101 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 15, 1859. 
CRYSTAL PALACE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW. 
NOVEMBER 9TH. 
This was a large show for a Lord Mayor’s day, and 
for so early a period to see the full force of Chrysan¬ 
themums. Nine years out of ten it is on to the 20th of 
the month before the conservatories in the country are in 
full blaze with Chrysanthemums ; and this year they are 
later than usual about London. What the country party, 
therefore, will learn most from this report is the names of 
the best earliest kinds to push on for the first filling up 
in the greenhouse or conservatory. 
_ The way to push them is to have these, the earliest 
kinds, potted for the last time ten days or a fortnight 
earlier than the late kinds; and that involves the last 
stopping also to be seen to as much in advance of the 
later sorts. 
The newest feature in their culture, and showing: off 
at this Exhibition, was the abundance of standard Pom- 
pones, and a very fair beginning of the standarding of the 
tall old kinds. They are indispensable in showing off 
large, collections of any kinds of flowering plants, save 
Orchids. But why not have standard Orchids as well 
as standard Chrysanthemums ? Surely they could be 
grafted on purpose; while all the Pompones and their 
allies need merely be disbudded at the first making of the 
cuttings, and the process continued up to half-standard 
lengths of thirty inches or thereabouts to upwards of 
three feet for full standards. The half-standard for most 
of the Pompones, and the full-measure height for the 
older and large kinds. Then half the world need be told 
that standards in this family will live and grow, increase 
in size and substance, just as long and as much in pro¬ 
portion as standard and half-standard Roses. The oldest 
standard Rose in this country is now not more in years 
than the first Chrysanthemum that was introduced might 
be if it had been then made into a standard. But the 
oldest Chrysanthemum standard I know of is not yet 
over seven years of age, nor yet much stouter than a fair 
walking-stick: the wood of it, however, is hard enough 
to make a handle to a pruning-knife; and it is grafted 
with different kinds, to finish up and prove the value of 
an experiment which was suggested by the late Lady 
Gordon Cumming to her gardener, Mr. Temple, in 1825, 
when I was a lad learning crossing under them. The 
two were then about the best scientific and practical 
hands in these parts ; and I warrant the second half of 
the experiment is in the best practical hands in England. 
The story was told and the form was suggested in The 
Cottage Gardener some six or seven years back ; and if 
I live till the practice is determined one way or other, it 
shall not be fly-flapped or be put .under a bushel—but I 
have neither hand nor foot in that experiment myself. 
But now, seeing that Mr. Eyles and his employers have 
wisely undertaken to encourage the culture of standard 
Chrysanthemums, I felt that a new duty was thus thrust 
upon your humble servant in anticipation of “Answers 
to Correspondents.” The first batch of letters to our 
office, 162, Eleet Street, London, after reading about this 
Show, would be full of blooms—no, not blooms, but 
questions as to how and in what way standards are so 
made P what the best sorts for the purpose ? will they be 
in the fashion ? your own ideas of them P and all about 
them, and so forth. 
Well, any dress that was common in 1825 is now quite 
just and lawful for introduction as a new fashion. To 
dress flowers differs nothing from dressing in the fashion ; 
and this flower is made, as it were, on purpose for dressing 
—it has been dressed in the highest style ever since it 
came in fashion. There need be no queries, therefore, on 
that score. And as to the ideas of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener on fancy standards of all kinds, in doors and out, 
why, from its very birth it was the very aim it was 
pointing to. Moreover, the downfall of the Chiswick 
Gardens began the slide that very day on which the 
Doctor ran all over the Garden after Mr. Appleby, to 
give it him for showing his maiden standards of Deutzia 
gracilis —his “flyflappers” were the scientifics on that 
j memorable occasion: therefore nothing is to be feared 
from that quarter. Besides, all the great people, and 
more especially the ladies, delight in fancy standards to 
take off the sameness of the surface of their conser- 
i vatories. 
All that being settled, the next step is about the best 
kinds for standards ; and here it is an easy rise of six 
inches, or less, or more, to suit all ages, and lengths of 
legs and purses. The reason why one kind is better for 
a standard than another will be found in the habits of 
the kinds. Those with long and loose branches are not 
good for standards. Those with weak, slender shoots, 
and such as have the side-branches of strong leaders not 
up to a proportionate strength, and all straggling growers 
must be avoided, except by those who take such delight 
to spend days and weeks on the training and on the 
moulding of their plants, as the Chinese take in tor¬ 
turing their women to improve the shape of their feet 
to their own standard of beauty. There is not one far¬ 
thing’s worth of difference between the training of a 
Chinese woman and the training of a Chinese Chrysan¬ 
themum, for both are equally admired by those who do 
the work ; and if we work so many of ours into half and full 
standards, have we not just the same right to enjoy our 
labours, and to admire them, without being called over 
the coals by any one ? Of course we have ; and the Pom¬ 
pones being more stiff, more branchy, and less given to a 
rambling style of growth, must be the first to try our 
hands on. After them, we shall select the nearest to 
them in habit, with the best flowers and best colours 
from among the large kinds ; and if we do them well or 
middling, there is the Crystal Palace Show to take us in 
hand, and be our pattern and our guide till we are able to 
excel, and win the prizes. 
Almost all Pompones can be trained into standards, 
but the following are the easiest to do, and the best 
looking when done— Andromeda, Miss Talfourd, Adonis, 
Her rot, Bijou de V llorticulteur, liurejlet, Selene, Escar- 
boucle, Mustapka, Bob, Brilliant, Bequiqui, Trophe, Cedo 
Nulli, Mr. Astie, and Bresident Morel. And the best of 
the large Chrysanthemums, for making standards of, are 
— Chevalier jDumege, the brightest yellow and the best 
habit, for a standard, of all the family ; Julia Largravare, 
quite new, and velvety crimson; Cassandra, a pure 
white, very early, and a profuse bloomer; Sulphurea 
superba; Albin, the great favourite dark violet kind; 
Gassy, with its orange and rose; Trilby, with its pudi- 
bundus blushes of maiden purity ; and Glucic, with its 
immense golden turbans of tasselled petals. A short 
list, certainly, but a sweet and practically scientific one, 
for which I am indebted to the ripest practice repre¬ 
sented at this Show. 
I never could see any use in going to a show, and then 
sitting down and writing to one’s friends that so many 
things were shown in so many ways. Without going the 
length of value for value, I like to have something of 
some value for my money, to learn at shows, and to teach 
what I have been taught, and what has fallen to my net 
: by rod, hook or crook, and by hearsay. 
Well, then, this was a most suggestive Show; people 
who were loggerheaded last year were then in the best 
of feather; bygones were bygones, for the use of the 
great family. There was also a considerable deal of 
more polish, more taste, and better spelling than formerly; 
and, best of all, there was no trick upon travellers at¬ 
tempted, as far as I could judge. General Havelock 
being used as a new name to an old kind, and three or 
four hitches in the foreign spelling, were frills to what 
used to be heavy borders. Madam Mellez for Miellez, 
Marshal for Marechal, and a few others of that stamp; 
but some of our best Rose growers often make such 
lapses. Just look at how they spell the Barons and their 
