62 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Europe, they may create as great a change among Chrysanthe- 

 mums as my Chusau Daisy did when she became the parent of 

 the present race of Pompons." They were taken up in Eng- 

 land, proved successful, and from them sprang those marvellous 

 flowers which it is the pride of all you gentlemen to present 

 yearly at the notable exhibition of our Massachusetts Horticult- 

 Tiral Society. 



And speaking of our own exhibition, I am reminded of the fact 

 that in Japan every year a special imperial garden party is given 

 in the palace grounds at Yeddo, in honor of this national flower 

 of Japan ; and at this, which may be termed the leading show of 

 the world, some of the plants display not less than from three 

 hundred and seventy-five to four hundred and fifty fully developed 

 blossoms, grooving upon a single specimen at a time. 



The Chrysanthemum has been known in the United States for 

 quite a number of years, but as to its early history here not much 

 is to be gleaned, while as to its career in other countries we are left 

 completely in the dark, with the exception of France. Mr. Dale, 

 for some time the gardener to the honorable Society of the Middle 

 Temple, in London, says of the Chrysanthemum, that " in the 

 early part of the present century it was one of the most popular 

 flowers of England, and, further, that after a period of compara- 

 tive neglect it has again been admitted to a place in the list of the 

 florists' flowers " — a circumstance in which I am. quite sure that 

 all of us rejoice. Indeed, Mr. Dale was so much impressed with 

 the beauty of these extraordinary flowers that he tells us that from 

 the necessity of his having to produce a display of flowers dur- 

 ing the greater part of the month of Kovember, his attention 

 was especially directed to the Chrysanthemum as the only one 

 suitable to his purpose. 



The Chrysanthemum derives its name from two Greek words, 

 chrijsos (gold) and anthos (flower), and belongs to the natural order 

 Compositse, and in the Linnsean classification of plants Ave find it in 

 the class Syngenesia and oxdev Poli/(/amia Stqjerjfua. Its flowers 

 consist of four varieties, namely. Incurved, Eeflexed, Japanese, 

 and Anemone flowered. Incurved flowers approacli the nearest 

 to what florists consider as the true standard of perfection. 

 Eeflexed flowers, though not so good, are by no means to be held 

 in disdain. The Japanese vary very much both in color and the 

 conformation of the flowers, and are most invaluable for conser- 



