426 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE EARLY-FLOWERING CHRYSANTHEMUM. 

 By Robert Fife, F.R.H.S. 



[Read September 28, 1915 ; Rev. W. Wicks, M.A., V.M.H., in the Chair.] 



The subject engaging our attention this afternoon is " The Early- 

 flowering Chrysanthemum," and I was, no doubt, invited to open the 

 discussion upon it because I conducted in Scotland, in 1914, a very 

 considerable trial of this popular autumn flower. 



When I became aware that the Royal Horticultural Society had 

 arranged for a trial of Early-flowering Chrysanthemums at Wisley, it 

 occurred to me that a simultaneous trial in Scotland might be at least 

 interesting, and probably beneficial, as the results obtained in the two 

 localities could be compared. It is within my own knowledge that 

 many varieties of Chrysanthemums — and other plants as well — which 

 are successfully cultivated in the south are of no service to northern 

 growers, but on this point I shall have something to say a little later on. 

 You will quite understand that my remarks are based on my own 

 northern experience, and if they run contrary at times to any recog- 

 nized methods or results obtained in the south, it need not be inferred 

 that either the one or the other is necessarily wrong. 



If the characteristics of a popular garden plant are hardiness, 

 dwarfness of habit, freedom of blooming, usefulness as a cut flower, 

 and a range of colour embracing every shade except blue and intense 

 scarlet, then the Early-flowering Chrysanthemum may lay claim to 

 the distinction of being an almost perfect plant, because it possesses 

 these qualities in a remarkable degree. This was not always so, and 

 it is only in recent years that the form, colour, and habit of the flower 

 have made marked improvement. It is an open question as to when 

 the real Early-flowering Chrysanthemum made its appearance in 

 Europe, but there is no doubt that it was in the form of the Pompon 

 section, and that from this class, by judicious hybridizing and selection, 

 the present high standard has been obtained. 



It is a somewhat difficult matter to get at the early history of the 

 Early -flowering Chrysanthemum. Conferences were held in 1889 and 

 1905, and the contributions of the late Mr. W. Piercy to the former, 

 and of Mr. Harman Payne to the latter, are the only permanent 

 records that I have been able to find which have any bearing on 

 the early history of the plant under review. Much of the historic 

 information which I am able to give here has been drawn from 

 these excellent papers. 



Early flowering in Chrysanthemums may be taken to relate to those 

 varieties which come into bloom out of doors in a natural way by the 



