The 1895 Chrysanthemums. 263 



data for a study of the botany of cultivated plants. It is a pity 

 that we have no horticultural society of the dignity of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society. The American genius for organizing 

 ought to be able to create a better society than this for our own 

 needs. Commercial men could supply materials for history and 

 science, and botanists could instruct plant-breeders at almost 

 every point of their w^ork. 



There is this distinction between botanical classification and 

 horticultural classification: The world can wait for the first; the 

 second has a daily practical bearing. Prizes often do harm in 

 this — that they encourage production of flow^ers that conform to 

 arbitrary and fallacious standards and discourage informality 

 and freedom. This is strongly illustrated in the case of the 

 Mrs. Alpheus Hardv chrvsanthemum. The hairiness of that va- 

 riety was no novelty in the western world. It had repeatedly ap- 

 peared in England and had been patiently, if not sorrowfully, re- 

 pressed. The florists did not want a hairy flower, nor was it 

 absolutely new, and the success of the florist who sold it for 

 |1,500 and the dealer w^ho is supposed to have made |10,000 out 

 of it in one year, must be explained in some other way. The 

 lesson of this is that conventional standards and horticultural 

 classifications are often tyrannical. It is certain that in 1886 no 

 hairy chr^^santhemum could have won a prize before the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society of England. If florists want a good 

 example of the tyranny of classifications they can examine the 

 centenary catalogue of that society and see the ten artificial sec- 

 tions that the English have made and Americans too often fol- 

 low. The English have more rigid classifications, a more severe 

 system of scoring by points, bigger prizes and less individuality 

 in their flowers. 



The danger of suppression of individualism can be averted for 

 the present, so far as the American Chrysanthemum Society is 

 concerned, by a more liberal interpretation of what " incurved " 

 and " Japanese " may mean. The Japanese section should be 

 made broad enough to include most types which do not fit else- 

 where. The English " incurved " chrysanthemums are compact, 

 round, formal and regular. The florets are carefully arranged in 

 mathematical order by means of forceps. The " dressing " of 



