2 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r July 2, 1885. 
the size. This is the most profitable, and is worth trying in 
all light soils and warm positions—in fact everywhere, for no 
one knows where particular varieties of Strawberries will 
succeed without trying them. It is a French variety, and is 
described as follows in the “Fruit Manual”:—“ Fruit very 
large, conical; skin bright shining red; flesh bright orange, 
solid, juicy, sugary, and richly flavoured. It is of immense 
size, and sometimes weighs as much as 3^ ozs.” At Knowle 
Hill many of the large fruits are somewhat wedge-shaped 
and ribbed, and the colour, orange red, renders it a favourite 
for preserving; but some others are of higher quality for 
dessert in the soil in question; yet the fact remains that 
Marguerite produces the heaviest crops, and the fruit realises 
the best price of all, so imposing is its appearance. Princess 
Alice Maud is a favourite old market Strawberry, as it travels 
well, and can generally be relied on for a good crop in most 
soils. Sir Joseph Paxton is a well-known Strawberry of 
sterling merit, and is grown very extensively in Kent; it is 
perhaps the best midseason variety. Empress Eugenie 
bears heavy crops of good sized, but not very large, fruit in 
the sand. The fruit is firm, colour very rich, and quality 
quite first-rate, nearly equalling that of the British Queen— 
the queen of all for quality, and never fails to produce 
admirable crops with Mr. Sharpe. The last is Comte de Paris, 
than which no variety grows better in the light soil, and a 
fine crop is swelling. I am not certain there are not two 
varieties under this name in cultivation. Be that as it may, 
the one at Knowle Hill is valuable because of its decided 
lateness; the fruit is of good size and colour, with a brisk 
agreeable flavour. A few other varieties are grown, including 
The Captain, on trial, but the above are relied on, and will 
yield tons of fruit during the next three weeks. 
The eround slopes sharply to the south, and is sheltered 
by woods on the north, east, and west—a great advantage 
for early ripening, and the first good fruit in the market 
invariably commands the highest prices. 
The Royal Lake, Virginia Water, is about a mile from 
Knowle Hill. It is 365 acres in extent, boldly irregular in 
outline, surrounded with plantations, and altogether it is not 
easy to imagine a more beautiful example of English scenery 
to which the public have access all the year round. It is 
twenty-three miles from London.—J. Weight. 
THE HISTORY OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
( Continued from page 523.) 
The following, translated from the original Chinese by Mr. 
Reeves, will serve as examples of the names by which the Chrysan¬ 
themum was known in the Celestial Empire. “ The purple lily, 
the white waves of autumn, the purple pheasant’s tail, the scarlet 
robe, the yellow gold thread, the purple butterfly, the purple 
pheasant's feather, the yellow tiger’s claw, the crystal white, the 
drunken lady.” It was, however, only a year or two after this rather 
trifling anxiety arose that a way out of the dilemma was found, for 
as soon as the French florists began to take them in hand the old 
Rjstem of nomenclature was entirely discarded, and following in the 
footsteps of the Dutch a kind of floral hero-worship started into 
existence, and the newer kinds were named after many of the 
principal celebrities of France and other countries. 
Respecting the diversity of opinion as to the genus to which the 
large-flowering or Chinese Chrysanthemum, as it was commonly 
called, a word or two may be usefully inserted here. Mr. Joseph 
Sabine, whose writings afford much interesting and useful informs- 
tion on this point, and to which the author is almost wholly indebted 
for the particulars already given, contended that the varieties then 
known were not the C. indicum of Linnaeus, although he considered 
such a species did exist, and strongly advised its importation. In 
several very able and exhaustive papers read by him before two of 
the learned and scientific societies of which he was a member, he 
gave a long explanation of his study and researches, definitely 
setting the whole question at rest, the result being that the small 
tloweiing variety was the true C. indicum ; whereas the large 
Chinese Chrysanthemum of 1789 and its successors were proved by 
him to belong to an entirely different species, and thenceforth to be 
properly known as C. sinense. 
