POPULAR GARDEN PLANTS. 



421 



Light Purple Edge. — Ann Lord, Clara Penson, Diana, 

 Her Majesty, Nymph, Silvia. 



Heavy Purple Edge. — Amelia, Baroness B. Coutts, 

 Calypso, Mrs. Chancellor, Muriel, Zerlina. 



Light Rose and Scarlet Edge. — Cordelia, Ethel, Lidding- 

 ton's Favourite. Melpomene, Mrs. Kicardo, Venus. 



Heavy Rose and Scarlet Edge. — Constance Heron, Edith 

 D'Ombrain, Mrs. Harford, Mrs. Payne, Mrs. Sharp, Royal 

 Visit. 



Yellow Ground Picotees. — Annie Douglas, Chrysolora, 

 Countess of Jersey, Diomedes, Lilian, Mrs. Henwood, 

 Mrs. R. Sydenham, Mrs. Walford, Mrs. Whitbourn, Re- 

 membrance, Stradrath Bail, Undine. 



Sclfs and Fancies. — Abigail, Aline Newman, Cardinal 

 Wolsey, Constantine, Duchess of Teck, Duke of Orleans, 

 Germania, Hayes Scarlet, King Arthur, King of Crimsons, 

 King of Scarlets, Lady G-wendoline, Lord Rendlesham, 

 Mephisto, Miss Audrey Campbell, Mrs. Fred, Mrs. Louise 

 Jameson, Mrs. R. Hole, Niphetos, Old Coin, Oriflamme, 

 Romulus, Ruby, Terra Cotta, The Hunter, Theodore, The 

 Pasha, Vice President. 



Tree Carnations. — Mdlle. Carle, Mdm. Therese Franco, 

 Miss Joliffe (Improved), Mrs. Llewelyn, Mrs. Moore, 

 Purity, Sir E. H. Calcraft, Uriah Pyke, Winter Cheer. 



Malmaison Caryiations. — Mrs. Everard Hambro, Prin- 

 cess May, Sir Evelyn Wood, Sir Charles Fremantle, 

 Souvenir de la Malmaison, Souvenir de la Malmaison 

 (pink), The Churchwarden. 



Chrysanthemum. — The Chrysanthemum 

 is one of the most popular flowers in cultivation, 

 and one of the most useful for all decorative 

 purposes. While it shares popularity with the 

 Rose, it can be grown where the Rose will not 

 flourish, and in many a back-garden in that huge 

 industrial centre which stretches from Aldgate 

 to Stratford, and is enclosed by the river Lea 

 on the- north and the Thames on the south, 

 there can be seen in autumn many a home-con- 

 structed greenhouse aglow with blossoms of the 

 golden flower. This is also true of provincial 

 cities and towns. The Chrysanthemum is ex- 

 tensively grown for exhibition purposes. There 

 are to be found all over Great Britain societies 

 whose special work it is to promote the culture 

 of the flower for show purposes, and they exist 

 also in our distant colonial possessions. Hun- 

 dreds find employment in propagating the 

 Chrysanthemum for trade purposes; its culture 

 as a flowering plant for market has grown into 

 a great commercial industry. 



The History of the Chrysanthemum. — Records 

 show that the flower was held in high esteem 

 in China and Japan many years before its intro- 

 duction to Europe. In 1764 a plant of Chrys- 

 anthemum was growing in the Botanic Garden 

 at Chelsea, but it attracted little attention and 

 was soon afterwards lost. In 1789 an enter- 

 prising French merchant imported some plants 

 from China, but only one survived; in the year 

 following a purple-coloured variety came to this 



country, and became the progenitor of the large- 

 flowered section. Within the next fifty years 

 the Chrysanthemum became much grown and 

 greatly improved, and by 1850 there were many 

 varieties in cultivation and Chrysanthemum 

 exhibitions were held. France led the way in 

 raising new varieties from seed, the warmer 

 and drier parts of the south of that coun- 

 try being favourable to seed production. A 

 large number of seedlings were also raised in 

 Guernsey. 



In 1846 Mr. Robert Fortune brought from 

 China the Chusan Daisy, the progenitor of the 

 Pompon Chrysanthemum, and in 1862 the 

 Japanese type was sent home by him. The 

 strange fantastic form of the latter soon laid 

 hold upon the popular taste, and its culture 

 was followed by a rapid improvement in form 

 and variety. It is now more largely grown than 

 all the other types put together. Many seed- 

 lings have been raised in our own country, on 

 the Continent, in our Colonies, and in the 

 United States of America, and there have been 

 occasional introductions from Japan. The Ja- 

 panese Chrysanthemum is simply a form of the 

 Chinese type modified by cultivation. The 

 Incurved section, one of .the most interesting, 

 is the most difficult to produce in its highest 

 forms. For many years but few new varieties 

 were added, and these were mostly sports. The 

 tendency to sport has manifested itself more or 

 less in all the sections of the Chrysanthemum, 

 many good varieties having been obtained in 

 this way. 



Propagation. — Cuttings formed of the new 

 shoots which are thrown up from the root- 

 stock in winter, root readily. It is custom- 

 ary with dealers in Chrysanthemums to make 

 a plantation in the open of leading varieties 

 specially for the production of cuttings, and 

 these are to be preferred to those obtained from 

 highly-fed plants grown to produce exhibition 

 flowers. December, January, and onwards are 

 the busiest times for taking cuttings: the stock 

 plants being transferred from the open to 

 borders in cold or slightly heated houses, where 

 they continue to yield a supply. Cuttings 

 struck in a temperature of from 45° to 50° 

 in December and January make vigorous 

 plants by February and March. A suitable 

 compost for the cuttings is a mixture of 

 sifted loam, leaf- soil, cocoa-nut fibre, and 

 coarse sand in equal parts. The usual length 

 for a cutting is 3 inches. They may be put 

 singly in small pots, or three or four may be 

 placed in a 3-inch pot, and plunged in a mild 



