1G8 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
March 1,189i. 
Packing Chsysanthemums foe Long Voyages. 
I AM desirous of sending a few Chrysanthemums to a gentleman in 
California. I shall be much obliged if any correspondent can advise 
me as to the best mode of packing. I sent some to South Africa two 
years ago. They were packed in a tin box with a little damp moss, and, 
as I thought, soldered hermetically, but they arrived in a decayed 
mass.—E. B. H. 
A Great Chrysanthemum Trial. 
To many readers concerned with Chrysanthemums no doubt 
“Omega’s” suggestion of an annual trial of all novelties by the 
N.C.S. will, doubtless, seem somewhat amusing and unpractical. 
That with existing resources the National Chrysanthemum Society 
could conduct such a trial is, of course, out of the question. Still the 
proposal is a very valuable one, and thousands of persons would be 
delighted to have such a trial made. As putting the matter into feasible 
and practical shape, I will suggest, and our friend Mr. Moorman can 
doubtless shed a little light on the matter, that the N.C.S. Executive 
propose to the London County Council to furnish to one of their parks— 
Battersea, Victoria, or elsewhere—in the early spring, plants of all the 
new varieties, catalogued, or likely to be submitted for certificates during 
the year. It should be a distinct rule that, assuming such a proposal 
could be carried out, no variety be allowed submission for certificate 
until it had so been grown for trial. If the London County Council 
agreed, their superintendent at the park in question being furnished 
with all these novelties, should give them the best possible cultivation, 
and grow them so that the best blooms might be produced, then present 
them all in his show house in the autumn duly Numbered. There should 
be provided by the N.C.S. a cheap list giving numbers, names, raisers, 
and traders associated with each variety that would be sold at the park, 
and in that way not only would everybody have unlimited opportunity 
to see the Chrysanthemums, but the trial would be one of the fairest 
conceiveable. So soon as the plants were out of bloom the owners should 
have the privilege of obtaining them if they desired. What is to be 
said with respect to this suggestion ? Would not the trial prove to be 
the most attractive display in the kingdom ?—A. D. 
Japanese Chrysanthemum Election. 
I DO not think that “ Omega’s ” (page 150) proposed substitute for the 
recent Chrysanthemum election will bear the test of critical examination. 
In the first place the establishment and maintenance by the N.C.S. of 
“ gardens and trial grounds as the R.H.S.,” for apparently the sole 
object of testing new varieties, would involve an expenditure which it is 
difficult to see how the N.C.S. could, as matters stand, undertake. But 
even if this preliminary objection were removed would the proposed 
test produce results at all comparable with those of the Journal of 
Horticulture election ? I think not, and for these reasons. 
A test in the proposed “ trial ground ” would be under but one con¬ 
dition of soil and atmospheric environment, and probably under but one 
system of culture. As we know certain localities by reason of soil or 
climate are compared with others not favourable to the highest develop¬ 
ment of a particular variety, so comparative failure in one locality may 
be consistent with conspicuous success in a great number of other 
districts. One of the chief advantages attending the recent election was 
due to the fact that the voters covered so very wide a range of country, 
from Scotland and Ireland to the south of England. 
Again, the cultural treatment given by one grower, although judicious 
as regards the bulk of the known varieties, may not be the most suitable 
for the highest development of a new variety, the characteristics of 
which have yet to be discovered—“ Mrs. Alpheus Hardy.” There¬ 
fore, to suggest that if all new varieties were subjected to the same 
treatment the result would indicate their relative merits, would be to' 
assert that which is contrary to our experience. I 
On the other hand the different systems of culture likely to be 
adopted by forty-two of the leading growers are certainly more calculated 
to bring out the finest development of the variety under trial, and with 
it a knowledge of the cultural conditions most conducive to success. I 
will assume that the cultural skill procurable at the headquarters of the 
N.C.S. would be equal to that of the best of the forty-two. Were it not 
so the test would, on this account alone, be of very doubtful value. 
“ Omega ” points out certain apparent inconsistencies in the relative 
positions of certain varieties in the twenty-four and in the twelve. The 
reversal of the positions of Mdlle. Th^rese Eey and Mdlle. Marie Hoste 
is, I must admit, not easy to understand ; but many of the others 
referred to by your correspondent are possibly due to the special require¬ 
ment as to colour contained in the terms of reference. It is only 
natural, indeed inevitable, that in such an election some inconsistencies 
should appear ; but, with all allowance made for such as are pointed out, 
surely the agreement shown in the late election is little short of mar¬ 
vellous when one remembers the vast number of varieties, new and old, 
offered for selection. Of the ultimate best twenty-four, one voter had 
21 in his list, nine had 20, eight had 19, and ten had 18, the remainder 
close behind. 
