October 81, 183!>. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
369 
M ANY erroneous statements have appeared at different times 
■with regard to the introduction of the Chrysanthemum to 
England, and these divergencies are undoubtedly due to the 
paucity of early reliable records bearing upon the matter. Like 
many other plants of eastern origin the Chrysanthemum had been 
■cultivated in the eastern part of Asia, more particularly in China 
and Japan, for many years, perhaps centuries, before it became 
known to Europeans, and then its existence was first recorded in 
botanical works. During the seventeenth century the Dutch were 
foremost amongst commercial navigators, and their merchants were 
dn frequent communication with the East Indies, the larger 
islands of the Indian Archipelago and neighbouring regions, pro¬ 
bably occasionally even with China and Japan, though ports in those 
countries were then very difficult of access. Amongst the various 
natural and artificial products imported to Europe by this means 
"it was quite likely that plants would be included, and we know 
this actually to have been the case with some now familiar 
occupants of our gardens. There is a strong probability that the 
Chrysanthemum thus originally found its way to Holland, at least 
the earliest known references are in Dutch works of the years 1689 
.(Breynius) and 1690 (Rheede), and from these it app rs that 
varieties with differently coloured flowers were then cultivated. 
Respecting these introductions our information terminates with 
the records named, and no further facts are forthcoming ; indeed 
the plants disappeared, and nothing further is heard about them in 
cultivation for a hundred years. Botanists and travellers had, 
however, been busy in the meantime, and Kaempfer, Rumphius, 
Linnaeus, and Thunberg all described the plant, under various 
names it is true, but it was comparatively easy to identify them all 
with the Chrysanthemum indicum of Linnaeus, which became its 
•accepted name. 
We learn on the authority of Aiton’s “ Hortus Kewensis ” 
(second edition, 1813) that about the middle of the eighteenth 
century a variety of Chrysanthemum indicum was cultivated by 
Miller in the Apothecaries’ Garden at Chelsea (1764), and a 
specimen was preserved in the official herbarium, though the 
plant was lost. Some discrepancies between the description and 
the specimen throw a little doubt upon the identity of the 
plant with the C. indicum of Linnaeus, but there is no question 
that it was subsequently lost, and like the earlier introduced 
varieties in Holland, totally disappeared from gardens. It is 
•also clear the plant was unknown at Kew when the first edition 
of the “Hortus Kewensis” was published (1789), for it is not 
included in that work. 
The next introduction of which we have any record is said 
to have occurred in 1789, a Monsieur Blancard of Marseilles 
being credited with the importation into France of several 
varieties described by M. Ramatuelle as Anthemis grandiflora 
in the Journal d’Histoire Naturelle, vol. ii. page 237. Mr. 
Sabine, Secretary of the London Horticultural Society, in 1822, 
published in the Transactions of the Society named (vol. iv.) 
a list of the varieties then known, with particulars of their origin, 
and a brief history of the Chrysanthemum, to which (with Mr. 
Salter’s book) subsequent writers have been largely indebted for 
their materials. In that paper it is said some varieties of Chrysan¬ 
themum were introduced to France by M. Blancard in 1789, and 
that in the following year (1790) plants of the purple variety, 
the only one preserved, were sent to the Royal Gardens at Kew by 
M. Cels of Paris, and thence distributed in England. We thus have 
the two dates upon which the centenary celebrations of the present 
and next year are founded. 
The progress of the flower from the period named becomes a 
matter of history, concerning which much has been written, but no 
complete and satisfactory record of its advance during the past fifty 
years has yet appeared. It is only within the later half of that 
time that really rapid progress has been made, and regarding the 
Chrysanthemum collectively in all its sections it is unquestionably 
greatly superior to what it was a quarter of a century ago, when 
some thought its popularity was declining, and neglected it for 
fresh favourites. The progress of recent years has been almost 
entirely due to British cultivators, who have produced the best 
examples of their skill and entered in competition with each other 
at the exhibitions which have so greatly increased in numbers. No 
history of the Chrysanthemum can be regarded as satisfactory that 
does not do full justice to those who have really proved to the 
public the beauties and capabilities of the plant, and without their 
aid the continental raisers would have received but little encourage¬ 
ment to proceed in their work. As it is the latter have annually 
left much for our nurserymen to do in the selection of really good 
novelties from the extremely numerous seedlings sent here with 
elaborate descriptions of their charms. To the firms that have 
introduced varieties direct from Japan we are much more indebted, 
as these have formed very distinct types. Raisers of seedlings in 
England have done good and useful work; critical selectors, and 
those who have observed and fixed distinct sports, have all assisted in 
the advance ; while many firms in town and country who make 
specialties of Chrysanthemums and provide annual displays, have all 
helped in the popularisation of the plant. Then, too, the public 
shows in the Temple Gardens and Finsbury Park, and more 
recently in the Victoria, Southwark, and Battersea Parks, are 
bringing the Chrysanthemum into more prominent notice. Lastly, 
the writers of books and contributors to the Press have performed 
valuable service in rendering the usefulness and beauty of the 
plant more widely known, and in the support of the societies de¬ 
voted to its encouragement. We thus have four agencies that have 
shared in the development of the Chrysanthemum to its present 
stage of beauty and popularity—the introducers and raisers of new 
varieties who have furnished the material ; the amateur, profes¬ 
sional, and trade exhibitors, who have grown and displayed them 
to the best advantage ; the societies that have provided prizes and 
other honours to promote competition ; and the writers who have 
published their experiences and extended the interest in the flower 
by records of events, advances, and successes. All these agencies 
should have due representation and recognition in any centenary 
celebration of so popular a plant. 
Some societies have considered the present year as the most 
fitting for a celebration of this kind, although next year would be 
more appropriate as the centenary of the year when the Chrys¬ 
anthemum appeared in England ; and this view has been taken by 
the National Society, which reserves its Special Fete and Con¬ 
ference for 1890. It is, of course, quite open for any European 
country to celebrate the centenary this year, and the Royal 
Horticultural Society accordingly lead the van with a Conference 
and Exhibition at Chiswick next Tuesday and W ednesday, November 
5th and Gth, to which many are now looking forward with con¬ 
siderable curiosity and interest. Some of this Society’s former 
influence i 3 returning under a spirited system of management, and 
it is doubtful if any other Society in the world could have 
accomplished such results in one year as the Temple Show, the 
Rose, and Vegetable Conferences, without the aid of money prizes. 
Perhaps a little too much has been attempted, but that is better 
than the policy of inactivity so long pursued, and it may be con- 
No. 488.— Vol. XIX., Thibd Sebies, 
No. 2144.—Vol. LXXXL, Old Sebies. 
