598 



CHR YSANTHEMUMS. 



been tried, out of the 240 theoretically possible if they all 

 bloomed at once, and 27 have yielded good seeds. Many 

 of the more difficult crosses have been repeated dozens 

 of times, being sometimes successful and sometimes not. 

 At times large pods will be produced, but full of empty 

 air ; sometimes a small seed or two will be found nestled 

 in one corner of one or more of the pods, and pounced 

 upon as a prize ; this is usually the case with C. capense 

 when fertilized with C. Americanuin. At other times a 

 large but irregular and eroded seed will be found, ap- 

 parently destitute of any germ ; such are generally pro- 

 duced by P. pediuiciilatuni , when the pollen applied has 

 any effect at all. Sometimes the pods swell up to solid 

 masses nearly as large as one's fist, half a dozen of them 

 in a single umbel, and 40, 60 — yes, even 80 — big fat 

 seeds packed cheek-by-jowl inside of each ! Such pods 

 are often produced by C. capense, fertilized with such 

 dissimilar kinds as C. pedimculaium or Kirkii. 



A table is appended, showing just what species have 

 been successfully crossed so far, and what combinations 

 have failed. Probably some of the kinds mentioned are 

 sterile hybrids : C. amabile and C. aKgiisium are thought 

 to be such, chiefly from the fact of their sterility. Even 

 in these cases there is a chance that seeds would be pro- 

 duced by the application of pollen of one of the parent 

 species. With these sterile sorts it is hardly necessary 

 to keep the moths away, and so they are allowed to dis- 

 play their beauty to the passer-by. A well-grown plant 

 of C. aiigiisimn is a noble sight. In the open air, with 

 unlimited sun and abounding moisture, the bulb grows 

 to the thickness of a man's body, and is crowned by a 

 complete rosette of stout, radiating leaves five feet high, 

 while the umbel of flowers, each eight or ten inches 

 across, is a monstrous armful. 



As we leave our crinum garden we cast a glance 

 around, noting the tall banana clumps that surround 

 what was once the pond, acting as nurses for a double 

 ring of hardy palms of many kinds, that will one day 



rise up and take their place. As we pass over the bridge 

 that crosses the encircling ditch, and under the over- 

 reaching bananas, our last sight of the garden is a lattice 

 by the wayside, all covered with the clinging leaves and 

 spangled with gaudy flowers of that strange lily with 



Crinum 



11 amabile (1) . . . 



1 Americanum . . 



1 Asiaticum .... 



II augustum . . . . 



II capense 



li crassipes .... 



It crassifolium. 



II erubescens . . . 



II fimbriatulum . . 



II Kirkii 



II Kunthianum . . 



II Moorei . ... 



pedunculatum. . 



II Powelli 



II scabrum .... 



II variabile .... 





7 



4 



4 



4 



4 





4 





4 



4 





4 



4 











4 



5 



4 



4 



'4 





4 



4 



4 



4 





4 



4 



4 







Asiaticum 





4 



6 



4 



4 



4 



4 



4 







4 







3 











4 



4 



7 



4 







4 











4 









capense 





3 



3 



4 



6 



3 



3 



4 



4 



3 



3 



3 



3 



3 



3 



3 



crassipes 







4 





4 





4 















4 







crassifolium 





3 



4 







4 





4 





3 



3 



3 





4 













4 



4 



4 





4 



7 







4 





4 



4 



4 



4 



fimbriatulum 



4 







4 









7 



4 





4 



4 













3 





3 





3 







6 





3 



4 



4 



3 





Kunthianum 







4 



4 



4 



4 



4 













4 







Moorei 

















4 



3 







4 



4 





4 



pedunculatum .... 





4 





4 



5 







4 



4 







5 



6 





4 



5 



Powelli 





4 





4 



4 



4 



4 







4 



4 

















4 





4 







4 





3 





3 



4 





6 



3 



variabile 







4 





4 







4 









3 



4 





3 





(i) male parent; (2) female parent; (3) produced seed; (4) failed; 

 (5) abortive seed ; (6) self-fertile ; (7) self-sterile. 



high-sounding name, the Gloriosa stiperha, apparently as 

 much at home here as under the tropical sun of central 

 India, where these plants made their last year's growth. 

 Lake CJiarm, Fla. Theodore L. Mead. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



THEIR HISTORY AS THE IMPERIAL SIGN OF JAPAN. 



5^^IST0RY records that the chrys- 

 anthemums popularly culti- 

 vated at present are not the 

 natives of our empire, though 

 the wild ones have undoubt- 

 edly existed here. "Various 

 written records of ancient 

 time give us the facts that in 

 the year 386, Kudara (Corea) paid as a tribute 

 blue, yellow, red, white and black colored chrys- 

 anthemums to the Emperor Nintoku. In the 

 year 797 the Emperor Kammu made a poem on the 

 subject of the flower, and in the years 889, 901 and 

 947 respectively, emperors of the time held great 



festivals with their subjects in favor of chrysanthe- 

 mums. From these data we know that chrysan- 

 themums have been cultivated widely and favored 

 by us from 1504 years ago. 



During about 823 years (from 88g to 1712) they were 

 cultivated popularly, and in the latter part of the 

 period a book of chrysanthemum culture, entitled 

 " Nochi-no-Hana, '' was published; but the most flour- 

 ishing period of kiku (chrysanthemum) culture seems to 

 have been the middle part of the eighteenth century. 



The kinds cultivated since the year 386 are roughly 

 divided into three sorts, according to the size and form 

 of the flowers. They are as follows : (i) Sho-kiku, or 

 middle sized flowers, have been popularly favored and 

 cultivated from very old times ; (2) O-kiku, or large 



