502 
[ June 18, 1885. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
(country it is cultivated in pots, and that the Chinese gardeners keep 
it dwarf and allow only one flower to blow. 
The name of C. indicum as a species originated with Linnaeus in 
the first edition of the “ Species Plantarum,” which came out in 1753. 
In that work the celebrated Swedish botanist divided the species into 
two varieties—one with single and the other with double flowers. 
It appears in the “ Hortus Kewensis ’’ that it was in 1764 that the 
first known plant in England of the Chrjsanthemum, which bore a 
small yellow flower, was growing in the Apothecaries’ Botanic Garden 
at Chelsea, but this plant was at that period so little esteemed that in 
a very few years no trace whatever of it could be found in the place, 
and it was entirely lost. 
There is, however, one fortunate incident connected with this 
variety. When Sir Hans Sloane conveyed the land forming this 
garden to the Apothecaries’ Society in 1722 he inserted a covenant 
binding them to present to the Royal Society fifty dried specimens of 
distinct plants from the garden every year until the number reached 
2000. In accordance, therefore, with the terms of the deed a speci¬ 
men of this small yellow variety was with other plants presented by 
the Society's gardener, Mr. Philip Miller, to the Royal Society under 
the name of Matricaria indica, and is preserved in the British 
Museum (Miller's specimens, No. 2112, anno 1764). 
This was no doubt the C. indicum of Linnaeus, or, as it was after¬ 
wards called by Cassini the French writer on composite plants, 
Pyrethrum indicum, the varieties of which Mr. Salter says (in 1865) 
are now known as C. matricaroides or Liliputians. It was mentioned 
by Mr. Miller in his “ Dictionary,” eighth edition, under the heading 
“ Matricaria indica.” He says that it grows naturally in many parts 
of India, and that he received it from Nimpu (probably meaning 
Ningpo in China), where it grows plentifully ; that it rises H foot 
high, dividing into many branches with small flowers, to the 
colour of which he does not refer, about the size of the Feverfew. 
Twenty years afterwards— i e., 1784, Thunberg, in his “Flora 
Japoniea,” describes the plant, which he asserts is Linnaeus’s C. indicum, 
and refers it to the preceding account of Ksempfer. He, too, gives the 
Japanese appellations, Kik, Kikf, Kikku, Kikof, and Kiko no fauna, 
which latter name is but a varied form of spelling the same word as 
that used by Breynius, the word fauna being used bj r the Japanese as 
expressive of elegance. Thunberg, in his description, says that this 
plant has many varieties, diflitring in colour as well as in the size of 
the flowers, and that there are single and double flowering kinds, that 
it is much cultivated in the gardens of Japan on account of the beauty 
of its flowers, that it grows spontaneously at Papenberg near Nagasaki, 
and other places in that country, and that it blooms in the summer 
and autumn months, and he tells us that in his belief it is the same 
plant mentioned by Ksempfer as Matricaria. 
Loureiro, the Portuguese traveller, published his account of the 
plants of Cochin China called, “ Flora Cochinchinensis ” in 1790, and 
among them enumerated the C. indicum of Linnaeus, but his descrip¬ 
tion evidently belongs to the Chinese Chrysanthemum. He speaks of 
the variety of the colour of their flowers, which he states are white, 
blush, purple, violet, yellow, and red, differing in form and size, and 
that they are cultivated in the gardens of China and Cochin China. 
Ramatuelle, in the “ Journal d’ Histoire Naturelle,” calls it 
Anthemis grandiflora. 
Willdenow, in 1801, placed it under the same genus, but gave it 
another specific name, calling it Anthemis artemisaefolia. 
Another author, Moench, in the “ bupp'ementum ad Methodum 
Plantarum,” refers to it as Anthemis stipulacea. 
The reader will certainly by this time have seen that the Chrjs¬ 
anthemum was the object even in those earlj 7 days of something 
more than ordinary interest, and among other botanical writers who 
described it may te briefly mentioned such names as Ray, Sweet, 
Morrison, Vaillant, Persoon, and Desfontaines. 
Having given a tolerably clear idea of the diversity of opinion ex¬ 
isting among the botanists as to the tiue generic and specific name of 
the Chrysanthemum, the next point worthy of attention is the second 
importation into Europe, and it is at this event that the unbroken 
history of the Chrysanthemum really commences.—C. Harman 
Payne. 
(To be continued.) 
VINE BORDERS AT DALKEITH. 
As the quality of these borders has been entered as a factor in the 
#7iscussion relating to the cracking of Grapes, and have been described by 
Mr. Thomson as “ poor and dry,” it may give a mere correct idea of what 
they really were like by quoting from Mr. Thomson’s book on the Vine, 
wherein he describes how they were made, and as the present writer can 
also testify, correctly. First, the best loam from the deer park, top spit, 
was procured, and to this was added—to ten carts of it—two of lime 
rabbisb, one cart of charred wood, including ashes, one cart of fresh 
horae droppings, 4 cwt. of broken bones, and, if to be had, 2 cwt of horn 
vhaviuga.” This he (Mr. Thomson) “guarantees from his own ex¬ 
perience ” as a safe border, and he gave rich waterings of manure as well 
afterwards. It is not so long since, as will be remembered, the “ heavier 
soil ” of Clovenfords, as now described at page 402, was characterised as 
the “ wretched ” and “ porr ” soil in several of the papers and in circulars, 
as compared with Dalkeith borders 1 -Non-Believer. 
THE VERATRUMS. 
The Veratrums or Hellebores form a genus of plants possessing 
powerful medicinal properties ; indeed ihey are highly poisonous, owing 
to the peculiar alkaline principle found in the root, and known as veratrin. 
A small dose of this administered to the lower animals is sufficient to 
cause instant death. It also acts with singular energy on the mucous 
membrane of the nose, exciting violent sneezing if only the most minute 
particle is taken. The leaves of V. album when reduced to powder form 
the well-known white hellebore which has been used so effectively in 
destroying the Gooseberry caterpillar. But as being ornamental rather 
than medicinal we would notice this family of plants. 
The name Veratruoa is in allusion to the colour of the roots. They 
belong to the natural order of Melanthacese, and are hardy herbaceous 
perennials. Some of the species are handsome border plants of distinct 
and stately appearance. They add to a noble spike of flowers foliage 
which is distinctly ornamental by its stout texture, expansive form, anl 
the bright green and regularly corrugated appearance of its surface. 
The best of the species is V. album, and, except for the sake of variety, 
the others are not worthy of culture in our gardens. V. album is, how¬ 
ever, a distinct and striking plant, and possibly, were it tender and 
required some nursing, it would be regarded as an ornamental sub-tropical 
plant. Certainly where foliage is expected to play a part in garden 
decoration this plant is worthy of a place ; it also possesses features of 
attraction in habit of growth and flower. It is a native of the Alps and 
Pyrenees, and was introduced as long ago as 1548. 
As an alpine plant of robust growth it is one of the best, and is worthy 
of a place on bold rockeries, and rooteries, and rustic mounds. It will 
