December 2, 1905 



HORTICULTURE 



Grand International Chrysanthemum Show in Paris 



It is said tliat all good Americans when tliey die go to 

 "Pawris," but that Englishmen prefer to see it in the 

 flesh. It was for this purpose that a little party of 

 four members of the National Chrysanthemum Society 

 of London left the English Metropolis on Friday, the 

 3rd of November last, to be present at the great chrys- 

 anthemum show and conference that opened on the fol- 

 lowing day and which had been organized by the 

 National Horticultural Society of France and the 

 French N. C. S. The site of this show and also that 

 of the International Show held in May last is on the 

 Cours la Eeine between the Champs Elysees and the 

 river Seine. In the two large greenhouses that formed 

 the palace of horticulture during the 1900 Universal 

 Exposition the show now under notice was arranged, 

 there being a large covered-in corridor connecting both 

 the greenhouses, thus forming an exliibition hall of vast 

 extent. The entrance gate being near to the Pont des 

 Invalides afforded an excellent approach to the green- 

 houses, and on a fine day a convenient promenade for 

 the thousands of visitors that pour into the show. 



On the present occasion this promenade consists of a 

 central path with side paths easily communicating, the 

 beds between them being filled with great numbers of 

 fruit trees trained in all the many fantastic forms 

 known only to the French gardener. Some fine 

 aucubas, abies, eupressus, retinospora, taxus, thuja, 

 cedrus and other conifers in great variety are shown in 

 capital form in groups right and left close to the en- 

 trance by Messrs. Moser et fils of Versailles. Messrs. 

 Paillet, Laurent and Gayer also contribute similar lots. 

 Crout et fils, Nomblot, Boucher and Paillet exhibit fruit 

 trees, while on each hand the whole way leading to the 

 entrance to the greenhouse are numerous exhibits of 

 greenhouses, boilers, pottery and the various sundries 

 in horticultural industries. '^^ 



On getting inside our first impression is one of daz- 

 zling color, for as far as the eye can see there are 

 large groups of chrysanthemums in pots and in cut 

 blooms all of which are effectively arranged in geometric 

 beds on the ground edged with green turf, and inter- 

 sected by paths that lead the visitor all round the show. 

 The first one is from the well known house of Vilmorin 

 Andrieux & Co., and this fills the rotunda of the Serre 

 d' Antin ; two other groups occupy the centre ; two more, 

 a little nearer the main body of the greenhouse ; all from 

 the same firm who were awarded the Grand Prize of 

 Honor for their chrysanthemums and a marvellous ex- 

 hibit of vegetables. The plants are bush trained, 

 standards and other forms and comprise an immense 

 number of varieties mostly unknown to English and 

 American cultivators. Here and there, however, we 

 see varieties in good form that are familiar to us such 

 as Mme. Marie Liger, Wm. Duckham, Mme. Gustave 

 Henry, Phoebus, F. S. Vallis, N. C. S. Jubilee, Etoile 

 de Lyon, Mme. Ed. Roger, the curious green variety; 

 Wm. Seward, Mrs. Barklev, W. E. Church, etc. 



There are altogciliL-r over three hundred exhibitors in 

 this great International Show and it therefore follows 

 that only a brief survey of the show in its most salient 

 features is possible. Other plant exhibits come from 

 Messrs. Leveque et fils. M. Aug. Nonin, A. Pecquenard, 

 M. Magne, and M. Cavron, the last named exhibiting 

 many standards grafted with a large number of different 

 varieties of each. M. Nonin had M. Ant. Marmontel, a 

 Japanese of a fine rosy amaranth color, reverse silvery 

 pink; Satin Rose, a medium size decorative Japanese, 

 color deep rosy; Paris 1900, a fine pure yellow incurved; 

 Le Peyron, a compact pure yellow, Roi d' Italic, Naples, 

 La Gracieuse and scores of other fine varieties. M. 

 Pecquenard is a gi'ower of big blooms about three on a 

 plant, fine, massive flowers that want a lot of beating. 



Cut blooms of chrysanthemums were finely shown by 

 M. Rosette, M. Momoneja, Messrs. Leveque, Cordonnier 

 et fils, Ondot, Charvet, Pecquenard and many others. 

 Without specially referring to each exhibit we may 

 mention a few of the best blooms which were Ami 

 Nonin, a new yellow Japanese; Miss Ellen Willmot, a 

 new white; President Viger, Comtesse Henry de Yan- 

 ville. Mile. Marguerite de Mons, a monster; Gloire 

 Poitevine, not big but a lovely brilliant shade of bright 

 crimson red; Nathalie Bourseal, another monster pure 

 white; Chrysanthemiste Montigny, Anne Marie, Sapho, 

 Calvat's Sun, Mme. L. Denz, Duchesse d' Orleans, W. R. 

 Church, etc. In this section of course new seedlings fig- 

 ured largely and all the prominent raisers appeared on 

 the scene. Ernest Calvat was easily first with 10 

 first-class certificates; M. Alfred Cliantrier next with 

 very different blooms, 7 certificates ; M. Rosain Bouchar- 

 lat, 6; M. A. Nonin, 5; and many others with fewer, 

 the floral committee having a busy time in this depart- 

 ment. 



Fruit was grandly shown, the second Grand Prize of 

 Honor being awarded to M. Nomblot-Bruneau for his 

 fruit and fruit trees shown in enormous numbers. 

 Messrs. Croux et fils also had a most extensive collection, 

 chiefly apples and pears. M. G. Boucher, M. Paillet, 

 M. Mortheau, M. Ledoux, had similar lots more or less 

 extensive. Grapes were strong. Messrs. Salomon et 

 fils had one of the principal prizes of honor for vines in 

 fruit and grapes in bunches. M. Whir also exhibited 

 and Messrs. A. Cardonnier et fils showed Cannon Hall 

 Muscat, Gros Colman, and Black Alicante in fine 

 bunches. 



A separate room was allotted to orchids and stove 

 plants; M. Lesueur, M. Regnier, M. Charles Maron and 

 Messrs. A. Truffant et fils had noteworthy collections. In 

 an adjoining room exhibits in the floral art were pro- 

 vided for table decorations, bouquets, etc., which were 

 staged in the daintiest of ways by M. Debrie, the famous 

 Parisian florist of the rue royale. Many miscellaneous 

 collections were exhibited, carnations, lily of the valley, 

 primulas, cyclamen, begonia Gloire de Lorraine. 



