; but a small space in it will grow 
all the chrysanthemums an amateur is likely to want. 
Next, some good, healthy plants of standard sorts, for “stock.” 
You can buy the plants in bloom now, enjoy the flowers and, 
after they are faded, put the plants in the greenhouse; any 
temperature from forty-five degrees to sixty-five degrees. 
On or about Valentine’s Day, for these late, Thanksgiving 
bloomers, make cuttings of the young root shoots on the old 
plants. Make a clean cut just below a joint and root in sand. 
Cuttings that have been left to 
harden on the old plant are apt to be 
slow or fail in rooting. Medium soft 
cuttings strike roots quickly. 
Chrysanthemums require more 
water while rooting than most plants 
and fresh air is essential—not once 
a week, but all the time. Sixty-five 
to seventy degrees of heat makes 
the cuttings thrive. When they have 
good white roots you must decide 
between pots and benches. For cut 
flowers only, benches are best; 
you can grow more flowers in 
the same space and the plants 
require less handling. 
The soil need not be com¬ 
pounded by rule, but see that 
it is rich in slow-feeding ma¬ 
terial ; rich loam with a little 
leaf mold and sand grows 
good chrysanthemums. Don’t 
make the soil rich with ferti¬ 
lizer ; it will produce enor¬ 
mous growth and rank foliage 
at the expense of blossoms. 
These plants have all summer 
to grow three feet high and 
produce one royal blossom 
each and you must see that 
they take due time to do it 
right. 
You 
Lula, 
white pompon variety 
magnificent blooms 
with 
will set 
your young plants a 
foot apart in the 
benches, firm them 
hard and stake them early. Thus will the results be better. 
But plants that are to be used for house decoration as plants 
will be put into three-inch pots. Smaller ones necessitate only an 
extra shifting. Look well to drainage. Pot shreds and moss in 
the pots are a safe precaution. Yellow leaves mean too much 
water. Never let growing chrysanthemums get potbound. Keep 
them moving until they reach the ten or twelve-inch pots where 
they are to blossom. 
Give the plants sunshine all summer, whether in pots or 
benches. Nothing but sunshine can bestow the strength, the size, 
the brilliance, even the half-bitter fragrance. 
For the perfect, giant blossoms, allow just one straight stalk 
to grow, and the top, or terminal bud to develop. Pinch off all 
side shoots and ruthlessly annihilate any “younger sons” in buds, 
that the heir may have all the power and the glory. After the 
buds form, a lower temperature is best—not below forty or 
above fifty at night, however, should be allowed. 
Kerosene emulsion is considered 
the safest, easiest and most effective 
discourager of aphides. For mildew, 
rust or blight, shoot sulphur over 
them. 
If you want “bush” plants, spread¬ 
ing as big as a half-bushel and cov¬ 
ered with small flowers, the process 
is the same until the plants are potted 
and three or four inches high. Then 
pinch out the tops. They will throw 
out side shoots at the joints. When 
these are three inches long 
pinch their tops and keep this 
up until the Fourth of July. 
Let them grow from then on. 
The bush form is the prettiest 
way to grow all pompons, 
anemones and the pretty sin¬ 
gle chrysanthemums that are 
becoming so popular. 
There is still another way 
to train chrysanthemums, if 
one does not care for the trou¬ 
ble of making into bush form. 
Pinch the tops once or twice. 
Then let the branches grow 
until buds are formed. Pinch 
out the tip bud, leaving the 
little circle of “crown” buds 
(Continued on page 322) 
. per picture shows Major Bonnafon, a good late bloomer. Below 
are the large and richly colored blossoms of Golden Wedding 
(285) 
