THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 



ITS DISTORT AND PROGRESS 



THE Chrysanthemum is one of our most popular flowers, 

 and of the most useful, whether in the company of late 

 summer and autumn blooming plants in the garden 

 borders, or later in the greenhouse and conservatory, 

 giving us a brilliant range of colour, when the beauty of 

 the outdoor garden is past. Aptly has the Chrysan- 

 themum been termed Queen of the Autumn Flowers. 



Although the national emblem of Japan and strongly 

 associated with that country, yet experts on the history 

 of the flower tell us it originated in China, and what 

 is more interesting and wonderful, that it was probably 

 cultivated upwards of 2000 years ago by the Chinese, 

 ere it was introduced into other countries. 



The principal information on the early history of the 

 flower appears to have been gathered from the writings 

 of Confucius, who is supposed to have lived about 500 

 years B.C. This man was a great philosopher in the 

 Celestial Kingdom, and distinctly makes mention of the 

 Chrysanthemum under the appellation of Li Ki. 



Later on, or about the time when our forebears were 

 under the influence of the Romans (the world's early 

 colonisers), a Chinaman named T'ao-ming-yang seems 

 to have gained repute in his country by the cultivation 

 of this flower, and the city in which he resided was 

 termed Chrysanthemum City. The Chinese being a 

 peculiar, self-contained race, it is rather remarkable that 



