CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 239, 8 October 1932, Page 6 (Supplement)

CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

Some cultivators ar9 reluctant to add manure to the spij jja which they growi tlieir chrysanthemums, because they are afraid qf producing top luxuriant growth. If, however, the manure is judiciously applied, this will not occur. Where borders were not manured in the autumn they should be attended "to now, that everything may bo in readiness for the young plants. Surface mulching from December to the middle of February is advisable whether the soil be heavy or light. In the ease of clayey soils a thin mulch of half-rotted manure will prevent the surface from baking and cracking, and it is easy to use the Dutch hoe through the manure to keep a loose surface sgil and to kill any small weeds. In the case of Jight soils the mulch-*-a more substantial one in this instance —will prevent puilue evaporation of moisture, tend to draw the roots t9 the top, and preserve thgm there. Too much reliance is placed by many amateurs on old roots. They are oftep left in the border for many years, apd nothing is done to them after the faded stems, have been cut down. If cultivators would at once prepare a cold frame and treat the plants as suggested below, they would certainly be mpr© satisfied with the ret suits. If a co]d frame is not avail-, able, nail some - rough boards together on edge and cover them with glass lights or mats in bad. weather, Make up .a nice bed of compost, putting down a layer of mixed fibrous loam apd rotted manure, 3in deep, then a "3in layer of rather finer loam and leaf sand, with some coarse sand added. Take up the old roots and carefully divide them, retaining only the strongest suckers growing near the outer edge of each clump. These selected portions, with small roots attached, should be neatly planted in rows in the prepared bed, watered, and protected from heavy rains and frost. In the meantime the soil in the border may be dug up and manured, and plant out about December. This is a simple and effecr tive way of raising a stronger stock where cuttings have not been rooted.