ON THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 89 



it had taken under its wing became one of the great 

 flowers of the country, second only to the Rose in the 

 number of its admirers. But the claim of London can- 

 not be admitted, as a Chrysanthemum show was held at 

 Birmingham in 1836. 



Famous Growers. Let us put on record a few of the 

 names most closely identified with the development of 

 Chrysanthemums in Great Britain. One of the earliest 

 raisers of seedlings was Isaac Wheeler of Oxford, who 

 exhibited a batch before the Horticultural Society in 

 1832; and a Norfolk gardener, Freestone, followed him 

 closely. In 1836 Chandler of Vauxhall exhibited im- 

 proved varieties, and the incurved Chrysanthemum is 

 said to have come into being about this time. Greater 

 than any of these raisers, however, was John Salter, who, 

 although gardening at Versailles when he first seriously 

 set himself the task of improving Chrysanthemums, was 

 an Englishman, and, returning to England in 1848, 

 became a trade florist at Hammersmith. He began 

 about 1838, and made enormous improvements in the 

 flower. 



In 1846 the "Chusan Daisy" was introduced by 

 Robert Fortune from China, and it developed into the 

 Pompon Chrysanthemum. In the course of a second 

 visit to the Far East (1860-1862) he sent to England 

 the first Japanese varieties, which constitute the most 

 important section of modern Chrysanthemums. 



Thomas Pethers, a Channel Islands grower ; Samuel 

 Broome, gardener at the Inner Temple, London ; Adam 

 Forsyth, of Stoke Newington ; J. Dale, gardener at the 

 Middle Temple ; Edwin Molyneux of Bishops Waltham ; 

 George Mileham of Leatherhead ; W. Wells of Earls- 

 wood ; H. J. Jones of Lewisham ; and Norman Davis of 

 Framfield, may be named among the eminent raisers and 



