The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI.
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM.
The chrysanthemum is usually regarded as a hardy border flower which may be left to itself to grow as a weed, or at least to have no more aid than an ugly stake to which it is roughly tied to save it from being blown into rags by the gales of autumn. But when carefully cultivated for the decoration of the conservatory it is one of the finest plants in the English garden, and may be employed in a variety of ways at a time when flowers are exceedingly scarce.
In the gloomy months of November and December, when the chrysanthemum is in its prime, gaslight entertainments begin to assume increased importance, and many of these might be considerably enriched by the aid of these noble flowers. The poinsettia and the solanum are charming things for gaslight decoration, but the chrysanthemum affords endless variety at an extravagantly cheap rate; and in a private entrance-hall, a concert-room, a bazaar, or the covered approaches to any place of public resort, a bank of chrysanthemums affords a brilliant welcome and a grand accompaniment to any kind of festivity, because every known variety appears to advantage under gaslight.
The chrysanthemum being strictly herbaceous, properly falls into this place in the order of our work, but its importance entitles it to a separate chapter, and our business will be to provide a comprehensive chapter, for we can afford but little space for a large subject.
The chrysanthemum will grow in any good garden soil, but when grown in pots should have a rich and substantial loamy compost and at every stage the pots must be well drained, for if the soil becomes pasty, the plants will make no progress. When it is intended to grow great exhibition specimens, cuttings must be started in November, but nice plants for the conservatory may be obtained from cuttings started in February, March, or April. As there are many inferior sorts in cultivation it is important to make a good selection, for, between the best and the worst, the difference is as Hyperion to a Satyr. The free-flowering kinds of the most distinct and striking colours are always to be preferred. Many of the most perfect exhibition incurved flowers are not showy, and, although a connoisseur will prefer them to all others, many of the high-coloured reflexed flowers will be preferred by those who are less critical. Plenty of flowers and plenty of colour are the principal desiderata in selecting for conservatory decoration, and happily there are a few of the very finest exhibition kinds, such, for example, as Jardin des Plantes, Mrs. G. Bundle, Dr. Sharp, and the Prince of Wales, which give us an abundance of flowers, of the most attractive character. It is not important to select early-flowering kinds, because, as they will be protected, the November frosts will not affect them. To divide an old plant into a number of suckers, each with a few roots attached, or to make plants from cuttings three inches long is such a simple business that it would be waste of time to go into particulars.
The start having been made, it will be well to bear in mind that the young plants should have as much air and light as possible while in the greenhouse, and that early in April the point of every one should be pinched out to cause the production of side branches. Soon after stopping, shift them into forty-eight size pots. About the middle of May plunge them in a bed of coal-ashes in an open spot, and let them be well taken care of as to watering. In the first week of June look over the plants, and if you are not familiar with the sorts, take a trade catalogue and look them through. When you find by the label on your plant that you have to decide as to one of the finest incurved varieties, do not stop the plant. In any case, if you find the variety is not recommended for specimen culture, refrain from stopping. On the other hand, those which are recommended for specimens may be stopped in the first week of June, as being free to flower. Incurved and late-flowering varieties should only be stopped once, and better if not stopped at all. Reflexed, free-flowering, and early-flowering kinds in all classes may be stopped twice, and the smaller sorts, such as Intermediates and Pompons, may be stopped three times, and the last pinching should be done in the early part of June or by the middle of June at latest.
In the middle of June the plants should be shifted into eight-inch pots, to give them a good chance in the height of the growing season. Keep them freely watered even in rainy weather, for it often happens that, while the leaves are well washed by rain, the roots get none of it. In dry weather syringe them once a day at least, in very hot weather twice, morning and evening being the best times.
By the middle of July the first-class show kinds will be the better for a shift into eleven-inch pots if large specimens are required, but the reflexed and smaller kinds may be allowed to flower in eight-inch pots, and be helped to the end of their journey by liquid manure as soon as they have quite filled their pots with roots. In any case, however, robust plants that have quite filled their pots with roots, and that appear, by their ample leafage aud walking-stick stems, to be capable of growing considerably larger yet, should be shifted to give them a chance of making a grand show when their day of triumph arrives. But there must be no disturbance of the roots after the middle of July or there will be very few flowers in November. And however strong the plants or propitious the season, eleven-pots are the largest allowable for chrysanthemums. If you put them into larger pots you may whistle for flowers.
The chrysanthemum is grown in a variety of forms according to the fancy of the cultivator. The tall untrained bushes suitable for the conservatory are the easiest to manage; and any one who has the least idea of gardening operations can stake and train them, for all they need is sufficient support to enable them to carry their flowers. But it is another matter when specimens such as here figured are required. To produce any of these forms it is necessary to take cuttings in November, and keep the young plants in the greenhouse through the winter.
