84 BRITISH FLORAL DECORATION 



chocolate or herring boxes, as they had outgrown 

 the pots which were supplied with the plants, and 

 many of the specimens bore over twenty flowers. 

 During the whole of my judging experience I have 

 never seen such real joy as that which beamed 

 in the faces of the little prize-winners. 



But apart from the great artistic merits of the 

 Chrysanthemum there is another and perhaps even 

 more important side of the question, and that is its 

 industrial value. It is one of the few flowers which 

 defies all foreign competition, and instead of im- 

 porting it, as we do nearly all other winter flowers, 

 the one before our notice is annually exported in 

 great quantities from England to Paris and other 

 continental cities. No country in the world grows 

 them as well as we do, and it is impossible to 

 estimate the number of flowers which are grown 

 within twenty miles of the Metropolis. I know 

 that I am well within the mark when I say 

 there are five hundred acres of greenhouses de- 

 voted to their culture. This gives healthy and 

 lucrative employment to a large number of 

 growers, bunchers, and packers, and in its progress 

 helps innumerable other trades, such as potters, 

 box-makers, and carters all genuine English 

 industries. 



