Kai\akvvmi : Fko.11 a Photograph taken in the Gardens of the Emperor of Japan. 

 Tlircc-fifths natural size ; petals measui cd 16 ivchrs from tip to tip. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS AT 



THERE are still many chrysanthemum grow- 

 ers in England who can carry their minds 

 back to the time when the first Japanese 

 varieties of the "Autumn Queen" were 

 exhibited at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, towards the close of the year 1861. Mr. 

 Robert Fortune had made his second visit to the 

 Far East in search of horticultural novelties, and 

 in describing his discovery of the new flowers, he 

 said: "I procured some extraordinary varieties, 

 most peculiar in form and in coloring, and quite 

 distinct from any of the kinds at present known in 

 Europe; one had petals like long thick hairs of a 

 red color, but tipped with yellow, looking like the 

 fringe of a shawl or curtain : another had broad 

 white petals striped with red like a carnation or 

 camellia, while others were remarkable for their 

 great size and brilliant coloring. If I can succeed 

 in introducing these varieties into Europe they may 

 create as great a change among chrysanthemums 

 as my Chusan Daisy did when she became the par- 

 ent of the present race of pompons." 



It is now a matter of history that Mr. Fortune not 

 only succeeded in the introduction of seven different 

 varieties of these new flowers, but that English florists 

 looked upon them with supreme indifference, if not 



THE JAPANESE COURT. 



actual contempt. Chrysanthemum growers here had 

 set up a hard and fast definition of what a show chrys- 

 anthemum should be, and anything that deviated in the 

 least from their standard was rejected as a worthless 

 and imperfect thing. It is easy to understand that the 

 eye, long accustomed to look upon the regular, symmet- 

 rical form of an incurved chrysanthemum, with stiffly 

 dressed petals, arranged with patient care by the friendly 

 help of a pair of tweezers, could not tolerate the weird, 

 fantastic, flimsy, long-petalled Japanese blooms that sud- 

 denly made their appearance on the exhibition boards 

 at that time. 



But outside the select circle of the old-fashioned flor- 

 ists was a large bod.y of small amateur cultivators who 

 had then begun to take up chrysanthemum cultivation, 

 and numerous chrysanthemum societies were just then 

 on the point of formation. "When the Japanese flowers 

 gradually crept into cultivation, visitors at the shows, 

 and the public generally, who cared nothing for the 

 hard and fast lines laid down by the florists, were as- 

 tounded at the marvellous variation of form and color- 

 ing in the new flowers, and that did much to encourage 

 raisers and importers to obtain new varieties of the re- 

 cent novelties. 



The flora of Japan was but little known before For- 

 tune's time, and his discoveries led many people to make 

 inquiries on the subject. In a short space of time we 

 learned that for ages past the chrysanthemum had been 



