130 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Before describing the method of fertilisation in its practical 

 aspect it will be advisable to glance briefly at the botanical 

 aspect of the subject. 



The Chrysanthemum belongs to the order Comjjositce, or 

 Asteracece, the most extensive of the orders of herbs, trees, or 

 shrubs in the vegetable kingdom, there being between 700 and 

 800 genera, and about 10,000 species. We have here the flowers 

 collected into a head on a common receptacle, and surrounded 

 by an involucre— a collection of bracts surrounding many 

 flowers. 



In the bloom of the Chrysanthemum, which is, indeed, a 

 collection of many distinct flowers or florets, we have the outer 

 florets enlarged and spreading, and these are known as the 

 " florets of the ray." The inner florets are, as a rule, smaller, 

 and are rather more closely packed together, and are called the 

 " florets of the disc." Examine a ray floret of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum under the microscope, after removal of the involucre 

 phyllaries. We find, in a perfect specimen, the ovary, with a 

 completely adherent calyx, the corolla (of five petals and gamo- 

 petalous), the stigma, and the style. The tube of the calyx is 

 wholly adherent to the ovary within. 



In the true ray floret the andrcecium is wanting, or incom- 

 plete and imperfect ; and in the ray florets of some flowers of 

 this order — Centaurea, for instance — the gynoecium is also absent. 



It is important to bear in mind the fact that all parts of the 

 flower — the sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels — are metamor- 

 phosed leaves, and that the so-called " doubling " of the flower is 

 merely a case of retrograde metamorphosis, which, when carried 

 too far, involves the impairment, or even the destruction, of the 

 organs which are essential to the bearing of the seed. 



A measure of uncertainty existing as to the condition and 

 development of the essential sexual organs in the florets of the 

 ray, and in view of the fact that the florets of the disc next 

 adjacent to the florets of the ray provide every advantage 

 offered by the latter — namely, the large preponderance of double 

 over single varieties compared with the florets nearer to the 

 centre of the disc — it has appeared to be advisable, and certainly 

 to be easier and more productive of certain results, to operate 

 upon the outer florets of the disc than upon those of the ray. 

 That this plan suffices for all practical purposes is shown by the 