In one of these papers lists are given and references made to all 
the previous writers on this plant, upon a perusal of which it is seen 
that the Indian and Chinese Chrysanthemums bad been subjected to 
no fewer than twenty-six various designations. Notwithstanding his 
labours many people, probably from ignorance and custom, still clung 
to the old and incorrect name, and as late as 1827 a contributor to 
“ Hone’s Table Book,'’ under the heading “ Winter Flowers, i^teis 
undoubtedly to the Chinese Chrysanthemum as C.. indicum. ahis 
writer, who of course is not quoted as any authority, explains its 
service in enlivening the dreary months of November and December, 
and tells us that there were then about forty varieties of it in this 
country, for the greater part of which we are indebted to the London 
Horticultural Society. He describes the facility with which it is 
propagated and the dissimilarity in the forms of the flowers, as wel 
as in the formation of the petals, and concludes with a list of those 
which particularly engaged his attention, among them being the pure 
or large paper white, the early blush, the golden lotus, the superb 
clustered yellow, and the starry purple. Mr. Hone’s correspondent,who 
adopts the pseudonym of “ Jerry Blossom, ’ says there is little chance 
of its ever ripening its seed on account of the blooming season being at 
the commencement of the winter, an opinion previously expressed by 
Mr. Sabine, nor does any mention appear of the Chrysanthemum 
having been raised from seed up to this time. It was therefore ielt 
that whatever new kinds made their appearance they must be brought 
from India or China, and Mr. Salter was of opinion that seed was 
never saved in England prior to 1830. 
We are told by Mr. Burbidge in his recent work on the Chrysan¬ 
themum that in or about that year the first English seedlings were 
raised by Mr. Isaac Wheeler, gardener and porter at the Magdalen 
Hall (now Hertford College), Oxford, and that these were reared from 
home saved seeds at Beaumont Buildings in that city. On December 
2nd, 1832, Mr. Wheeler exhibited some of his seedlings in London, 
and received a silver Banksian medal for them as the earliest seed¬ 
ling Chrysanthemums raised in England. This medal and a drawing 
of one of the plants may yet be seen in the possession of a member 
of the Wheeler family still resident in Oxford. Somewhere about 
the year 1835 seedlings which Mr. Salter calls the first English bona 
fide ones were raised in Norfolk by Mr. Short and Mr. I reestone, t e 
latter of whom obtained Prince of Wales, the well-known incurved 
variety, which is represented in a coloured plate forming the frontis¬ 
piece to Mr. Salter’s book. Nonpareil and Norfolk Hero, the latter 
variety of which has probably shared the same fate as those previously 
mentioned, were also among the first sorts raised in that part or 
the country. . 
The love of floriculture in that country is proverbial, and it was 
not long before the people of Norwich inaueurated the first Chrysan¬ 
themum exhibition, which was held in 1843. Three years later this 
was followed by one in London under the auspices of the Stoke 
Newington Chrysanthemum Society, afterwards called the Borough or 
Hackney, but which has more recently adopted the title or the 
National Chrysanthemum Society, at the shows of which .may be seen 
blooms of the Chrysanthemum that would probably astonish the most 
skilful Chinese or Japanese gardener. , 
Almost every important town in England has followed suit, and 
Chrysanthemum societies are still being formed in many of the 
smaller towns, showing how greatly is this plant appreciated, ihe 
prizes offered are in many cases of very considerable value, and 
include silver cups and money prizes amounting to sums as high 
as £15. 
The following is a list of some of the most prominent Societies 
established for the purpose of encouraging the . culture of Chrysan¬ 
themum and other floricultural associations which have annual ex¬ 
hibitions of this flower :—Aylesbury Chrysanthemum Society ; Ascot, 
Sunninghill, and District Horticultural Society ; Brixton, Streatham, 
a id Clapham Chrysanthemum Society ; Brighton and Hove Chrysan¬ 
themum Society, Bath and Floral Fete Committee, Bromley Chrysan¬ 
themum Society, Basingstoke Horticultural Society, Birmingham 
Chrysanthemum Society, Bristol and Clifton Chrysanthemum Society, 
Burton-on-Trent Chrysanthemum Society, Croydon Horticultural 
Society, Colchester Horticultural Society, Canterbury Gardeners 
Mutual Improvement Society, Crystal Palace, Cheltenham Chrysan¬ 
themum and Fruit Society, Colchester and East Essex Horticultural 
Society, Cambridgeshire Horticultural Society, Chesterfield Chrysan¬ 
themum Society, Chelmsford and Essex Horticultural Society, Dorset 
County Branch of the National Chrysanthemum Society ; Ealing, 
Acton, and Hanwell Horticultural Society ; Gravesend and North 
Kent Chrysamhemum Association, Hull and East Riding Chrysan¬ 
themum Society, Havant Chrysanthemum Society, Huddersfield 
Chrysanthemum Society, Headington Horticultural Society ; Highgate, 
Finchley, and Hornsey Chrysanthemum Society ; Ipswich Horticul¬ 
tural Society, Kingston and Surbiton Chrysanthemum Society, 
Lambeth Amateur Chrysanthemum Society, Liverpool Horticultural 
Association, Lincoln Chrysanthemum Society, Leicestershire Chrysan¬ 
themum Society, Loughborough Chrysanthemum and Fruit Society, 
Lindfield Chrysanthemum Society, Manchester Botanical Society, 
