June 7, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
457 
Green Chrysanthemums. 
The allusion which I made on pae;e 412 to some new green Chrys¬ 
anthemums being offered for sale this spring by a Japanese firm of 
nurserymen, has brought me a letter from Mr. W. Wells of Earlswood 
Nurseries, enclosing a small bloom of a variety which he has named 
Ethel Amsden. Although it is practically impossible at this season of 
the year to say what the possibilities are of this sport retaining its 
colour when grown in the ordinary way for blooms in the autumn, the 
colour of the example before me is so pure and so decidedly green that 
it may be looked upon as a decidedly promising novelty. Compared 
with the Japanese pictures Ethel Amsden is much more pleasing to the 
eye, and if growers can keep it from turning off to a greenish white 
when cultivated in the ordinary way, for Chrysanthemums produced in 
this country in May can hardly be so called, there will no doubt be 
found many admirers of such a novelty, especially as it comes from so 
valuable a parent. 
In my researches to ascertain the truth of the story concerning a 
blue Chrysanthemum, which were duly recorded in the “ Chrysanthemum 
Annual ” for 1889,1 frequently found depicted on Japanese Keramic ware 
specimens of green Chrysanthemums, mostly of a ragged long-petalled 
Japanese type, and not having seen or otherwise heard of the existence 
of such a colour, came very naturally to the conclusion that green 
Chrysanthemums were as mythical as blue ones. It was regarded at 
that time as simply a vagary of the Japanese potter to give artistic 
variation to his ware, and not as the work of one who faithfully copied 
from nature. And this seemed quite justifiable at the time, because of 
the stereotyped outline of many of the examples represented on the 
Japanese pots and vases which I examined. 
Subsequently, however, evidence was forthcoming which cause me 
to modify my opinion so far as green Chrysanthemums were concerned. 
In the Transactions of the Japanese Horticultural Society a few years 
ago there appeared a coloured illustration of a deep green Japanese 
variety of our popular flower, and the Editor of the “ Moniteur d’Horti- 
culture ” of Paris reproduced it. and gave a translation of the article 
which accompanied the original illustration. As there appears to be 
some signs of this new class of Chrysanthemums becoming more widely 
known, and of which Florence Davis was probably the forerunner, a 
condensed translation of the account of the origin of the first known 
green variety may be interesting. It is as follows :— 
The plant grows to the height of a little over .3 feet, and the blooms, 
which are of a dark green colour, are from 8 to 10 inches in circum¬ 
ference. Mr. Ogin, who exhibited it at a meeting of the Japanese 
Horticultural Society, where it was unquestionably regarded as a very 
remarkable variety, first saw it about twenty years previously in the 
collection of an amateur—Mr. Tamora of Saku, in the province of Sinano 
—who called it by the name of “ Hekiundai." He then procured a plant 
of it, but unfortunately failed to keep it alive. Having occasion some 
time afterwards to speak about it to one of the principal Chrysanthemum 
growers in Japan—Mr. Midsumoto—the latter doubted the existence of 
such a rarity, and said it could not be a real Chrysanthemum, but one 
of another species. To make sure Mr. Ogin tried to obtain another 
example, but the owner was then dead, and the plant lost sight of. 
However, after numerous searches, Mr. Ogin succeeded in 1889 in finding 
another grower in the same province—a Mr. Katsuragawa—who had 
propagated the green Chrysanthemum, and from him a plant was 
obtained and exhibited as previously mentioned. 
Such is the oriental history of the first known green Chrysanthemum, 
and it now remains for western florists to say whether they are to occupy 
as prominent a position as many of the other coloured varieties from the 
far East have done on our show boards and in our collections.—C, H. P. 
THE WEATHER—INSECTS ON FRUIT TREES. 
The past month has again fully established its character with us for 
the changeable weather it usually bringi, varying from very bright 
summer-like days to snowstorms and hard frosts. On the afternoon 
of the 20th some snow fell, and both the mornings of the 21st and 
22nd were frosts of an unusual nature for the time of year. As much 
as 8° of frost was registered on both mornings, doing destructive work 
with early Potatoes, The fruit crop is not much injured, owing to 
being well protected by foliage. Rain, snow and hail fell on sixteen 
days during past month,— E. Wallis, Ihe Gardens, Hamels Park, 
Buntingford. 
May has been a very fickle month, and will long be remembered for 
the wintery weather which occurred from the 19th to the 24th. On the 
mornings of the 20th and 2l8t we had of frost 4 4° and 4-7°. The first 
night was dry, but on the evening of the 20th there fell between rain 
and hail 0 104 inch. With the frost coming immediately after vegetation 
was covered in the morning with a sheet of ice. Total rainfall for the 
month, 2 544 inches, which fell on twenty days. Greatest fall any day, 
0 334 inch on the 14th. Nights below 32°, six. Mean maximum, 56 9° 
(7° below May, 1893) ; mean minimum, 38’4° (5'5° below May, 1893). 
Highest maxima, 72 3° on the 24th ; lowest maxima, 50 0° on the 16th. 
