CHAPTER I. 



Oriental and European History. 



rROM almost pre-historic times the inhabitants of China 

 and Japan have cultivated this famous flower with a 

 wonderful devotion. From the earliest times travelers 

 have related the esteem in which this plant was held 

 by the inhabitants of the flowery kingdom. The propitious 

 climate enabled the gardeners to display its virtues and ad- 

 vance its fame until it now adorns the humblest cottage as 

 well as the habitation of the exalted mandarin. This great 

 love for the chrysanthemum in the Celestial Empire, as well 

 as in the Mikado's kingdom, did not extend to the entire 

 genus, but was confined to the varieties indigenous to their 

 climate, toward which they still exhibit the most ardent and 

 unchanging admiration. 



The chrysanthemum derives its name from the Greek 

 words, chrysos, gold, and anthos, a flower, the literal meaning, 

 therefore, being "gold flower," and in such varieties as 

 Grandiflorum, Gold, and a host of others, the petals are of a 

 rich, golden yellow, which abundantly justifies the name. It 

 is an extensive genus of composite plants, and includes 

 species which are to be found growing in nearly every part of 

 the world, some of them being so far remote as the extreme 

 northeast of Asia, while many others are indigenous to vari- 

 ous parts of western Europe. In Asia the barren steppes of 



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