Convex specimens are the most telling of all for exhibition purposes. The large flowering kinds and the pompons are equally adapted for this mode of management. The plants raised from November cuttings must be stopped about the middle of March. In the first week of April they should be shifted into six-inch pots. It is usual to grow all kinds of chrysanthemums in the same mixture; but, when perfection is aimed at, the large kinds will do better in a somewhat heavier soil than the
SPECIMEN CONVEX POMPON.
pompons. These latter will thrive in a mixture of equal parts of good turfy loam and well-rotted hotbed manure, and about a sixth part of the whole bulk of sharp sand and pounded oyster- shells. Keep them in a cold frame with plenty of air and light, and stop and tie out loosely as the growth progresses, endeavouring to obtain an abundance of side-shoots to form the foundation of a large plant. Shift into the blooming pots about the middle or end of June. The proper size of pot for an exhibition pompon is eight-inch, for the large varieties eleven-inch. About the lOth of July stop them all over for the last time, and prepare for training. The basis of the training should be a ring of No. 3 iron wire level with the rim of the pot, with four cross pieces to preserve its shape, and stout pegs to keep it firmly in its place. An immense amount of training may be done with a very small proportion of sticks or wires, and the cultivator will find that by patiently tying down the shoots with loops of good bast, so as to lay out the branches in the fashion of a spider's web, he will in the end obtain a very compact and handsome head of leaf and bloom. The proper time to begin the final training is about the 10th of September, when the growth will be completed and the points will be knotting for bloom. The plants should never suffer a check, and should be liberally supplied with water at the roots in the growing season, and frequently refreshed by means of the syringe overhead. The pots should be plunged in an open sunny border from the middle of May until the first or second week in October, when they must be transferred to the pit or cool house to flower. From the time the final training begins until the flowers are opening freely they should have the aid of weak liquid manure. If the weather is mild and sunny, they will not need the help of fire heat when housed, but if cold rains or frost should occur, keep the fire going to assist the bloom. The temperature of the house must be kept as nearly as possible at fifty to sixty degrees during the day, and forty by night.
From the time the flower buds are visible the process of thinning them must commence. In disbudding the large varieties remove from every cluster of buds all except the top bud. In disbudding pompons, leave the top bud on every shoot, and two or three buds of the same cluster. If you allow all the buds to remain, the appearance of the plant will
SPECIMEN STANDARD POMPON.
be spoiled, for the flowers will be small and crowded and will compress each other out of form.
Standards may be produced by proper management of any of the varieties, but the pompons and intermediates make the best standards. As regards the potting and watering and other routine matters, follow the instructions already given. The special points alone concern us now. Select for standards the strongest plants of suitable varieties, and in the month of March shift them into forty-eight size. Keep the plant straight by means of a light stake and be sure not to pinch the point out. As side shoots appear pinch them back slightly so as to leave one or two leaves to clothe the stem. When the stem is as tall as you wish pinch out the point, and carefully but loosely tie out the side shoots as they appear to form the head of the plant. When the shoots are four to six inches long stop them, and tie with care the secondary shoots that follow. You may go on stopping until the first week in July, and then stop for the last time. Finish the training by the first week in September and house the plants rather early.
Pyramids.—For this form pompons and intermediates are best adapted. Select strong autumn cuttings and give them the regular shifts and routine management as directed above. In the training the matter of first importance is to preserve the leader and all the side branches. About the end of May stop all the shoots from top to bottom, stop them all again in the middle of June, unless it be to restrain some shoots that will grow out of bounds. To secure a rich effect the utmost should be made of every shoot, and the final training should be done at the end of August, to allow time for the growth that follows to push beyond the sticks, and produce the happy effect of a perfect plant. In some cases the uppermost shoots will require to be trained downwards, and others must be taken round the sticks which form the outside framework, in preference to stopping them, and if all this is done in good time not a stick or tie will be visible when the plant is in flower.
Bush pompons of a somewhat rough but most effective character may be grown in quantity by an extremely simple method. Plant out well-rooted cuttings in very poor soil in a sunny situation eighteen inches apart every way. Give them water if they want it, but the less water they have the better. 
SPECIMEN PYRAMID POMPON.
About the middle of June stop them all over. At the end of September put them in 48’s and shut them up in a close warm house and keep them well syringed. After a week of this treatment give them air by degrees, and as they come into flower take them to the conservatory. They ought to be compact, round-headed bushes, completely covered with flowers.
The only insect that seriously injures the chrysanthemum is the celery fly (Tephritis onopordinis). The maggot of this fly burrows within the leaf of the plant and causes, first, a pellucid pellicle, and subsequently the death of the leaf. The cultivator must occasionally make search for the maggot and destroy it by pressing the pellicle between finger and thumb. To remove it from the leaf is impossible, as it occupies the substance between the upper and under surfaces.