Highest minima, 45’7° on the 15th ; lowest minima, 27'3° on the 2l8t.— 
G. M., Stirling, _ 
May was very changeable, with snow on 20th, severe frost on 2l8t 
and 22nd, and a heavy thunderstorm on 30th, Wind was in a northerly 
direction eighteen days ; total rainfall, 2-70 inches, which fell on 
twenty days, the greatest daily fall being O'67 inch on 30th. Tempera¬ 
ture, highest in shade, 65° on 25th; lowest, 29° on 21st; mean daily 
maximum, 57 16°; mean daily minimum. 4019°. Mean temperature 
of the month, 48 67° ; lowest on grass. 23° on 21st and 22nd; mean 
earth temperature at 3 feet deep, 49 09° ; highest in sun, 129“ on 8fh, 
14th, 22ad, and 25th. Total sunshine, 154 hours 14 minutes. We are 
now having a quantity of rain, which was much needed. The frost on 
21st and 22nd severely damaged Gooseberries, Strawberries, and early 
Potatoes ; fortunately the wall fruit escaped—we have an extraordinary 
crop—and the bedding plants were safe under glass.— W. H. Divers, 
Belvoir Castle Gardens, Grantham, 
The mean temperature of May I find to be the lowest for the last 
twenty years, it being recorded here from thermometers in a Louvre box 
4J feet above ground, was 46 3°, 3 4“ below the average of the last 
twenty years, which is 49 7°, The average minimum or night thermo¬ 
meter was 37 9“; but in 1879 it was a little lower, being 37'6°, which is 
the lowest of the series. The average of maximum or day was 54 8°, 
which is a degree higher than 1891 with 53'8“, and 1877 with 54'2°; but 
the mean temperatures of the month stand—1894, 46-3°; 1891, 46’4 ; 
1877, 46 6°. The rainfall recorded here for May, 1894, was 3 40 inches, 
which is the largest amount in May for the last twenty years. The next 
heaviest of the series of years was 1885 with 3‘36 inches, and 1886 with 
3'29 inches. I may mention that the mean temperatures of April 
and May, 1894, was identical, being 46 3°, for each month ; April day 
temperature 53 8“, night 38 8° ; May day temperature 54 8°, night 37’9°, 
or May \° higher.— J. Machar, Corana, Broughty Ferry, N.B, 
Just as I had opened the Journal of Horticulture on the 31st ult., 
and was looking over the various reports of the damage done by the late 
frosts, we were visited by a very severe thunderstorm, accompanied with 
hailstones varying in size from a horse bean to a marble. Tfae down¬ 
pour continued for about half an hour, the ground being white with the 
hailstones, which took some time to melt, and on the roofs of the forcing 
houses they lay in ridges in a half-thawed state for three or four hours 
in the bright sunshine after the storm had abated. Fortunately, no 
glass was broken, but the tender foliage of fruit and other trees were a 
good deal cut, the leaves lay thickly strewed under the Peach trees. 
On the walls Chrysanthemums and other plants were damaged, and 
vegetables have suffered more or less after the storm. The temperature 
was very much colder, and the air had a very chilling effect. About a 
mile from here three cows that were sheltering from the storm under a tree 
were killed by the lightning. When the hailstones were melted we 
registered 0'43 inch of water. — G. R. Allis, Old Warden Park, 
Biggleswade. _ 
As no report appears to have reached you from the Vale of Evesham, 
regarding the recent severe weather, a few remarks may be of interest 
to some of your readers in market gardening and fruit-growing districts. 
No previous spring frosts ever wrought such destruction as those of the 
20th and 21st May. Runner Beans and Potatoes were cut down, 
Marrows were killed under hand-lights, and almost everything in a 
growing state was more or less damaged. The worst blow was to the 
fruit. On all the flat land the Plums and Currants were killed, and 
the Gooseberries, of which there was promise of an abundant crop, 
were quite three parts taken, but those under trees did not suffer so 
severely as those in the open. In a few very high parts of the district 
no damage was done. I noticed on the same piece of land the variety 
Keepsake are almost all killed, while Whinham’s Industry is carrying a 
heavy crop, thus proving the hardiness of the latter variety. Straw¬ 
berries are also seriously injured, some crops ruined. Early Peas are 
crippled, and the main crop. Telegraph and Leicester Defiance, will be 
found very light at picking time. Apples and Pears are not grown much 
in the market gardens, but I have noticed some dwarf trees of Lord 
SufEeld, Lord Grosvenor, and Stirling Castle, and the Apples appear 
stunted, so I am afraid they will fall. 
I do not know if the trees in other localities are damaged like they 
are here. The leaves Cespecially of the Pershore Plum) are all singed as 
though a fire had been lighted under them, and it also seems to have 
penetrated to the pith. Those branches carrying the most fruit appear 
to have suffered worst. Growers are at a loss to know what to do with 
the trees for the best.— Market Grower. 
The severe frost on the night of the 20th of May gave us another 
instance of the great capriciousness of the English climate. In an 
article published in the Journal of Horticulture a few weeks ago the 
present spring was termed by a leading authority as being an ideal one, 
and doubtless up to that above date he was right. We have passed 
through a winter of almost unparalleled mi’dness, vegetation generally 
suffering little or none. The weather of the earlj'' spring left nothing 
to be desired, and horticulturists had every reason to expect good and 
