December 19, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
245 
and March last. This is making the Chrysanthemum 
practically an annual, and having it in bloom and 
producing flowers fit for exhibition nine months from 
the time of sowing. Some of the finest varieties of 
Japanese Chrysanthemums seen of late have been 
obtained in this way, and on Tuesday, Nov. 24th, Mr. 
Robert Owen, Floral Nursery, Maidenhead, exhibited 
some seedlings he had raised, among them one he 
merit; indeed, it well deserved a double first class. 
Well might Mr, Owen be proud of his variety. Mr. 
Norman Davis, of Camberwell, and Mr. C. E. Shea, 
of Foots Cray—the latter an enthusiastic amateur 
cultivator—have also raised some very fine and 
promising seedlings, One named Lionel Humphrey, 
something of the colour of Violet Rose, is, I think, 
destined to take a high place in this section, I have 
World will, in all probability, soon have an oppor¬ 
tunity of seeing a picture of this superb flower. It 
seemed to sum up in itself all that we can desire 
in a Japanese Chrysanthemum. Its size, symmetry, 
fulness, its stoutness and breadth of petal, and its 
rich tint of bronzy gold, marks it as the floral pro¬ 
duct of the year in the Chrysanthemum world. One 
wonders that such a bloom could have been pro- 
CH tYSANTHEMUM VISCOUNTESS HAMBLEDEN.— Nat. StSC. 
hadnamedViscountessHambleden, after the ennobled 
widow of the late Right Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P.— 
so distinct, and in every way so beautiful, as to be a 
source of wonder and surprise. Imagine a large, 
bold, broad-petalled, incurved flower ten inches or so 
in diameter, of a lovely soft pink hue, which suffuses 
Us massive waxy-white petals, and one can get some 
idea of what this floral wonder of Mr. Owen’s is like, 
was unanimously vot$d a First-class Certificate of 
instanced the two foregoing as illustrations of the 
good work being done by English raisers. 
Since writing the above, Mr. R. Owen electrified 
the Chrysanthemum world by producing at the 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on the 
8th, and at the early winter show of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society the next day, that superb 
bloom of a seedling Japanese he named after himself, 
viz., Robert 0 \Y en '. Readers of The Gardsn’ing 
duced from a plant raised from seed sown in 
February last. But Mr. Owen is laying himself out 
for the production of seedlings. He has erected a 
house for the purpose. He commences to fertilise 
early in the season—he is far too shrewd a m: n 
to leave anything of this kind to chance or hap¬ 
hazard crossing—and he goes on with the work of 
fertilising until the middle of December. Mr. 
Owen is on the floral war path, and continental 
raisers will now have to be particular what they 
Send in the way of ne\y varieties,— It. D 
