February 18, 1893. 
m 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
ON EXPERIMENTS WITH 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS.* 
By Mr. Alex. M'Millan, Trinity Cottage, Trinity. 
Before commencing to give details of lry 
"Up to Date” experiments with the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum, perhaps you will allow me to take a glimpse 
at the past, as it is only by measuring the past with 
the present that we can realise how much we have 
advanced. I can scarcely believe that it is only nine 
years since I wrote my last paper on the Chrysan¬ 
themum that was read at a meeting of this Associa¬ 
tion. At that time the Chrysanthemum was badly 
grown in Scotland. We had no flower show to en¬ 
courage growers to cultivate and bring this most 
useful flower to perfection. In my paper of that 
date I strongly advised a Chrysanthemum Show for 
Edinburgh ; but I never dreamt that we could or 
would advance with-such leaps and bounds. Now 
the Chrysanthemum 
Show, although the last, 
is the leading show of the 
year, and is looked for¬ 
ward to both by garden¬ 
ers and the general public 
as the one bright spot in 
our dark, dreary month 
of November. It is now 
nearly forty years since I 
tried what I may call my 
first experiment with the 
Chrysanthemum I was 
then a young man knock¬ 
ing about the I.ondon 
nurseries. Of course, I 
attended all the shows, as 
1 believeteaching through 
the eye has a far greater 
power in kindling enthu¬ 
siasm than through the 
ear. At least Ifound it so 
when I visited a Chrysan¬ 
themum show for the first 
time. When I saw the 
specimen plants and table 
of cut blooms I was inclin¬ 
ed to ask, like the children 
of Israel when they saw 
the manna for the first 
time, " What is it ? ” 
They were so different 
from what I had seen in 
Scotland, that I was de¬ 
termined to try and find 
out the secret of how such 
plants and blooms were 
produced So I took my 
stand close by the first 
prize lot, and kept a sharp 
look out for the owner, or 
some one that could give 
me the much coveted in¬ 
formation. By-and-bye, I 
found a young man that 
seemed to have charge, 
and was an assistant of 
the grower’s. So I com¬ 
menced my first experi¬ 
ment by a perfect show¬ 
er of questions. He was 
very civil, as most Londoners are, but to most of 
my questions he generally gave the same answer, 
“ Oh, we gives ’em summat good to drink.” But 
I thought there must be more than the good to 
drink. However, if “ summat good to drink” assisted 
in opening the hearts of these beautiful flowers, 
perhaps the same process applied to my new friend 
would open his heart also, and that he would tell 
me all about it. So I asked him if he would have 
" summat,” and I was not the least surprised when 
he said he " didn't moind.” 
In those days it was more difficult to get horticul¬ 
tural information than it is at present, and a young 
man that wanted to get on was sometimes obliged to 
stand treat for information that is now spread broad¬ 
cast over the land by this Association. A few glasses 
of beer to some of the old hands in the nursery made 
a vast difference. I have no doubt but that all is 
changed now, but this was in the good old days— 
—---a--- 
A paper read by Mr. Alex. M'Millan, Trinity Cottage, 
Edinburgh, at the meeting of the Scottish Horticultural Asso¬ 
ciation on October 4th, 1S92. 
before the Londoners took to drinking whisky. We 
had a very interesting paper by Mr. Muir last year, 
entitled " North versus South,” but, as far my observa¬ 
tions go, I find that the Scotch are fast becoming 
English, and the English are still faster becoming 
Scotch. In a late visit to the South, after a long ab¬ 
sence, I could not help taking note of this. When 
a Cockney masher now enters a refreshment bar he 
calls for a " Scotch,” and says, “ the best, old chap¬ 
pie,” or " the best, my lass,” as the case may be. 
