816 



HORTICULTURE 



June 22, 1907 



The Chrysanthemum — Its Past^ Present and Future 



A paper read before the Gardeners' and Florists' Club of Boston, by Charles H. Totty. 



The Chrysanthemum in its various 

 forms as grown today is essentially 

 modern in its varieties, and it is a 

 far cry from the first Japanese intro- 

 ductions of R. Foitune in 1SG2 to the 

 large flovkfered Japanese of today. No 

 flower has proved so responsive to the 

 eflarts of the hybridist and the present 

 day types of Europe and America are 

 far ahead of the kinds grown at this 

 time in Japan, so far as my knowledge 

 of Japanese varieties goes. When we 

 stop to reflect on the progress made in 

 a period of some fifty years with this 

 flower, one hesitates to hazard a guess 

 as to what the future has in store. 

 The past history of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum is interesting. A Chrysanthe- 

 n.um show was held in Birmingham, 

 England, as far back as 1S36, but no 

 record of it is left saving the mere 

 detail of time and place. The organi- 

 zation that was to be the real factor 

 in developing the Chrysanthemum was 

 organized in Stoke Newington, Eng- 

 land, in 1846 at an old-fashioted hos- 

 telry where a company of congenial 

 spirits used to congregate evenings and 

 over their pipes and beer discuss their 

 favorite flower. 



That little society prospered in its 

 chrysalis state and eventually evolved 

 into the National Chrysanthemum 

 Society and this society by its system 

 of historical records, classifications 

 and nomenclature put Chrysanthemum 

 where it is today. 



The first seedling raised in cultiva- 

 tion was flowered in Fi-ance about 1827 

 and I have no doubt the raiser was 

 just as proud of his achievement as we 

 would be today to produce a Beatrice 

 May or William Duckham. 



The pompon section was produced 

 from a small semi-double variety sent 

 home by Robert Fortune from China 

 in 1842. We are indebted to the 

 French raisers for this type who chris- 

 tened it pompon from the real or fan- 

 cied resemblarce to the tuft or pompon 

 on the French soldiers' hats of that 

 period. The Fortune introductions of 

 1862 gave the greatest impetus to the 

 cultivation of the Chrysanthem^im and 

 they were the ancestors of our present 

 large flowering kinds. 



Some of the Pioneers. 

 Glancing hurriedly through the 

 American history of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum we find that the first seedlings 

 ■were exhibited before the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society in 1879 by 

 Dr. H. P. Walcott, so that 

 Boston in this as in many 

 others matters historical may 

 rightly claim first honors. Peter Hen- 

 derson previous to this had imported 

 from Japan in 1863 some fine varieties 

 one of which at least, Grandiflorum, 

 was grown until very recently. The 

 Chrysanthemum Society of America 

 was not organized until 1889, but shows 

 had been held for some time previous 

 to that in the larger eastern cities. 

 Possibly the greatest enthusiast this 

 country ever had is the veteran John 

 Thorpe. I had a short talk with him 

 in Chicago last fall and I know he is 

 a mine of Information on the early 

 struggles to popularize the 'Mum in 

 this country. Another gentleman 

 ■who, while his name does not figure so 

 much in print did a great work in the 



early days, is Wm. Barr of Orange; he 

 t(io is brimful of early history and fur- 

 thermore is just as keen today in test- 

 ing new kinds as he ever was. What 

 wonderful power of fascination does 

 the 'Mum i.ossess that it can hold a 

 man's intcrfst for a life time com- 

 pelling him willy, nilly, to remain its 

 slave and worshipper? 



In the early 80's several Pennsyl- 

 vania growers came to the front. W. 

