586 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 27, 1888. 
REVIEW OF THE PAST SEASON. 
Having had opportunities of seeing Chrysanthemums in various 
parts of the country during the last five weeks a few notes on this 
subject may not be wholly uninteresting now that the exhibitions are 
over and when intending cultivators for next year are considering how 
difficulties may be overcome and pleasures afforded by a better knowledge 
of the many requirements of the Chrysanthemum in our fickle English 
climate. It cannot be said that this has been a good year for the 
production of high-class blooms in any section, but there have been 
plenty in number to provide rich treats for the ever-increasing Chrysan¬ 
themum-loving public. The season has been on the whole a bad one. for 
: growers, though it did not entail so much work in procuring and 
applying water to the plants as that of 1887 ; indeed the excessive supply 
this year caused great anxiety, and it was not pleasant to anticipate the 
consequences. I have long thought that to produce Chrysanthemums in 
the finest condition entails more incessant care and anxiety in the 
multifarious details of culture than in the case of any other plants, and 
that the best efforts are sometimes rendered nugatory by the weather. 
No sooner are the plants in flower than attention must be directed to 
the next season in carefully selecting new varieties, determining their 
merits and looking for faults in every conceivable form, so that space is 
not uselessly occupied and labour wasted on inferior varieties. Choosing 
the best is the commencement of the coming year’s programme. The 
next step is the preparation of the plants for obtaining the necessary 
cuttings, which will eventually be expected to produce winning blooms 
another year ; but I fear I am digressing from the text somewhat. 
As before stated this has been on the whole a bad season—a sunless 
spring, a cold May, a wet June, and a wetter July, accompanied with 
cold days and nights, -the thermometer falling as low as 42° during one 
night in June. This kind of weather was had for the plants which had 
just been transferred to their final pots, causing a serious check to root- 
action and injuring the foliage, the plants receiving far too much water 
before the roots had time to take hold of the new soil; and this was not 
improved by being continually washed. July was even worse than 
June, rain falling in such abundance that some collections of plants 
hardly required water artificially for three weeks at a spell, and the 
temperature fell as low as 39°. while on several occasions it was 
•below 45°. 
The incurved blooms generally have lacked that depth and sym¬ 
metry of form so pleasing to the cultivator. There have been too many 
loose open blooms and small petals in the centres owing to the non- 
maturation of the wood, the plants not being equal to finishing the blooms 
in the important point called “ filling up.” There haS been a consider¬ 
able tendency on the part of some varieties, notably Alfred Salter and 
•Golden Queen of England, to unfold the lower half of the flowers satis¬ 
factorily, the remaining florets coming reflexed, thus preventing the blooms 
becoming perfect specimens of their respective varieties. Many blooms, 
not only among the Queen type but others, showed cross centres, or 
several centres, consequently quite useless for exhibition. Many varieties 
•showed a want of substance in the petals, causing them to stand erect 
instead of incurving, hence so much roughness and want of finish. 
Flat blooms have been common, especially among the Queens, owing to 
The centre petals in some instances refusing to unfold properly, and 
removing these bad centres reduces the depth of the blooms. 
From abcfut the Gth to the 12th of November the best blooms were 
•generally seen, the weather at that time being drier, consequently few 
blooms had been lost through the damping of the florets. During this 
period the National Exhibition was held, which I should think was the 
best yet held by the Society. The leading stands of incurved were very 
massive, yet many blooms lacked high finish. This was through no fault 
•of the exhibitors, who had done their best, and done well, to combat 
the unfavourable weather influences. I do not consider that the 
•best Japanese blooms were equal to those of last year in quality, speak¬ 
ing in a general way. Although some very fine examples were staged 
many were thin and showed a want of solidity and substance of the 
•petals. But taking the whole exhibit of Japanese blooms I consider 
“they were remarkably good when the unfavourable weather of the past 
-summer is taken into consideration. With one exception I consider 
the blooms in both sections—the incurved especially—as staged in the 
northern counties a long way below those staged in the south in point 
-of merit, owing to the fact that the north has not been so favourable as 
even the south this season for high class blooms. In very few exhibi¬ 
tions in the north could be seen a really good stand of incurved blooms. 
Roughness was very apparent and hollow centres numerous, and many 
big ” blooms lost points on close examination. I never saw blooms 
etaged in the reflexed section in such poor condition as they have been 
this season. I cannot say that I have seen a first rate stand anywhere. 
