366 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
good specimen plant of Pink Perfection contrasted by association 
with one of the good dark kinds, we forget the defect of colour in 
our admiration of a beautiful object. There is no pink chrysanthe- 
mum of so bright a tint as Amaranth geranium ; no red chrysanthe- 
mum so brilliant as Charles Backhouse dahlia ; no crimson chry- 
santhemum equal in colour to Duke of Edinburgh rose. But we 
may search far and wide and not find a yellow flower to surpass in 
purity and depth of colour a flne Golden John Salter, and if we are 
to make comparisons in a large manner, we shall have to take into 
account the time at which our favourite arrives at perfection, when 
there are no other flowers with which to compare it. Nevertheless, 
as critics we are bound to lament the absence of certain shades of 
colour commonly met with amongst flowers in this useful subject ; 
and as we have seen immense improvement efiected in the varieties, 
we will hope that cross-breeding and careful selecting may result at 
last in the production of the pure tints of red, crimson, and purple, 
which are as yet so conspicuous by their absence. 
In the grouping of the large flowered and Japanese varieties for 
display, the greatest difficulty is to hide their legs. When grown 
as round-headed dwarf bushes, we should prefer not to hide any 
portion of the plant ; even the pot ceases to be inelegant, the sym- 
metry of the whole from head to foot is so complete. This is the 
form best adapted certainly for the embellishment of the conserva- 
tory, and the one that gentlemen’s gardeners should mostly give 
their minds to. But the tall plants, grown for the supply of a few 
of the very finest flowers, are scarcely so elegant that they may be 
obtruded upon the view in their entirety without inspiring unkind 
criticism. We have enjoyed the magnificent flowers more when the 
gaunt plants were intermixed with masses of foliage, out of which 
the flow'ers spread majestically on stems varying from six to eight feet 
high. Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, King Koad, Chelsea, overcome 
the difficulty created by their legginess, by grouping them with 
specimen camellias, the dark foliage of which brings out the colours 
of the flowers to the best advantage ; there can be no doubt that 
the beauty of a display is very much enhanced by the free associa- 
tion with the Chrysanthemums of plants that attract attention by 
the distinctive character of their foliage. We are the more anxious 
to impress upon our friends the necessity of tasteful display after 
they have given the flower all their skill, because there is a notion 
prevalent amongst Chrysanthemum growers, that good examples 
of their favourite need no assistance from other subjects when 
grouped for the purposes of decoration, which is a mistake. 
In very many cases, good displays of Chrysanthemums may be 
produced by plants lifted from the open border and potted. The 
plants will lose a considerable proportion of their leaves ; but, if 
intermixed with the ordinary occupants of the conservatory in such 
a manner that the flowers only can be seen, the absence of the foliage 
upon the lower branches will not be a matter of great importance. 
The porapoue varieties sufi’er least from lifting, but they are not 
capable of producing such a grand display as the large-flowered 
Japanese and other varieties. 
