2 



NEW CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



this for a sad picture. Think of a hfe that has 

 passed the point of producing anything but bitter 

 fruit — the peevish, complaining disposition of a life 

 that has ended in neglect and failure. Think of a 

 man in his old age producing nothing but windfalls. 

 But even this is not the worst. Think of such a 

 condition as the result of necessity and not one's 

 own faults. These poor old trees are still bravely 

 striving to produce good fruit. Year after year 

 they try to convert the sunlight and the earth's 

 juices into something like the sweet apples of old. 

 But they fail, and fail through no fault of their 

 own. I can conceive a man's being so hedged in 

 by circumstances, so crippled by necessity and the 

 fault of others, that his life shall culminate in fail- 

 ure, in spite of his most heroic efforts to achieve 

 success. It is the saddest thing imaginable ; but 

 these struggling old trees make the picture real. 



Another source of melancholy is the natural sad- 

 ness of old age. Under the most favorable con- 

 ditions, these trees would be growing old and bar- 

 ren. Yet after all this is a calm, sweet sadness, 

 like that which marks the peaceful close of a beau- 

 tiful day. It is the evident intention of God that 

 man should grow old gracefully. All the processes 

 of nature adjust themselves to this beneficent de- 

 sign. If a good man dies before his natural powers 

 are abated, he falls, like a fertile tree, with his 



boughs full of golden fruit, his work unfinished. 



There is one more aspect of this old orchard. 

 There are trees here which produce in me the defi- 

 nite impression that they have suffered. Did you 

 ever notice that every tree has its face — a face 

 that looks out at you with almost as distinct a per- 

 s'onality and character as if it were human ? I 

 have seen such wrinkled, suffering faces looking out 

 of crooked and misshapen trees. This orchard is 

 full of them. For here are trees that have wrestled 

 with great winds ; that have fought for very life in 

 a rocky and sterile soil ; that have been frozen to 

 the core by pitiless frosts. Look at that gnarled 

 old giant yonder ! How it has suffered ! You see 

 it in the leaning trunk ; the branches stooping to- 

 ward the ground, as one stoops in physical agony ; 

 the contorted limbs, the painful irregularity of the 

 whole tree. The face that looks out of that tree is 

 seamed with suffering. It is just such a face as I 

 have seen hundreds of times in people who have 

 struggled with hard and inexpUcable experiences, 

 from the cradle up, as Jacob wrestled with the 

 angel. How unlike the face of a sleek beech tree 

 in the sheltered woods ! 



After all, that is a perverse way apple trees have. 

 They seem to grow crooked under the happiest con- 

 ditions. James Buckham. 



Vermont. 



NEW CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Out of nearly one thousand varieties to be found 

 in cultivation, it would be strange if there were not 

 some kinds that it would be difficult to improve in 

 any way. There are many of the older sorts which 

 it would seem impossible to displace, as they hold 

 their positions each year in spite of the hundreds 

 of new comers. Yet there are more and better new 

 kinds this year than ever before. It is of these 

 and the new ones of last year that we wish to pre- 

 sent a list. 



That American grown seedlings are far surpassing 

 European kinds cannot be gainsaid. That is to 

 say, the American raised seedlings give more satis- 

 faction, as a rule, in America than do the varieties 

 produced in Europe. 



Of last year's American seedlings, the following 

 are really first-class : Beauty of Castlewood, red 

 and gold; E. H. Fitler, gold and bronze; Coronet, 

 golden orange ; Mrs. W. K. Harris, pure gold ; Co- 

 lossal, white and pink ; Excellent, rose pink and 

 lilac ; Advance, lovefy shade of rosy lilac ; Miss 

 Anna Hartshorn, pure white ; Violet Rose, carmine. 



shaded rosy purple, superb ; Llewellyn, red and 

 gold ; Mrs. Wm. Barr, plum purple, new color, 

 fine; Mrs. Judge Benedict, white anemone; Mrs. 

 M. J. Thomas, white; Mrs. Irving Clarke, pink; 

 Thos. C. Price, Mermet pink ; Mary Wheeler, sil- 

 very blush ; Sunnyside, white ; Mrs. A. Carnegie, 

 crimson ; Zillah, bronze and cherry red ; Mrs. A. 

 C. Burpee, chrome bronze. 



Of Japanese importations, first is Mrs. Alpheus 

 Hardy, with her chaste and distinct character; Kioto, 

 golden yellow ; Lilian B. Bird, silvery blush ; Mrs. 

 Fottler, rosy pink ; Neesima, gold; W. H. Lincoln, 

 glorious yellow. Other Japanese importations by 

 way of Europe are : H. Cannell, yellow ; Ed. Moly- 

 neux, crimson and gold. Lady Lawrence, Mrs. 

 Dunnett, and Mrs. H. Cannell are identical with 

 Robert Bottomley, Mrs. J. N. Gerard and Christmas 

 Eve, which we have had for the last four years. 



Of the English raised kinds, Sunflower, rich yel- 

 low ; Avalanche, white; Mrs. F. Jameson, bronze 

 salmon ; Mrs. John Wright, white ; Stanstead, 

 white ; Carew Underwood, red and bronze, are all 