There have been a few individualispeeimens that might be called good, 
but the same stands contained faulty examples. This section especially 
seems to have seriously felt the adverse influences of the season. Espe¬ 
cially were the blooms wanting in depth and closeness or firmness, also 
in colour, even Cullingfordi and King of Crimsons being lacking in 
richness. I fear in the rage for after large fanciful varieties of Japanese 
the true reflexed section is liable to be somewhat neglected, as the blooms 
are less showy than the others named. Seldom do we see the plants 
this section placed in the best position out of doors, therefore cultivators 
have themselves a little to blame for the great falling off in the quality 
of the specimens. _ 
Anemone flowers of both races have suffered also, but not to the 
same extent as the reflexed. I think the Japanese forms have not been 
favoured quite so much as have their older brethren the large-flowered 
Anemone so-called, some of the former lacking so much in the centre 
as to make it difficult to say whether they belonged to the Anemone 
section or to the ordinary Japanese. In point ot colour there has been 
much falling off in the Anemone Japanese, also many “ washy ” blooms 
having been staged. _ 
Pompons have been staged remarkably well at some shows, espe¬ 
cially at the Aquarium, Portsmouth, and Brighton, the blooms being 
full, well coloured, and of large size. In fact, so large were some of 
them that it almost becomes a difficult matter to say where the Pompons 
leave off and the reflexed begin, so near do the former approach the 
latter in size and appearance. In the north this familylias not as yet 
received much attention. At Liverpool they were especially poor both 
in quality and “ setting up,” being placed much too low on the stands, 
not showing sufficient foliage, which enhances their appearance wonder¬ 
fully. Anemone Pompons have not been so good in quality as the 
ordinary Pompon, the centres in many instances being but poorly 
developed. At only one Exhibition have I seen stands of fimbriated or 
single varieties—Portsmouth. It is a pity they are not more encouraged, 
especially the latter type, so light and graceful are they for the decora¬ 
tion of vases either alone or mixed with other flowers. If societies were 
to offer prizes for them more generally there would quickly be some 
shown, and the taste for this section would spread, much to the advantage 
of exhibitions and to those persons who grow only for home decoration. 
—E. Molynettx. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN AMERICA. 
Writing on the cultivation of Chrysanthemums in America, Mr. John 
Thorpe remarks in the American Garden :—It is not saying too much 
to state that there are more than twice as many Chrysanthemums being 
grown this year than there were in 1887. Not less than a million of 
plants were sold by the florists of America last spring, and if there is no 
mistake in my calculation there will be still more sold another year. To 
those who, from prejudice or a commercial standpoint, have frequently 
said the past four years, “ Well, this is the last year of the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum critfze,” let me say that nol^intil the Hyacinth and Tulip, the 
Hepatica and Violet are discarded or unwelcomed in the spring, will the 
Chrysanthemum he unpopular. For supplying the markets with cut 
flowers, as much attention is given Chrysanthemums by many growers 
as is given to the cultivation of the Rose. 
A DISCUSSION ON THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
At the December monthly meeting of the Sheffield Floral and Horti¬ 
cultural Society, a most interesting discussion took place upon the Chrys¬ 
anthemum. Mr. W. K. Woodcock had originally promised to give a 
paper on “ Some New Varieties of Chrysanthemums,” but having left 
the town he was unable to do so. However, a good substitute for Mr. 
Woodcock was found in Mr. John Farrow, gardener to F. Mappin, Esq., 
Birchlands, Ranmoor, to lead off the discussion. 
Mr. Farrow hoped that the present arrangement would be both 
instructive and interesting, for no doubt many different ideas and prac¬ 
tices would be exchanged. No one could deny that the Chrysanthemum 
is a most beautiful and interesting flower and well repays the cultivator 
for the trouble taken. There is no flower that has risen to such a high state 
of cultivation during the last ten or fifteen years. The Chrysanthemum 
supplies us with flowers of beauty and usefulness just at the time of the 
year when flowers are not very plentiful, in fact he did not know what 
we should do without them to meet the present demand for flowers. 
But how many failed to obtain high class blooms by certain small and 
simple errors. He had heard many individuals say, “ Oh, the Chrysan¬ 
themum is easy enough to grow.” They were right to a certain extent, 
but how often do we see the same people when they try to obtain 
blooms of superior quality completely fail. He had found by experience 
that the Chrysanthemum required skill, carefulness, and judgment 
together with a large amount of study to grow it well; and those who 
wished to excel ought to be thoroughly acquainted with each variety, as 
some varieties require different treatment from others. 
One of the first points of importance is the time of striking the cut¬ 
tings, as this has a great influence on the bud taking, often causing 
some varieties to be late or much too early. It "also causes the 
cutting in some cases to form flower buds instead of growth. He 
found the best time for inserting the cuttings in this locality to be from 
the last week in November to the first week in January for the produc¬ 
tion of high-class blooms. He rooted his cuttings in a cool frame with 
a little bottom heat, afterwards growing them on in cold frames pro¬ 
tected from the frost, and when the weather permits placed them outside. 
The next point of importance is the final potting. He considered all 