And in Edinburgh the Scotch masher calls for a 
glass of ” Bittah, old man,” or if he is waited on by a 
waitress, " A glass of bittah, my gal. ’ And again, 
I am told there is more oatmeal now consumed in 
London than there is in Edinburgh If you go to 
the Highlands for a holiday, take care how you ad¬ 
dress any person in kilts, for if you say, “ Good 
morning, Donald,” the chances are that you will get a 
salute of Cockney lingo strong enough for Billings¬ 
gate. In the Scotsman, of April 28th, there was a 
letter from a Scotsman domiciled in England, de¬ 
scribing a performance on the bagpipes, on a Sun¬ 
day, in York Minster. He goes on to say, " Eight 
kilted Highlanders of the Royal Scots played a 
Highland Lament as an integral part of the anthem. 
The effect was infinitely touching," etc. Well, I should 
say, it was enough to touch a man three miles oft, 
and fairly out-Scotching the Scotch. 
And again, Christmas is fast becoming a Scotch 
holiday. And as for the Chrysanthemum, we can 
hardly deny but that we are following the South. 
There is an old saying that imitation is the since- 
rest form of flattery—if this is true, I think both 
North and South should be well pleased. I will now 
sum up what we have learned and copied from each 
other. I find that Scotland has gained bitter beer, 
Christmas, and Chrysanthemums ; England’s gains 
are whisky, oatmeal, kilts, and bagpipes—so that 
England benefits by one point. But I must hasten 
to my new friend that I left so dry, and promised that 
“summat,” for he must be almost flagging by this 
time. Well, I found him both intelligent and willing 
to explain all the mystery of Chrysanthemum grow¬ 
ing as practised in those days, but all was so new to 
me that I felt half-bewildered. However, between 
the show and what that young man told me, I felt 
that I had got a bite, and was in for a dose of that 
fearful disease called Chrysanthomania that would de- 
velope into something serious on the first favourable 
opportunity ; and, had I not been partly muzzled by 
another paper being read to-night, I would very 
likely have sent most of you home raving mad with 
the same affliction. 
I may mention here that one of my experiments was 
to grow the Chrysanthemum without pots—that is, 
bringing them on in frames, like Calceolarias—and, 
when danger from frost was over, planting out in the 
kitchen garden, and lifting them carefully about the 
1st of October and planting in a house with prepared 
borders. I need not point out to gardeners what a 
saving of labour, in water 
alone, there was in this 
mode of cultivation. Of 
course these were for 
decorative purposes, and 
after all is said.about show 
blooms, most of us are 
obliged to make the show 
only a secondary consid¬ 
eration. I followed this 
system for a number of 
years, and, had I a living 
to make by growing cut 
flowers for market, this is 
the plan I would follow. 
Good flowers can also be 
got from plantk grown in 
this way, as some of 
those present may remem¬ 
ber who have seen my ex¬ 
hibits of former years. On 
the6th of January, 1880, I 
was awarded a cultural 
certificate for a collection 
— I think the first cultural 
certificate that had been 
given by this Association. 
The cuttings that can be 
got from plants grown in 
this way are quite a diffe¬ 
rent thing from those 
taken from pot-bound 
plants. At that time I 
supplied cuttings to my 
friends far and near. 
I got a great number of 
sports from these planted- 
out Chrysanthemums, 
particularly from the 
Pompon varieties. A 
great many of the blooms 
came partly coloured — 
that is, one side of the 
flower would be white, 
and, perhaps, the other 
half red. Our soil was a 
rather stiff clay. I always 
thought myself that the 
planting out had some¬ 
thing to do with the num¬ 
ber of sports. The plants 
were grown in a more natural way than pot plants, 
and Madame Nature had more of her own sweet will 
—she was happier, more frolicsome, and, of course, 
more sportive. 
Well, so much for the past, but I must come now 
to the present, as the present only is ours. For the 
last few years I have been trying how far I could 
extend the Chrysanthemum season. Some may say it 
is long enough already, but I far one am not of that 
opinion— 
For a Chrysanthemum to ine, 
I may let you know, 
Is something more 
Than a three days’ Show. 
But I will admit at once that November and 
December are the months when we want them most, 
then Queen Chrysanthemum steps in, in the full 
flush of her beauty, and takes the place of her 
sickly, dying sisters, and cheers us through the dull 
winter months. But I can't see why a flower that is 
beautiful and useful in November should not be also 
made welcome at any other time of year, provided 
Aster Amellus as a Pot Plant, 
