90 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1896. 



SO well recommend to rich and poor alike as ours ; it is as pure as the 

 daylight, and as free to all as the sunshine itself. 



The very subject of " Flowers " suggests to each of us at once 

 those with which we are most familiar, or it may be such as we are 

 most fond of. The Rose, Carnation, Violet and Chrysanthemum at 

 once suggest themselves, but it is of the latter that I am to talk to you 

 to-day. I may not be able to tell you anything new on the subject, 

 but there are some things that are so true that they will bear repeti- 

 tion, and I come here to-day in the hope that there are some few facts 

 connected with the ancient and modern history of the Chrysanthemum 

 that will bear telling over again. 



In the nomenclature of this class of plants we are familiar with the 

 two great divisions that are popularly made for the sake of easy dis- 

 tinction as to form, namely, the Japanese and Chinese, the one regu- 

 lar and globular in outline, and the other fantastic often, but always 

 informal. It is, I find, sometimes thought that there were two parents, 

 one Chinese and one Japanese, from which each class was derived, 

 but no doubt most of you are aware that there was but one common 

 origin in C. Sinense most probably, this species being common in both 

 countries, but has been most highly developed by the Japanese with 

 their patience and persistence. It is a most difficult matter for the 

 most expert critics to-day to decide to which of the two countries 

 belongs the majority of the trees, shrubs and garden plants that we 

 have received from the east, but it is pretty certain that much of that 

 we credited to Japan has had its origin in China, but been adopted or 

 introduced into the islands of Japan, where they have now all the ap- 

 pearance of being indigenous. It does not matter to us what the 

 parent was, but it is of interest to know that all our garden Chrysan- 

 themums owe their origin to the one species, C. Sinense, and that the 

 many forms and varied types that we recognize to-day are but varia- 

 tions that have occurred under the skill of the cultivator. It is not 

 more than four years ago that that great pioneer of Chrysanthemum 

 culture in America (Jno. Thorpe) told us in Boston that he thought 

 it would not be long before we should be able to raise varieties here as 

 good as any that were imported from Japan ; at that time he said it 

 was not to be denied that the best were of Oriental origin. This is 

 but a very short time since, but the prediction has proved true, for to- 

 day there are no better varieties in commerce than Ivory, Major Bon- 

 nafon, Eugene Dailledouze, Mrs. Jerome Jones, Niveus, Philadelphia, 

 and a host of others that might be named, all of American origin, and 

 of course well adapted to our climate and method of culture. The 



