PREFACE 



WHAT the Narcissus is in the bright Spring-time, what 

 the Rose is in the full Summer, so is the Chrysanthemum 

 in that later time when shortening days and lessening heat 

 speak to us of the waning of the floral year. 



The three are Sister-Queens of the World of Flowers 

 to most of us, and, were we told that we could have 

 but one of them, many would say leave to us the Chrysan- 

 themum. Leave it with us for its length of blooming 

 time ; leave it with us because it leads us kindly through 

 those later months when Autumn is to give place to Winter, 

 and floral Nature is to fall into its yearly sleep. 



These three flowers the Narcissus, the Rose, and 

 the Chrysanthemum what emblems of our human life ! 

 Bright youth, with all before us, and no cloud to dim 

 the Sky the Narcissus. Maturity and power the Rose. 

 And, then, through the more sober and perhaps sadder 

 period of later life, when sometimes a strong faith is 

 needed to make us realise that the gathering clouds have 

 still a silver lining, and that there remains behind them 

 a sun which may yet shine for us our floral help and 

 comforter the Chrysanthemum. 



The Chrysanthemum is a flower of great antiquity : 

 in the character of a flower carefully cultivated and 

 systematically improved, probably the oldest of all flowers. 

 Over 2000 years ago, as the late Baron Kamura once 



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