FRENCH DAISY CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 79 



untrue, that " we have already real flowers that beat the model," and 

 points directly to a sham one, " a drawing"" of one which lie had never 

 seen. Then he quarrels with the mechanical accuracy of a diagram 

 which resembles by its truth a rosette, as if it were possible to have a 

 florist's flower too formal ; then with the number of tiers and of petals 

 " to come out of a calyx the size of a thimble ; " and, in short, he 

 quarrels with a diagram which has been published many years, as highly 

 displeasing to his floral highness, and speculates what a sight of it 

 would have done at the trial exhibition, where it was as familiar as the 

 flowers themselves, and where the judges actually awarded the best 

 prizes to the flowers that came nearest to the offending model. Mr. 

 Benjamin, who wants apparently to be " Little Benjamin the rider," 

 finishes with a very serious exordium — " Save us from our friends. 

 The greatest benefit that was ever conferred on floriculture was the 

 publication of" The Properties," which commenced in 1832, in which 

 " Properties" the proposed models were one and all founded on what 

 would be the most perfect, if attained. All that had been written 

 before was loose, undefined, and with a mind contracted, unable to see 

 further than the best of the flowers already produced. " The Proper- 

 ties," as published, defined to a nicety, in language which the greatest 

 dullard could understand, such models as there was no hope of rea- 

 lizing ; but from that moment every flower which advanced a single 

 step in the right direction was recognized. " Save us from [our friends" 

 would apply better to those who seek notoriety at the expense of im- 

 provement than to persons who publish well-authenticated facts relating 

 to flowers. I only wish that editors in general would be a little more 

 careful how they admit the dogmas of people of no floral standing, and, 

 if we are to judge by their productions, of very meagre floral knowledge, 

 because, although I acknowledge that an editor is not properly 

 identified with the opinions he admits, a very large portion of his 

 readers will, and do, look upon them as identified with the work. 

 Mr. Benjamin Vialls might have distributed half a million of copies of 

 his article without its having the slightest influence, but coupled with a 

 respectable work, whose editor is an authority on many such matters, it 

 required a notice, and I wish him joy of his notoriety. The next time 

 he discovers a ten-year-old novelty to peck at, I hope he will know 

 better than to quarrel with quality, merely because it cannot be ob- 

 tained. The writing of such an article seems to indicate a general dis- 

 position to peck at things beyond his reach : such persons are not fit 

 monarchs for the floral world. 



FRENCH DAISY CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



BY A LONDON AMATEUR GROWER. 



The Horticultural Society sent Mr. Fortune to China to collect plants, 

 and in 1846 the Chrysanthemum matricarioides (Chusan Daisy) 

 was introduced to the Society's garden at Chiswick. From this liberal 

 source distributions of the plants followed both into this country and to 

 the Continent. The result has been the production of a new race of 



