December 15, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
245 
MR. ORCHARD ON THE CHRY 
SANTHEMUM. 
Under the auspices of the Isle of Wight Horticul¬ 
tural Improvement Association, Mr. Charles Orchard, 
of Bembridge, recently gave an address on "The 
Chrysanthemum.” 
Mr. Orchard said in common with many of his 
handicraft and a vast number of the flower-loving 
public, he had paid his devotions to the Queen of 
the Autumn. Twenty-five years ago he had the 
good fortune to make the acquaintance of Mr. E. 
Rowe, of Roehampton, near Wimbledon, then con¬ 
sidered the champion grower of that day, and by him 
was introduced in 1871 to the members of the old 
original Stoke Newington Chrysanthemum Society. 
He would not occupy their time by dilating on the 
charms of the flower, although he could fill pages on 
its adaptability under all phases of cultivation to 
lighten and brighten up the homes and courtyards of 
the poor as well as the conservatories and mansions 
of the rich. He had been struck with the enormous 
quantity of Chrysanthemums that passed through 
Covent Garden Market, the hundreds of thousands 
of persons it gave employment to in the production 
of the plant and the sale of the flower through all 
the stages of the market, and if the Chrysanthemums 
were swept off the face of the earth, what a dull 
world this would be in November and December ! 
Every one who had been brought in contact with it 
in its best form, or had been tempted to grow a few, 
knew full well how enchanting it was to watch the 
progress of the plants and how enjoyable to see the 
bursting buds and unfolding florets of 
some choice variety as they gradually 
developed. The first row of florets were 
like rays of sunshine to the cultivator, 
and finally the full flower an orb of 
beauty to brighten their spirits and 
gladden their hearts in the dull autumn 
days, that well repaid them for all their 
care and attention throughout the season. 
As regards its history, although com¬ 
paratively a modern flower, as far as 
English gardens were concerned, it was 
mentioned by Kempfer in his "Travels 
in Japan" as long as 1712. It was a 
native of Japan, and the national floral 
emblem of that country, as the rose was 
for England. We had record that in 1764 
a small single yellow variety was brought 
to England and planted in the Botanic 
Gardens, Chelsea, but it soon died out 
and was lost. Better varieties were intro¬ 
duced into France in 1789, and found 
their way to England, where they 
sold at very high prices. During the first 
twenty-two years of this century, sixteen 
varieties were introduced from China, and 
after 1822 there were fresh introductions every year. 
Most of these varieties were semi-double, and from 
these seed was saved. The first record for Europe was 
seed saved in France in 1830, and from these abetter 
type was raised. In that year the first incurved 
flower was mentioned. In 1848 Mr. R. Fortune 
brought home from China a little lilac flower, called 
the Chusan Daisy, the forerunner of our present race 
of pompons. In 1862 Mr. Fortune introduced the 
first Japanese into England. They were then re¬ 
garded as mere floral curiosities, and on account of 
their late flowering old-fashioned florists and exhibi¬ 
tors would not look at them. They, however, 
became favourites as the fashion in aesthetic decora¬ 
tion advanced. 
The increase in the number of varieties since their 
advent was something enormous. In 1873 he had 
in a collection under his charge sixty-five varieties, 
the best that could be procured, and amoDgst them 
were nine varieties of Japanese. Fourteen years 
after he had charge of a trade collection of 6,000 
plants, consisting of 415 varieties, over 300 being 
Japanese. So enormous had been the increase of 
new varieties to meet the demand for novelties, 
although only eight years ago, out of those 300 
varieties there were only about four that would find 
a place in a stand of twenty-four varieties full for 
exhibition at the present day. It was only in the 
Japanese section that such a transformation had 
taken place—the incurved section,the large anemones, 
the pompons, the pompon anemones, and the re¬ 
flexed still held their own in public favour. The 
reason was that the Japanese varieties were suffi¬ 
ciently diversified to be subdivided in different 
sections. The lecturer then dealt with the propa¬ 
gation of the flower through all its various stages, 
with dressing the blooms for exhibition, specimen 
plants, bush plants, dwarfing, grouping and cutting 
down, and including his deeply interesting and well- 
prepared paper, said if he had added one grain of 
knowledge to that which his hearers possessed, or if 
his remarks should induce one more convert to the 
ranks of the chrysanthemum-loving public, he 
should be amply repaid (loud applause). On the 
motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr. T. Stears, 
a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the lecturer. 
and hardier than several which we possess. Earliness 
is another quality in requisition for some of our com¬ 
paratively sunless seasons. 
NEW TOMATOS ON THE 
CONTINENT. 
Within the last two or three years many new 
varieties of Tomato have been raised and dis¬ 
seminated amongst cultivators as in this country; 
but a few of them are described as particularly note¬ 
worthy and deserving of cultivation for one quality 
or another, or a combination of qualities. That 
represented by the accompanying illustration, for 
which we are indebted to M. Ed. Pynaert, of Ghent, 
is named Lycopersicum semperfructiferum, in 
allusion to its extraordinary productiveness. Though 
recorded as a species introduced by MM. Damman 
& Co., of Naples, in 1892, it is probably closely 
allied to L. pyriforme, the pear-shaped variety 
already well known in British collections. The 
Lycopersicum semperfructiverum. 
fruits are described as plum shaped, somewhat 
elongated, and reddish-scarlet, but the illustration 
suggests a pear-shaped fruit. The plant produces 
large and crowded bunches of fruit in succession, 
from June to December, and is accordingly described 
as one of the earliest and one of the latest varieties. 
