EARLY HISTORY 5 



CHAPTER I 



CHRYSANTHEMUM HISTORY 

 BY C. HARM AN PAYNE 



THE Chrysanthemum is a flower of ancient lineage. We 

 are speaking of course of the Chrysanthemum of the 

 autumn shows ; the flower that adorns our greenhouses 

 and gardens in the fall of the year. There are many 

 other species such as C. carinatum, C. coronarium, and 

 C. leucanthemum, but their beauty and significance pale 

 before the regal splendour of the many varieties that 

 have been raised by enthusiastic growers of C. sinense and 

 C. indicum, the two species which have given us the Show 

 Chrysanthemums of the present day. 



Their history goes back into the mists of remote an- 

 tiquity, and must be sought for in the horticultural litera- 

 ture of those two great Oriental countries, China and Japan. 



Confucius, the eminent Chinese philosopher, who lived 

 500 years or more before Christ, makes a distinct reference 

 to the Chrysanthemum in his work the Li-Ki. Chinese 

 cultivators of Chrysanthemums have their names preserved 

 right down through the ages, and of these T'ao-yiian-Ming 

 is one of the most renowned. This grower lived A.D. 365- 

 427. He was a scholar and dilettante, celebrated for his 

 distaste for official cares. We are told that versification, 

 the pleasures of the wine cup, and the harmony of his lute 

 occupied most of his days. He was a great cultivator of 

 Chrysanthemums, and it is on record that so successful 

 was he that the name of the city in which he lived was 



