CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN AMERICA. 83 



CHAPTER XV. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN AMERICA. 



In the last edition of this work I referred to the great 

 popularity of chrysanthemums in the United States. The 

 Queen of Autumn is regarded there as supreme during 

 the fall of the year, just as it is in England and other 

 European countries. Many flowers which hold pride of 

 place during the summer months having faded at the 

 coming of the cold weather, the chrysanthemum leaps into 

 the front rank as first favourite. As the years go by it is 

 found that the enthusiasm of the Americans for chrysan- 

 themums steadily grows, and the most vivid personal im- 

 pression which I obtained during a recent visit to the 

 United States convinces me that there are untold possi- 

 bilities for the development of chrysanthemum growing 

 in the great land across the Western Ocean. 



As America w 7 ill become before long a formidable rival 

 to Great Britain in the culutre of the chrysanthemum even 

 if it may not be so regarded at the present time I may per- 

 haps be permitted to introduce some observations here with 

 regard to chrysanthemum cultivation in the United States, 

 being the result of my own observations on a visit to 

 that country. 



I sailed for New York on board the " Mauretania," 

 on October 23rd, 1909. In the first place, my object 

 was to redeem a longstanding promise to visit some 

 friends, and in the second place to see for myself 

 what was going forward across the Atlantic as regards 

 the introduction of new varieties of chrysanthemums, as 

 well as the methods of culture and of exhibiting blooms 

 which are generally followed there. From my friends, 

 Mr. W. Duck-ham, who is gardener to Mrs. D. Willis 

 James, of Madison, New Jersey, and , Mr. C. H. Totty, 

 also of Madison, I received a most hearty welcome, and 

 if I did not see all that there was to be seen of the social 

 side of life, and also as regard things horticultural, it was 



