THE CHRYSANTHEMUM, AND ITS CULTURE. 
bed, will, if well arranged according to their 
heights, in five rows, a foot or a trifle less 
apart, form quite a handsome object during 
the greater part of October. If, however, 
they are not to be cut, but merely bloomed as 
a collection, three blooms may be left on each, 
to last so much the longer in flower. Chrys- 
anthemums are packed for showing the same 
as dahlias are, in tubes, with the stems through 
a stopper made of wood, cork, turnip, or 
potato, and so kept from bruising their under 
leaves by the height of the stopper, above the 
stand in which the tube is dropped, or some- 
times fixed. 
PROPERTIES OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
"We expect a sort of remonstrance against 
the properties which we shall set down as 
desirable in the Chrysanthemum, because the 
forms of the present varieties are as numerous 
as were those of the dahlia when the published 
rules first st-t to rest the properties of that 
universal favourite. There were among them 
at that time anemone-flowei*ed, China-aster- 
flowered, globe-flowered, single, and semi- 
double, flat, starry, and ragged flowers, to say 
nothing of colours. In the Chrysanthemum, 
we are told in a very recent publication, that 
there are the ranunculus-flowered, the in- 
curved, the China-aster-flowered, the marigold - 
flow T ered, the clustered, and the tasselled, all 
of which, except the ranunculus-flowered, are 
untidy and flimsy. Great efforts have been 
made to bring these flowers into notice, and 
shows have been established at which the 
judges have not known by what rules to award 
the prizes, or which flower was the best. We 
affirm with great submission to those who 
pride themoelves on this flower, that it is im- 
possible to select one less fit to exhibit, cut 
from the plant, and that individually there is 
nothing to hope for in the bloom itself that 
should raise it to the dignity of a florist's 
flower; but as there is great merit in growing 
the plant well in pots only, and as the plant is 
showy when there is a scarcity of bloom in a 
house, they ought always to be shown in pots 
only, and the merits of the plant be taken 
into account quite as much as that of the 
bloom, and as such we shall notice both. 
1. The plant should be dwarf, shrubby, 
well covered with green foliage to the bottom, 
the leaves broad and bright, the flowers well 
displayed at tie end of each branch, come in 
abundant quantity, and be well supported by 
the stems. 
2. The flower should be round, double, high 
in the crown, perfect in the centre, without 
disk or confusion, and of the form of half 
a ball. 
3. Tiie individual petals should be thick, 
6mooth, broad, circular at the ends, according 
with the circle of the flower, the indentations 
where they meet hardly perceptible. 
4. The petals must not show their under- 
sides by quilling, and should be of such firm 
texture as will retain them all in their places. 
Size of bloom to be large in proportion to 
the foliage, but the size only to be considered 
when plants are in all other respects equal. 
The properties we have described bring a 
good flower under one of the two classes, 
ranunculus-flowered, or marigold-floAvered, 
and therefore we pronounce the tasselled, the 
quilled, the incurved, and all ragged and con- 
fused varieties, as well as all those which ex- 
hibit a disk, to be inferior to the other flowers 
in all the points in which their deficiencies 
can be recognised, and sincerely hope that 
there may in a few seasons be a sufficient 
number of good ones to enable us to banish 
them altogether as show flowers. 
A FEW OF THE BEST CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
A society has at length been formed in the 
Metropolis for the encouragement of this 
autumnal visitor, and we have been gratified 
with a sight of Chrysanthemums as large as 
medium-sized dahlias. The capabilities of 
this flower are but little known by ordinary 
dealers ; for we have been to the advertised 
collections of Messrs. Chandler, said to be the 
best, and we are bound to say that we there 
saw nothing to tempt us to grow the Chrysan- 
themum, except as an out-of-door subject to 
prolong the lively appearance of the garden 
after the dahlias are over. The lanky branches, 
only half furnished with discoloured leaves, 
even in the best we saw, rendered them very 
ugly in pots, and those who do not see them 
grown as they may be grown, will not be 
tempted to adopt them as a stock flower in 
collections. Since the properties of the Chrys- 
anthemum were laid down a few years since, 
the foreigners appear to have chosen their new 
varieties better, and there are some approach- 
ing the standard. As a proof of the difference 
between well-grown and ill-grown specimens : 
we had made a descriptive list for the purpose 
of publication from the collection at the Vaux- 
hall Nursery, and after attending the show of 
the Chrysanthemum Society, held at the 
Rochester Castle, Stoke Newington, we threw 
our list into the fire ; we will give a specimen 
of the discrepancy. 
The Clustered Yellow. — "Bright 
yellow, flow r ering in clusters, with soft quilled 
i petals, standing out like irregular rays ; these 
! in some places thick ; in others thin, so that 
! the flower never forms a circle ; hard, con- 
, fused eye, with petals undeveloped ; abundant 
j bloom." 
Perhaps the above description, taken honestly 
[ from scores of plants at Vauxliall, is as unjust 
