loth March, A. D. 1892. 



ESSAY 



BY 



E. W. AVOOD, OF West Newton. 



Theme : — Chrysanthemuin ; Its Improved Variety and 

 Cultivation. 



The Rose has long held undisputed reign as the Queen of 

 flowers, but if the demands of fashion and commerce are to 

 decide superiority, we shall be obliged to adopt the English 

 classification, and acknowledge the Chrysanthemnm as the 

 Autumn Queen. For at least three months in the year, for 

 ornamental plants or house decoration with cut blooms, the 

 Chrysanthemum has no peer. The rapidity with which it 

 has come into favor, the multiplication and improvement in 

 varieties, and the improved methods of cultivation, arc without 

 a precedent in the florist's experience. 



Not until within the last twenty years has the Chrysantliemum 

 been grown in this country to any considerable extent, either as 

 a decorative plant or as a florist's flower. Its first introduction 

 into European countries was in 1789, Mr. Blanchard, a merchant 

 of Marseilles, receiving a consignment of three varieties, white, 

 violet, and purple, the latter only reaching him alive. The first 

 Chrysanthemum that ever flowered in England, bloomed in 

 Colville's nursery in the King's Road, Chelsea, in 1795. The 

 varieties increased slowly until in 1826, forty-eight varieties were 

 growing in the Horticultural Gardens, at Chiswick. 



The first Chrysanthemum exhibition was held at Stoke New- 

 ington, in 1846. In the United States previous to 1880, there 

 were not more than three or four exhibitions at which Chrysan- 



