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THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



little Chusan Daisy, so named from its native isle of Chusan and its Daisy-like formation. 

 This was the commencement of the pretty Pompon group. The work of the hybridist was 

 now being revealed, for the incurved varieties had been moulded into the form in which we 

 see them at the present day, globular, regular, and painfully formal, and other types began 

 to be heard of, such as the pretty little Anemone Pompons and reflexed varieties. 



It was, however, when Mr. Robert Fortune, on his second visit to Japan in 1861, sent 

 over the Japanese varieties that Chrysanthemum culture in this land became in a measure 

 popular, and one may imagine that the strange and picturesque flowers created an intense 

 interest, flowers utterly unlike anything hitherto seen, and setting at defiance all the 

 rules that governed the laws laid down by the florists of old. They were indeed a shock, 

 big masses of petals, rugged and gloriously coloured, as unconventional as the incurved 

 varieties were prim and formal. Such men, however, as Mr. Standish and the celebrated 

 Adam Forsyth saw in these weird flowers from Japan great possibilities, and forthwith 

 commenced to enlarge the group. The race extended, until this section constitutes the 

 principal feature at all exhibitions, whilst for the greenhouse and for cutting none excel them 

 in freedom or range of beautiful colours. 



The National Chrysanthemum Society has accomplished much work in promoting 



the culture of the plant. 

 There is hardly a town in 

 the British Isles that does 

 not hold an annual exhibi- 

 tion, and in America and 

 France great enthusiasm is 

 displayed in exhibiting and 

 raising new varieties. The 

 foundation-stone of the 

 National Chrysanthemum 

 Society was laid in 1847, 

 the society then being 

 known as the Stoke New- 

 ington ; but with an in- 

 creasing popular interest 

 in the flower naturally its 

 sphere of action extended, 

 until it was named the Borough of Hackney Society, the forerunner of the organisation which 

 holds its yearly exhibitions at the Royal Aquarium. Records exist of exhibitions held at 

 Birmingham and Swansea in 1836, but probably only pot specimens were shown, not cut 

 flowers. 



One section has never made conspicuous headway against the Japanese varieties, 

 namely, the incurved, and this is not surprising, as the freer flowers of the later acquisitions 

 appealed to the great body politic, never ardently in love with flowers as formal as a glass 

 ball. It is interesting, however, to see in the show stands the Queen of England variety, 

 which was introduced into commerce as long ago as 1847, and is still an exhibition flower, 

 in spite of the many seedlings raised of recent years. Each year something distinct is 

 noticed amongst the novelties, until one wonders whether there can be a limit to the range 

 of colours or form of the flower. It seems impossible ; still the list of new varieties 

 lengthens, some of beautiful colour, others the reverse, some, too, with petals curled in or 

 spread out in a silky mass. It will be remembered that the introduction of a hairy Chrysanthe- 

 mum from Japan created something approaching a furore., and this variety, Mrs. Alpheus Hardy 

 by name, inaugurated a new division, and in this way the various groups have had their 

 birth. Some of our finest varieties have come to us direct from Japan, the glorious crimson 



EARL Y-FL OU'ERING CHR YSA N THEM UMS. 



