On the Cultivation of the Chinese Chysanthemums. 139 



possessed, several years since, forty orio;inal drawings made from 

 growing plants in China, and but few of them were then referable 

 to the plants imported. 



At what time the first Chysanthemums were introduced into this 

 country we have no accurate account, but we may suppose it to have 

 been about the years 1805-6. Nearly all the varieties have been sub- 

 sequently imported, and above fifty kinds are said to exist in our gar- 

 dens. We have never, however, seen more than thirty, having 

 cultivated that number for the two last seasons. In the fall of 1831 

 a plant was presented at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, by 

 ]\Ir. J. M. Ives of Salem, wbich be received from Japan. Professor 

 J. L. Russell, then residing at Salem, supposed the plant to be a 

 variety of the C. indicum, and so communicated it in a paper to tbe 

 N. E. Farmer, (Vol. xii. p. 147.) But upon a subsequent consid- 

 eration, and at a suggestion of ours in relation to the plant not being 

 a variety of C. indicum, he corrected the error. This variety possesses 

 little beauty when growing with the other kinds ; but when blooming 

 profusely by itself, it forms a very pretty object. It has been named 

 by Mr. Russell, bellideflorum, on account of the resemblance of the 

 flower to the Daisy. 



Several attempts have been made by English amateurs and culti- 

 vators, to seed the Chysanthemum, and consequently procure new 

 varieties. But we believe the efforts of those who have made the 

 trial, have never been successful till the season of 1833. In the fall 

 of tliat year Mr. Wheeler, a nurseryman near London, presented, 

 at the Horticultural Society twelve seedling varieties, six of which 

 w^ere said to be exceedingly beautiful, and to form a great addition 

 to the Chinese kinds. Mr. Wheeler was awarded a medal by the 

 Society for his success. We may therefore anticipate as many vari- 

 eties of the Chysanthemum as of the Camellia. It was a long time 

 after the introduction of the latter flower, before seedling varieties 

 were procured, but they now number above two hundred. We 

 may expect, in a few years, additions to our Chysanthemums full as 

 numerous, and of as distinct a character. 



The Chysanthemum will never be of great ornament to our gar- 

 dens, if planted out in the open border. The early frosts of Septem- 

 ber and October, (with the exception of one or two seasons in sev- 

 eral,) destroy the plants just as they show their blossom buds; thus 

 preventing the display of their flowers. We have never known in our 

 garden, a good bloom when planted in the border, although in some gar- 

 dens in warm situations against a wall, or in the city, they often bloom 

 until vegetation in other places has been destroyed, scarcely leaving 

 a vestige of summer. We would therefore recommend planting 

 them in pots, and transferring them, in the season of their flowering, 

 to the parlor or green-house. Their splendid appearance in these 

 situations, during the months of November and December, is not 

 surpassed by any other herbaceous flower. And in our estimation, 



