452 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 

 THE EARLY-FLOWERING VARIETIES AND THE NEG- 

 LECTED TYPES OF THE FLOWER. 



By D. B. Crane, F.R.H.S. 



Lecture delivered December 8, 1908]. 



Well-known and reliable authorities on the cultivation of the Chry- 

 santhemum have, in the past, so very ably and fully dealt with this 

 subject, that little remains to be added to the advice so freely tendered by 

 them. In the present instance, therefore, I propose more especially to 

 call attention to the more neglected aspects of cultivation, and at the same 

 time to endeavour to show how certain beautiful types of the flower — 

 which some of us are disposed to regard as the 1 Autumn Queen ' — are 

 very much neglected, or relegated to positions that are quite unworthy 

 of their undoubted merits. 



First, I desire to call your attention to a race of plants that have 

 recently come into considerable prominence, in the hope that your 

 sympathy and help may be forthcoming in promoting their cultivation 

 in a variety of ways. I refer to the early-flowering Chrysanthemums. 



It hardly seems credible that this type of the Chrysanthemum has 

 developed in so short a time to the degree we see it to-day. In 1886 

 and a few years previous thereto, the list of cultivated varieties was a 

 very meagre one, and the character of the plants therein represented of 

 very doubtful quality. The habit of the plants at that period received 

 little or no consideration ; the chief concern of both raisers and growers 

 was merely to possess themselves of something novel and pleasing both 

 in the form and in the colour of the flowers. 



Early-flowering varieties were not divided into sections as we have 

 them now, both Japanese and Pompon types being included under one 

 heading, 'early-flowering Chrysanthemums.' Of the Japanese varieties 

 then in cultivation, not more than one is to be seen to-day, viz. Madame 

 C. Desgranges, a popular white variety for many years, but now superseded 

 by numerous excellent white varieties of both French and English origin. 



Strange to relate, the pompons in the list published at the period 

 already mentioned, are still very much grown. Nine or ten of the old 

 varieties are catalogued to-day by most specialists, and several of them 

 were exhibited at the recent October show. 



Subsequent to this period, however, French raisers were busy, and not 

 a season passed without a lengthy list of novelties emanating from one or 

 other of them. In 1H91 Mons. Simon Delaux — a genius in his day and 

 generation — sent out no fewer than 125 new varieties, mostly of Japanese 

 form, far too many for English growers to do full justice to. Of this 

 wonderful series, many are in cultivation to-day, and are highly esteemed 

 by enthusiasts who hesitate to cast off old friends that have served them 

 so long and so well. In the early nineties, through the continued 



