148 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



since then, every November, Philadelphia, Boston, and 

 other large cities have vied with New York in getting up 

 these exhibitions, which have attracted tens of thousands 

 of visitors. The fashion is now spreading into the 

 smaller cities and towns, so that the day is not far dis- 

 tant when this most beautiful of all autumn flowers will 

 be found in every hamlet on the continent, whose occu- 

 pants have any taste for flowers. 



It is the floral emblem of Japan, just as the Thistle is 

 of Scotland or the Fleur de Luce of France, and there is 

 hardly a home in that flowery land so poor that it is not 

 ornamented with one or more varieties of the ''Autumn 

 Queen." In the gardens of the Mikado, which contain 

 marvelous varieties of this plant, they are trained on 

 wire frames to represent animals of all descriptions. 

 White elephants, yellow cows, and crimson dogs are by 

 no means rarities in the grounds of the Mikado. The 

 Chrysanthemum, too, is put to another use in Japan. 

 When a rural swain makes up his mind to sue for the 

 hand of some rustic belle, his first advance is to place on 

 her doorstep as fine a specimen of a Chrysanthemum as 

 he can procure. If it is watered, tended, and cared for, 

 he knows he may "call again;" but if neglected, and 

 allowed to wither and die, so dies out the hope of the 

 unfortunate " Jap," so far as that particular damsel is 

 concerned. 



The cultivation of the Chrysanthemum is exceed- 

 ingly simple. If the plants are wanted to flower 

 only in the open ground, all that is necessary is 

 to plant them in the open border in any good ground, 

 well enriched with manure. If possible, plant them in a 

 warm, sheltered spot, particularly in any section north 

 of Baltimore ; for, being the latest of all flowers of au- 

 tumn, a better development will be had if they are 

 planted in a place sheltered by a fence, hill, or shrubbery. 

 As they are all sold grown in pots, they can be planted 



