2 THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



secondly, because the information, in respect to many of the varieties, was practically 

 unattainable. 



What is at once striking and suggestive is the extreme youthfulness of the 

 selected Japanese varieties. Out of the hundred enumerated, only three of them were 

 distributed amongst British cultivators in the " eighties," the remaining ninety-seven 

 belonging to the present decade. This shows a remarkable advance, and the register 

 will afford a means for measuring from it in future years the progress of further 

 improvement. The present position has been attained primarily by judgment in the 

 selection of parent varieties, and skill in fertilisation, plus the great floral enterprise 

 that is characteristic of the brightest period in the era of the chrysanthemum. 



But though the selected varieties in the Japanese section are so "young," it is 

 worthy of record that the oldest of them all, Edwin Molyneux, introduced by Mr. 

 Cannell in 1886, was in a recent election of chrysanthemums, conducted by 105 

 expert cultivators in various parts of the kingdom, placed at the top of the poll — a pre- 

 eminence that has not been maintained anything like so long by any other variety in its 

 section. In colour it is rich chestnut crimson, with a character all its own, or it would 

 have been swept into oblivion long ago, as have scores of other once-famed varieties. 

 It was named by Mr. Cannell after the most successful grower of blooms during the 

 period of his exhibiting career, Mr. Edwin Molyneux, who is now admittedly one of the 

 best authorities on the chrysanthemum in the kingdom ; and the selections now given 

 will not be regarded as the less fairly representative, at the time of their compilation, 

 (April 1897), when it is stated that he has obligingly revised the lists, but not these 

 prefatory observations. 



Improvements, as will be apparent, have been very considerable in the Chinese 

 incurved section during recent years. Still, many old favourites hold their own, 

 including the stately veteran with its Eoyal name, so well deserved, Queen of England, 

 given by Mr. J. Salter, in 1847. Another of the older varieties that still worthily 

 holds a prominent position is Empress of India, which has been cultivated since 1861, as 

 does Princess of Wales, introduced in 1864. Then we have Golden Empress (1877). 

 The varieties composing the Eoyal quartet have scarcely been surpassed in modern 

 days, and they have given rise, by "sports" (pp. 28 and 351, Vol. I.), to some of the 

 finest varieties in cultivation. 



The greater stability of the incurved over the Japanese section of chrysanthemums 

 is demonstrated by the fact that while, as has been stated, only three of the Japanese 



