Early Varieties - Indoor and Outdoor Decoration - How to Increase by Cutting and Division-management in Summer - Housing the Plants - Exhibition Blooms

The early flowering varieties of chrysanthemums, if properly tended, are quite hardy out of doors. These varieties can be increased in number by means of cuttings, and in town-growing such propagation should generally be a yearly affair, as old plants are apt to become straggly and unprofitable.

Where there is no greenhouse or frame, the plants must be divided in spring or early summer. To do this, discard the old woody portion at the centre, and set out the fibrous pieces, at least nine inches apart, in an open place. By the month of July good bushy plants will have been made.

Propagation by cuttings must be done a little earlier in the year, the object being to produce flowering plants by the late summer. Take off the young shoots as they arise from the base of the plant, shorten them to not more than two inches, and dibble them into well-drained boxes or pots of soil, thickly surfaced with silver sand.

Be careful not to overcrowd the cuttings in their pots. Let them stand in a cold frame or cool greenhouse near the glass, which should be at an angle of 45o. When rooted, harden off gradually by standing the pots out of doors. Then, later, plant them out, eight inches apart, in reserve beds, or twelve inches apart in their flowering quarters.