ITS HISTORY AND PROGRESS 5 



Mr Parks, a traveller, who acted on their behalf in 

 sending importations from China. 



In 1825 an exhibition of Chrysanthemums was held 

 at Chiswick, when upwards of 700 plants in full bloom 

 were staged by the Royal Horticultural Society. It 

 was deemed a great success, and the Society distributed 

 cuttings and plants in and around London to the various 

 nurserymen, which largely assisted in popularising and 

 increasing the cultivation of the Chrysanthemum. 



There seenre to have been some difficulty in finding 

 suitable names for the different varieties. To translate 

 the Chinese name into English was no light task, being 

 far too quaint and fantastic Yellow Budda's Head ; 

 Dragon's Brains ; The Heavenly Interview, given to a 

 variety maybe that had gone skywards at a rapid rate 

 and wishing to eclipse all others in height. These 

 were the interpretation of some. 



And the fashion of naming flowers at that period 

 after persons or places of renown was not followed or 

 adopted as at the present day. 



Thus Chrysanthemums were named in our own 

 language from the shape or general appearance of the 

 flower, as the expanded purple, the starry purple, 

 the quilled pink, clustered yellow, and so on. For a con- 

 siderable period, until the exhibition at Chiswick, florists 

 both at home and in France had been experimenting 

 with a view of saving and ripening seed from some of 

 their Chrysanthemums. Success did not happen until 

 1826 when like many other matters of importance it was 

 attained quite by accident. A retired officer in the 

 French Army living at Toulouse one day discovered en 

 some of his plants bearing withered flowers, seed. 



This he sowed in the following year and was rewarded 

 by the seed germinating successfully, and in due time 

 giving him some new varieties to the then limited 

 collection. His name was M. Bernet, and to the present 



