American History, 33 



here, and those were probably imported from England. Now 

 all is changed, and importations from China and Japan are 

 easily and frequently made, seedlings are raised the equal of 

 any in the old world, and new kinds, as they appear, are 

 introduced from Europe. Thus American chrysanthemum 

 fanciers are supplied at the present day with each new and 

 bcrjji'ciful variety as soon as it appears regardless of the source 

 from whicn it comes. 



With such a wealth of charms, both native and exotic, 

 annually unfolded before a people with whom beauty and 

 merit are so quickly appreciated, it is not so surprising to find 

 that the chrysanthemum has extended in a few years into 

 every portion of our country. In all sections the chrysanthe- 

 mum is now a reigning favorite, and American florists claim a 

 fair share of credit in developing its beauties. 



The first name to be mentioned in connection with chrysan- 

 themum history in America is that of Dr. H. P. Walcott, of 

 Cambridge, Mass., who was the first American, either ama- 

 teur or professional, to raise new seedlings of our favorite 

 flower. His first seedlings were produced in 1879 from seed 

 ripened in his own garden, and were exhibited in Boston in 

 the autumn of that year, at the show of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, where they attracted but little atten- 

 tion. Dr. Walcott has since that time exhibited more or less 

 every year, and has usually raised about three hundred seed- 

 lings each season, many of which have received the highest 

 awards of the exhibition, such as medals and certificates of 

 merit. As Dr. Walcott is not a professional florist, but one 

 of those who engages in this work as a labor of love, he does 

 not make it a matter of business to distribute his novelties, 

 so that they have not become very prominent until the past 

 two years, when Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, of Short Hills, 

 New Jersey, offered them in their special and extensive cata- 

 logue of chrysanthemums. Most of these varieties are of 