It lends itself very readily to culture on espaliers, 
both in the open air and in the cool greenhouse. 
The flesh is firm and of good taste. The quantity of 
the produce surpasses that of almost every other 
variety. 
Amongst other sorts recommended, Aurore 
Boreale seems deserving of trial in this country. 
The stems are very stout, and bear small, round, or 
apple-shaped fruits of a brilliant red. The flesh is 
firm, of good quality, and contains but a few seeds. 
MM. Damman & Co. put it into commerce in 1892, 
and recommend it as suitable above all for culture 
in pots. Tomato Prince of Naples is a novelty of 
1891, and produces very large, flattened, and slightly 
ribbed fruits of a brilliant scarlet. Another variety 
may be mentioned, namely, Ananas, on account of 
its great productiveness. A single plant has pro¬ 
duced and thoroughly matured eighteen pounds of 
fruit, which is of beautiful form and golden-yellow. 
The taste is said to leave nothing to be desired. All 
of the above might well have a trial in this country, 
so that they might be pitted against the respective 
varieties which they resemble in size, shape, and 
colour. Several of the yellow varieties here are of 
peculiar flavour, and others are highly esteemed, but 
we require a yellow variety of good consistency, and 
which will prove more productive in the open air, 
PLANT LIFE. 
(Concluded from p 237.) 
That a fruit or other tree grows requires no 
demonstration ; but what to do with that growth 
or how to utilise it, is often a burning question ot 
the first importance to the cultivator. Trees in 
time get crowded by the growth they make and the 
size they attain ; and besides the thinning of the 
trees and their heads to let in light and air in order 
to expose both leaves and fruit to the action of the 
same, there is the annual increment of growth which 
is often a serious matter when the trees produce 
wood fit only for staking purposes and no fruit. In 
order to repress this growth and make the tree more 
fruitful, root pruning is resorted to as well as graft¬ 
ing and budding trees upon foreign stocks. All this 
is, of course, due to the artificial and unnatural con¬ 
ditions under which we place them, and the restrict- 
tions we place upon growth to restrain it within due 
bounds, or to render the trees fruitful in limited 
areas of space. These artificial methods of restrict- 
tion by pruning and the use of various stocks have 
much to answer for, and though not wholly wrong, 
they are far from being entirely perfect. Those 
cultivators who are the most skilful and obtain the 
best results, have the most nearly arrived at perfect¬ 
ion in the use of means to an end, if such a thing as 
perfection is attainable. 
The subject of reproduction has 
already been discussed from various 
points of view, horticultural and other¬ 
wise. Plants finally die of old age, acci¬ 
dent or bad usage, at the end of a few 
months, a year, two, or any greater 
numberof years accordingto their natural 
duration. Even the longest lived may 
be of very short duration in a state of 
nature, for it must be remembered that 
nature sows broadcast over deep or 
shallow soil, rich or poor, and in shallow, 
stony places where there may not be 
sufficient depth of earth to support them. 
It is different in the garden, and although 
we take it for granted that a gardener is 
often called upon to grow all sorts of 
plants in very barren and unsuitable soil; 
yet we have to face the fact, that he is 
often more successful than another who 
is under much more favourable 
conditions in many ways. This we 
attribute to his skill, and it is the 
bounden duty of every young gardener 
to learn how to grow fruits, flowers 
and vegetables to that perfection, of 
which any given soil may be capable. The hill of 
knowledge and experience is always up-hill work, but 
those who surmount it will, in due time, reap their 
reward. Old age in fruit trees and vines usually 
means fertility, so that the gardener’s duty is to 
maintain the health of his plants even under artificial 
conditions. 
Summary. 
I have now briefly reviewed the leading facts in the 
life history of a plant, and you will have noted that 
a plant lives, breathes, feeds, grows, reproduces 
itself, and finally dies. That an Apple tree lives and 
dies you are all firmly convinced whatever may be 
said about the rest of its doings. In speaking about 
the respiration of plants it may be pertinent to the 
subject to recall the case of the Mummy Wheat—the 
sea serpent of gardening literature, whose story 
unfortunately for the boasted spread of science at 
the fag end of the nineteenth century, receives an 
undue amount of credence. What is true of the 
breathing of a full-grown Apple tree is equally true 
of the embryo in the seed. So long as the seed 
retains its germinating power, or, in other words, so 
long as the embryo lives it is breathing and must 
respire or die. This faculty it loses in the course of 
a year if kept out of the soil. A grain of Wheat 
would live probably for a number of years, and all 
this time must be in contact with air for the purpose 
of respiration ; but this is a process of destruction 
that would reduce it to a piece of carbon cr charcoal 
in a much shorter period than 2,000 years. The 
process of oxidation goes on after the death of the 
embryo. By taking another view of the subject we 