“ Omega” says that in the election “ some of the varieties occupy 
higher positions more from what report has said about them than from 
the elector’s knowledge of their growth,” and suggests that “ some of 
the growers who were kind enough to assist in the election included 
varieties which they had not grown and had hardly seen.” I imagine 
that a sufficient answer to this complimentary suggestion will be found 
in the fact that it is based on a claim to an omniscience which, I am 
inclined to think, will not generally be conceded to your correspondent. 
The suggestion is by no means justified by the assertion that one voter had 
inserted in the best twelve three varieties which he had not grown ; for, 
as you have pointed out, the terms of reference gave the alternative of 
“ grown ” or “ seen exhibited.” Many cultivators may not last season 
have grown Mdlle. Th6r6se Bey or Robert Owen ; but who can doubt, 
after what has been seen of these varieties upon the exhibition table, 
that they might be reasonably placed in the first twelve ? 
If the election is to be superseded it must give place to something 
fortifiediby stronger arguments and recommendations than is the pro¬ 
posal of your correspondent “ Omega.”— Amateur. 
Chrysanthemumiana. 
f-. 
Very exhaustive and satisfying are the recently published analyses 
in the Journal of Horticulture, forming a nucleus of the opinions of 
the leading growers, converged rays of the leading lights from the four 
points of the compass. Here at a glance is seen how we stand, where 
we have come from, and possibly just lift the veil of the future to 
obtain an idea of where we are going, though it would require some 
straining of vision to see the goal. Perhaps there is some cause for self- 
congratulation that we are but yet in the transition stage, for at the 
present rapid rate of development who would be bold enough to say we 
are yet beyond it ? As with other things, it must ever be the most in¬ 
teresting stage in watching the rise and progress of the subject under 
our hands with the consciousness of the power of man’s mind over 
matter. 
Some of the yet unconverted found their objections to growing prize 
blooms on the score of trouble ; but on this head we have it on unim¬ 
peachable authority “ that man is born to trouble,” and it might be 
added, perhaps, gardeners particularly so, and I think if the argument 
was thrashed out it would take but little logic to disperse this 
objection into thin air. To me as a grower these soi-disant troubles 
resolve themselves into a labour of love ; yet I will not deny that there 
are times when anxiety comes in. With, say, 500 plants there is neces¬ 
sarily some work and some time spent on them, but a little experience 
reduces that to a minimum, and I do not think the five-hundredth part 
of that time which each plant receives amounts to very much during 
their short season of growth, and this is the only time I feel constrained 
to speak up for them ; when housed and in flower they speak for them¬ 
selves. It will not be easy, if possible, to find a substitute that comes 
at such an opportune time to dispel, as these plants do with their many- 
tinted rays of sunshine, the gathering gloom of the waning year, and 
probably not any rival yet to come will possess the fascination held by 
the autumn queen over her devotees. 
If wishes had wings, while warm on the subject I would fly to Fleet 
Street and entreat the powers that be to make the Chrysanthemum 
department a perpetual one, with not only a little weekly advice from 
the masters of the art for the guidance of pupils. There are always, I 
think, some little things we would like to know that keen observation 
discovers, and also things worth knowing in order to avoid, and above 
all there is during the working season that desire to keep in touch with 
other workers. 
In analysing the analysis, even we within the charmed circle may 
admit that in the largest varieties of Japanese size has been obtained, 
yet there still remains a field for drilling up many of the regiment to 
review order. The chaste and elegant incurved do not arrive on the 
field in legions, and good recruits that come up to the standard are 
somewhat backward in coming to the front ; and in this section is 
probably to be found much of the work of the future, whilst in both 
divisions there is ample scope for improvement on the lines already com¬ 
menced—viz., by replacing the tall varieties with dwarf sturdy growers 
which keep their heads in the battle with the elements. 
As with other phases of education, so with Chrysanthemum culture, 
there is no royal road to learning, and no short cuts “from the cutting 
to the silver cup.” Granted that the beginner has that indispensable 
primer, Mr. Molyneux’s book, which is invaluable in directing you on 
the road, there is much to be learned that can only be acquired in the 
school of experience. Competition is keen, and the race is run with 
trained athletes. Local conditions are working which must be taken 
into account and which only close observation can master. When the day 
comes, and we are pitted man against man, the beginner may find, 
previous to the verdict, that he is not in it. He has grown the big 
blooms, some are here, some are over, and others yet to come; he is, 
pro tern., beaten but not disgraced, and must accept the inevitable with a 
good grace, for it is useless to talk of the big blooms that are over ; if he 
does, it is heard with that amount of belief that fishing stories are 
credited with. The sensation is not pleasant, rather tending to disgust, 
which fortunately is only temporary ; perhaps with any other class it 
might mean capitulation, but not with the Chrysanthemum—one is 
bitten or smitten, whichever term applies. In short it is an attack of 
the Chrysanthemum fever, due perhaps as other epidemics are to some 
form of microbe ; for this there isjno cure, nor indeed cause for alarm 
