244 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
Fig. 1 — The Stab Cubysantiiemum. 
New Chrysanthemums. 
The Chrysanthemum has long been in high 
repute among lovers of flowers. Its beautifully 
variegated forms and colors, and the ease with 
which it is cultivated, make it eminently a plant 
for the million. It is one of the finest of the 
hardy herbaceous perennials, and its bloom re¬ 
maining late in the season, after most other flow¬ 
ers have disappeared, renders it particularly 
desirable. The blossoms are often seen covered 
with the first snows of Winter. It was supposed 
that the limit of 
fine varieties had 
been reached, but 
it proves to be 
otherwise, and 
floricult urists 
will be much in¬ 
terested in exam¬ 
ining the two dis¬ 
tinct forms, here 
shown, which 
were discovered 
in Japan and 
sent to London 
■by Mr. Veitch. 
In Fig. 1 the 
peculiarity con¬ 
sists in the ligu- 
late (strap like) 
•corollas being 
•drawn out into 
■extremely nar¬ 
row sharp termi¬ 
nations. This va¬ 
riety may very 
appropriately be 
called the Star 
Chrysanthemum. 
Fig. 3 is of an 
entirely different 
type. The head 
is compact, in¬ 
curved, with all 
the corollas divided into two irregular unequal 
lips. Fig. 2 represents a single corolla consid¬ 
erably magnified, 1,0 show the, exact form. The 
name of Dragon Chrysanthemum is proposed 
for this variety. No opportunity has been af¬ 
forded to examine these novelties, as they have 
but recently been received in London, and we 
have no information as to their color or other 
properties. It may be expected, however, that j 
in addition to the attractions possessed by the 
flowers themselves, many new forms may be ob¬ 
tained by hybridizing with the common sorts. 
American Florists will not be long in procuring 
specimens of these foreigners, so that by another 
season we may be able to give fuller notes on 
their character and value. 
Wintering Carnations. 
It is harder to Spring them than to Winter 
them, out of doors. It is their exposure to freez¬ 
ing and thawing that makes such sad havoc 
with them. A good and easy method is to lay 
over them in the Fall a few tops of Phloxes, or 
leaves, then put on a sod or two loosely. In the 
Spring, take off this covering a little at a time, re* 
serving the last until hard frosts are over. The 
only sure way is to pot them in the Fall, and 
keep them in a pit or cellar. They will need 
watering only a few times. 
The Petunia 
A fine bed of petunias palpitating beneath our 
window, persuades us to speak a word or two 
to others in behalf of this family of plants. 
Its name was derived from the original Bra¬ 
zilian appellation, Petun. Two species of this 
plant were introduced, years ago, from South 
America—the old white sort from Brazil, in 
1823; the purple from Buenos Ayres, in 1830. 
These were all well in their way, but too coarse 
to suit the taste of refined florists. So they un¬ 
dertook to see what would result from hybrid¬ 
ization, and soon produced many pleasing vari¬ 
eties, all intermediate shades between these two, 
and others penciled and flaked and spotted. 
For several years, some of the reigning favorites 
were by name: Hebe , Braute parfait , (Jew, Lady 
Alice Peel , etc. Then quite a furor was excited 
by the appearance of a double petunia. But 
they were interesting chiefly as novelties; they 
did not flower freely, and at best were some¬ 
what coarse and ragged in form. Within the 
last few years, greater improvements have been 
made. The new double sorts are better, (take 
Garabaldi as a specimen,) and the single sorts 
?.re marked with singular beauty. The best 
within our present knowledge, are: Standard , 
Garibaldi , Inimitable (and indeed it is inimitable,) 
Forget-me-not , Conqueror , Novelty and Gem. 
One of the 
great excellen¬ 
ces of the pe¬ 
tunia is the 
ease with 
which it is cul¬ 
tivated. Pre¬ 
pare a bed of 
good garden 
soil in May, 
sow a paper of 
choice mixed 
seed (to be had 
of any reliable 
florist) and 
your petunia 
bed is made for 
several years. 
The seeds will 
start readily, 
giving plants 
a great variety 
of colors and 
shades, which 
will sow their 
own seeds from year to year. The young plants 
will need much thinning out every Spring—say 
to three or four inches apart. 
If one is a little more fastidious, and must 
have only the finest named sorts, he can procure 
half a dozen from the nearest nursery at about 
a shilling apiece. If he wishes to preserve his 
plants from year to year, let him in the Fall 
cut back the tops to a few inches of the ground, 
pot the roots and keep the plants on a shelf or 
table in the sitting room. Or, take off cuttings 
in September, which will soon strike roots, and 
by another Spring become fine plants for bed¬ 
ding out. 
The lady who shed those torrents of tears up 
supposed to have had a cataract in her eye. 
Fig. 3—The Dragon Chrysanthemum. 
