The " Queen of Autumn " is a term frequently employed in 

 speaking of the Chrysanthemum, and certainly the title is most 

 appropriate, as for a gorgeous display and wealth of colour, 

 when in flower, few plants will compare with it. Not only so, 

 but its culture does not require any special skill, except for 

 exhibition purposes. 



Not one of the Japanese sorts grown twenty years ago is 

 met with now for exhibition or for any other purpose, and their 

 names have practically disappeared from even Chrysanthemum 

 specialists' catalogues. With the Incurved section, very few 

 indeed of those most valued a quarter of a century ago are 

 now considered worth cultivating. In the Anemone section there 

 has likewise been the same advance ; while the Early-flowering 

 varieties, of which there is such a magnificent selection, were 

 practically unknown. The same also applies to the Single and 

 the Hirsute varieties, the Single sorts in many instances being 

 very pretty and most useful for cutting. In the Pompone and 

 Reflexed sections there is the least advance, and it is a ques- 

 tion if the last-named will ever become favourites. Sufficient, 

 however, has been said to show how the Chrysanthemum has 

 been improved and beautified by hybridisers, and also by 

 importations from Japan, until it would almost seem as if no 

 further improvement could be effected ; in fact, there appears 

 to be a danger of the varieties developing into coarseness and 

 a size too large to be really serviceable. 



