220 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 

 By Mr. Richard Parker, F.R.H.S. 

 [Read Nov. 14, 1893.] 



About 1870 I saw for the first time a Chrysanthemum show. 

 This was at Stoke Newington, and in those days it was con- 

 sidered the leading one. The flowers were a great surprise to 

 me, especially the incurves, while the reflexed blooms resembled 

 well-grown Asters. My visit to this exhibition not only did 

 much to dispel the contempt for a plant I had previously known 

 only as sprawling about in a dingy back garden, but I caught 

 the fever at once, and, as a result, soon found myself installed 

 in the Brunswick Nurseries, assisting Mr. Adam Forsyth, who at 

 that time made Chrysanthemums a specialty, and had a grand 

 collection. I suppose the plant then had been introduced into 

 this country about eighty years. We have now lived to see its 

 centenary ; but what has been the outcome of the last twenty 

 years ? It has been little short of marvellous, and we must now 

 recognise the Chrysanthemum as undoubtedly one of the glories 

 of the floral world. 



It would be impossible to include all matters connected with 

 Chrysanthemum culture in a single paper, and he would be bold 

 who attempted anything very original on a subject that is so 

 well understood. I will, therefore, endeavour to select a few 

 points, which I trust may prove interesting. 



L The Advantage of New Varieties over Old ones. 



Anyone who can remember the Chrysanthemums of twenty 

 years ago, and will compare the varieties of those days with the 

 varieties of the present time, cannot help appreciating the 

 labours of those who have worked so successfully to bring about 

 so great a change and improvement. Such a transformation, I 

 think, it would be impossible to find in any other one plant 

 cultivated in this country. There were first-class growers in 

 those days, and for many years previously, but they had not the 

 selection of grand varieties to work upon that we have, and they 

 were contented to grow the same year after year. It is not so 

 with us, for the ruling passion for novelties urges us on each 

 year to excel, if possible, the previous year's productions. The 



