brown, for winter is not far off. From 
afar I descry my old home and joy¬ 
fully press onward in my haste. 
“ Alas ! as 1 come nearer 1 see the 
ruin time has wrought in my home; 
see my faithful servants, grown old and 
grey, rush forth to meet me; my chil¬ 
dren, lean and ragged, cluster at the 
gate. Sad though all things look, there 
is the old pine tree and my chrysanthe¬ 
mums laden with blossoms of gold.” 
Thus wrote T’ao Yuan-Ming, who 
lived from 36? to 427 and became 
one of the most learned and noted of 
all the Chinese writers. 
From China the chrysanthemum 
was introduced into Japan, and thence 
all over the world, but one will look 
in vain in old “ Herballs,” for them 
under this name. The first of these 
flowers to bloom in European gardens, 
over two hundred years ago, were 
called by the long name of Matricaria 
164 