 K. Harris and H. Waterer left their 

 imprint on the 'Mum by raising some 

 fine varieties. New Jersey was repre- 

 sented by Mr. T. H. Spaulding and the 

 late lamented firm of Pitcher and 

 Manda. It is impossible in a paper of 

 this description to enumerate all of 

 the men who did yeoman service in 

 the past, but at least two others, 

 Pewkes and Hallock, are deserving of 

 special mention. Getting down to the 

 present time we find that the Austra- 

 lian varieties in the past few years 

 have swept our exhibition tables clear 

 of the older. varieties giving us flowers 

 of such splendid size and colors com- 

 bined with ideal habit that there would 

 almost seem to be an inSusion of new 

 blood into the race. The English and 

 French seedlings are in too many 

 cases disappointing to us, comparative- 

 ly few standing the test of our climate, 

 but the failures in the Australian kinds 

 are few. The reason for this is be- 

 cause the Australian climate at flow- 

 ering time is similar to ours, often 

 running warm and bright, and 

 if a seedling shows a large, 

 full, perfect flower in this con- 

 dition it will do the same 

 with us. An English variety may be 

 splendid in its native home and yet be 

 a failure here, showing an enormous 

 eye and only some five or six rows of 

 petals. Some of their very finest kinds 

 act in this way here. Lady Conyers, 

 Elsie Fulton and Mrs. P. W. Valis 

 being good examples. The Australian 

 kinds on the other hand show up 

 much better than they do in Europe, 

 many of them, the sunlight here in 

 the early fall serving to bring out the 

 size and breadth of the petal to greater 

 advantage. I am often asked how it 

 is that the Australian types are such 

 strong growers, splendid in both stem 

 and foliage. Perhaps the chief reason 

 is because in Australia they practice 

 an outdoor system of culture entirely 

 in the section from where we have re- 

 ceived the finest varieties. 



Future Development. 



We should never lose sight of the 

 fact that the Chrysanthemum is al- 

 most a hardy plant and indoor culture 

 is an unnatural cocdition which in 

 time tends to degenerate the parent 

 stock. The future will possibly see a 

 race of American seedlings equal or 

 superior to what we are now getting 

 from Australia, but they will be raised 

 outside in the great Southwest some- 

 where, where the hand of man has 

 merely to guide nature in an intelli- 

 gent systematic crossing, not here In 

 the east where with glass houses and 

 artificial heat man must not only 

 guide nature but also finish her prod- 

 uct for her. Another reason why the 

 Australian kinds are all good growers, 

 lies in the fact that a rigid selection 

 is kept up all the time from the first 



seed bed to the flowering stage. Any 

 kind that shows an exceptioi.'ally tall, 

 or a weak spindly habit is destroyed 

 before the plant reaches the flowering 

 stage so that the teitptation to keep 

 it. should if prove to be an exception- 

 ally fine flower, is removed. This I 

 am informed is the policy of Mr. Pock- 

 ett of the Wells-Pockett firm, and I 

 say today that this firm if the>" do not 

 send us anolher variety, have left a 

 mark on American Chrysanthemum 

 culture that will endure for many 

 years to come. The most popular type 

 of flower at the present day is the 

 Japanese incurved. This combines 

 the largest size with the incurving 

 petals so much sought after by the 

 commercial grower on account of its 

 shipping qualities. 



The true Chinese type with its in- 

 curving petal is apparently too small 

 for present day use, and is entirely 

 crowded out of the exhibition table 

 saving in classes specially reserved for 

 it, and to a considerable extent, it is 

 also getting crowded out of the com- 

 mercial grower's list. This perhaps is 

 in some ways to be regretted, yet it is 

 only one of the cycles of chang:e that 

 have served to keep alive the interest 

 in the '"Mum," Every few years a 

 new type or color appears and revivi- 

 fies an interest that perhaps was wan- 

 ing and needed just that stimulus. 



The Banner Year for Exhibitions. 



Some good and worthy people every 

 once in a while tell you that the 

 Chry.5anthenium is getting played out, 

 that it don't sell as well as it used to 

 in the market, people are tired of it 

 and so forth. Let us look at the facts 

 and see if this is so. What do we find 

 from an exhibition standpoint? We 

 find every year an increased number 

 of cities holding '"Mum" shows. We 

 note 20 or more local societies each in 

 a flourishirg condition and holding an 

 annua.l fall show, when ten years ago 

 not one was in existence. No signs of 

 lack of interest there. If you were in 

 my position as a disseminator of new 

 varieties and knew as 1 know men 

 who buy the plants out of their own 

 pockets, in cases where the employer 

 is not sufficiently interested to do so, 

 in order not to be behind at show 

 time, you would never talk about lack 

 of interest. I have seen several sched- 

 ules for the coming fall, and in every 

 case the prizes are larger and far more 

 numerous, and I will go on record as 

 saying now that 1907 will be the ban- 

 ner year to date from the viewpoint 

 of exhibitions. What about it com- 

 mercially? That can only be conjec- 

 ture till we can get an idea of the 

 quantities planted in the different sec- 

 tions, but last year was the best year 

 for prices (hat 1 have known since I 

 have studied the flower market. Cli- 

 matic conditions I will concede helped 

 somewhat to bring about this condi- 

 tion, but even so, people look for 

 Chrysanthemums now more than they 

 once did in the early fall, and I see no 

 reason to feel pessimistic as to the fu- 

 ture commercially of the flower. 

 The Chrysanthemum a Stimulus to 

 Fall Trade. 



The Chrysanthemum accomplishes 

 every year a great work in bringing 

 the eeneral grower and his wares be- 



