f 
Interview with Mr. H. Cannell, F.R.H.S., abridged from 
“Black and White,” 10th October, 1896. 
fV REl RESENTATIVE of Black and IV/itic went down to get some information on this 
subject from Mr. IIknky Caknell at “The Home of ^Flowers, ” Swanley. For some time 
after his airival he was content to wander about the 17 acres of ground with kindly guides and 
delight his eyes with such a wealth of flowers as is not often granted to the Londoner to see except 
in dreams. The Geraniums were at their best, and there were great sheets of radiant colour. 
In one secluded corner it was peculiarly pleasant to linger. This was the rockery, where water 
was plentiful, and cool green things enabled one to defy the prevailing heat. Wild Strawberries 
grew there, iind n clnmp of Sea Piuk and a big plant of the Yellow Horn Poppy. Wherever 
you went there was one infinitely refreshing thing— the innumerable tall hedges, which make a most 
delightful shelter, for there is wind among the leaves upon the sultriest day, while the sunlight silvers 
them as they tremble. 
Mr. Henry Cannell is great on all Horticulture. Special attention has been given to Begonias and 
Chry^nthemums ; the former were everywhere in evidence, and were beautiful beyond words, and 
Mr. Cannell must enjoy the spectacle after a fashion whereof the keenest lover of beauty is 
incapable, for many of the loveliest varieties there seen were born, so to speak, under his hands at 
Swanley. 
But it was about Chrysanthemums that the interviewer was chiefly curious, and especially 
about the raising of new varieties. Mr. Cannell showed a lot of seedling.s from seed imported 
from Australia last year, and went on to explain that it is the simplest matter in the world 
when you know how, to send Chrysanthemum plants to Australia so that they shall arrive there 
alive and flourish. Then he took a catalogue, at the interviewer’s suggestion, and recalled some 
of the innumerable varieties which have been produced at Swanley. “ And how do you set about 
raising new varieties?” Then Mr. Cannell pickeil a Fuchsia bloom, and splitting it down the 
centre, showed and described the whole structure of the seeding organs — the pollen-bearing anthers, 
the pistil to receive the pollen and conduct its effects into the seed vessels Nature in the usual 
course performs all this by the aid of wind and insects, and Mr. Cannell e.\plained that it is 
here that the art of the expert steps in, and, by a judicious selection of the parent flowers, 
he influences the progeny to a very great extent and produces occasionally a new variety 
which Ls an improvement in size, shape, colour, or habit on all existing sorts. Chrysanthem ims 
are substantially the same as other flowers in formation, and a like process has to be performed, 
but, flowering at such a sunless season, other precautions have to be taken, the object of all le ng 
to throw the whole vigour of the plant into its seeding organs. “ It has been by perseverance to 
meet the desire for new kinds that we have become so especially known for the enormous 
improvements we have made We are now sending back to Li Hung Chang much largtr and 
more elegant flowers, of brighter colours, with more refined shapes, and plants of stronger growth 
than the first we got from China and Japan, where they are indigenous and esteemed as the 
national flower.” 
In reply to further questions by the interviewer, Mr. Cannell stated that anyone giving time and 
studied attention to the subject would be equally as likely to produce good results. It is very 
necessary to keep all the seeding organs perfectly dry, the pollen in the first place, and the other 
parts after that is transferred, by the removal of all damping petals. November is the month «hen 
most of this is done, as the majority of varieties flower then. The seed is sown in pans in February, 
and later on the seedlings are pricked out. By the time the Autumn comes the healthy plants — 
and those which are not healthy are rejected without ceremony — may have from one to three good 
flowers on them. These are examined, and, once in a hundred times perhaps, something that is 
new and beautiful is found. 
‘ 'And what comes next ? When do you proclaim your discovery ? ” “ The plant is grown for two 
years, for, curiously enough, the cuttings taken from a most promising seedling may fail to produce 
blooms worth showing. But when we are perfectly sure that we have produced a valuable variety, 
it is exhibited at the principal shows, and after that we announce it, and send out plants to 
Chrysanthemum lovers in all parts of the world.” 
Ihere the conversation as to Chrysanthemums came to an end, and here this account of the 
interview that produced it must likewise finish. For there is so much to see at Swanley that, to 
write without rigid limitations as to space would be to produce a quantity of matter which a single 
number of Black and II kite could scarce contain comfortably. 
For Show Box, Tubes, &c., see pages 57 and 58. 
For the best treatise, “How to grow the Chrysanthemum to perfection,” 
see Molyneux’s Book, sent post free. Is. 2d. 
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