246 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



Mexico, and grows wild there as well as in Texas; 

 it thrives better, therefore, in the gardens of the 



South. The variety called 

 Pearl is considered the 

 best. The flower is cul- 

 tivated by the florists, and 

 is seen in great luxuriant 

 clusters in their store win- 

 dows in New York and 

 Boston during the winter. 

 The Texan ladies who 

 visit "Washington wonder 

 why we value a flower 

 which is a common weed 

 in their native State. But 

 "a prophet is not without honor save in his own 

 country," and the only fault of cosmos is, it hap- 

 pens to be too common in Mexico and Texas. For 

 us it is the dearest and the last flower of autumn, 

 excepting the chrysanthemum. 



Chrysantliemvim. The chrysanthemum is an Oriental 

 flower, which comes to us from 

 Japan and China; indirectly some 

 of the smaller varieties come from England and 

 France. But the florists have taken almost com- 

 plete possession of the flower, and as their hothouse 

 blooms are perfectly huge as well as gorgeous in col- 



Cosmos. 



Indiaitm. 



