FERNS OF THE WISCONSIN DELLS. 



599 



the sign on the bricks of the Buddha temple called 

 Horiuji, established by the ex-emperor Shirakawa in 

 the year 1075. 



Lately, Dr. M. Konakamura in a book, " Mondo- 

 koro and Kokki-no-Nissho, " says that the signs of 



families in gen- 

 eral have their 

 origin i n orna- 

 mental figures 

 woven in cloths. 

 I n this manner 

 the chrysanthe- 

 mum, as the sign 

 of the imperial 

 family, had i t s 

 origin in the 

 ornamental fi g - 

 ures on the court 

 dress worn by an 

 e x-emperor. A 

 written record, 

 dated August 

 gth, 1260, tells 

 us that t h e ex- 

 emperor Kame- 

 yama wore a red 

 colored court 

 dress which had 

 the figure of a 

 chrysanthem u m 

 of eight petals 

 woven within 

 circular linings. 

 Moreover, a 

 sword, known to 

 us as that of ex- 



The Bouquet of Wild Flowers — over 60 species — which won first prize at emperor Gotoba, 



THE SUMMER MEETING OF THE WISCONSIN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Jjg^g {Ijg gtamp of 



chrysanthemu m 



on its handle. This ex-emperor Gotoba had been driven 

 to an islet (Oki) by civil contest, and died there in 1239. 

 From the above facts we are able to suppose that the 

 chrysanthemum had already been in use as the imperial 

 sign from the beginning of the eleventh century — a long 

 period of time, 



Jnpan. H. Tukuba. 



sized flowers, have prevailed since the year 1704 ; (3) 

 Ko-giku, or small sized flowers, became popular about 

 1716. No. I, or Sho-kiku, again prevailed at about the 

 year 1751 . 



Varieties cultivated at present besides the above three 

 are as follows ; 

 Saga or Ito-giku; 

 petals of fine tu- 

 bular threads. 

 Natsu-giku, 

 summer varie- 

 ties ; Kan-giku, 

 winter varieties. 



With regard to 

 popular favor, 

 the chrysanthe- 

 m u m occupies 

 the first place 

 throughout the 

 empire, and none 

 is superior to it 

 in popularity Oj- 

 i n the quantity 

 used as cut-flow- 

 ers for vases in 

 the flower mar- 

 ket. Conse- 

 quently many 

 florists devote 

 themselves e n - 

 tirely to k i k u 

 culture. 



Of the chrys- 

 anthemum as the 

 sign o f our im- 

 perial family our 

 historical knowl- 

 edge is rather 

 obscure, and we 



cannot trace back clearly to its origin. A record en- 

 titled " Toshoryo-Kiroku, " published in 1887 by the 

 Imperial library, states as follows: " Kiku seems to 

 have been used as the royal seal some time after ' kiri ' 

 (another sign of the imperial family composed of three 

 racemes and one leaf of Paiilov nia imperialis , but less 

 esteemed in the court), and first made its appearance as 



FERNS OF THE WISCONSIN DELLS. 



"■^^^URING the last three years I have been 

 ^^^^ traveling through Indiana, Illinois and 

 Wisconsin in search of a suitable locality, 

 within 200 miles of Chicago, for the study 

 and culture of all ferns and wild flowers of great 

 America, but could find no satisfaction until chance 

 brought me to the beautiful dells of Wisconsin. In 

 this charming place, the natural features are richly 



varied. Where can you duplicate Stand Rock, 

 Dining Hall, Witch's Gulch, Coldvvater Canon, 

 Artist's Glen, Congress Hall and Stony Arbor ? 



"The place is a paradise for artists of every study. 

 What a field for the botanist ; nearly all the ferns of 

 America can be found here ! Within a mile of the town 

 there are at least 32 distinct species with their endless 

 varieties. 



