November 14, 1896 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
169 
of the Thames in James Weston, whose pompons, 
perhaps, for symmetrical form have never been 
excelled; Glover, of Tulse Hill; and Beecher, of 
Plumstead, the crack grower of the south. I think 
two of the above named, if not the third, took first 
prizes. This show financially nearly broke the back 
of the great North of London Society. Plants were 
dwarf and the building unduly large. I do not think 
I ever saw plants look so dumpy, out of place and 
unfavourable, before or since. There were no green 
baize, no Palms or edgings, and to fill the building 
they were so much extended that they looked as if 
they had been purposely scattered. At this show I 
do not think there was a single board of cut flowers, 
but there may have been ; if there was, there 
certainly were none of Mr. Lees’ flowers there, as I 
can vouch for. 
Meanwhile, the love of the Chrysanthemum was 
taking a firmer hold on the public ; shows sprang up 
in all directions; Salter, of Versailles Nursery, 
Hammersmith, was introducing new kinds of great 
merit; Adam Forsyth, of Shacklewell, doing the 
same, and showing fine specimens at all the principal 
sending over Japanese varieties. The following are 
the descriptions with which they were first intro¬ 
duced :— 
1. Aurantium. — C lear golden yellow, of immense 
size and very double: this superb plant belongs to 
the ribbon flowered group, and is particularly dis¬ 
tinguished by the breadth and massiveness of its 
wax like petals. 
2. Comet. —Bright orange - yellow, changing to 
chestnut-red ; petals very long and curiously twisted 
and curled, which gives to this flower the appearance 
of a large bunch of gold thread ; good habit, free- 
flowering, and very double. 
3. Leopard. —Bright Indian red, with large yellow 
spots covering the surface of the petals,—a most 
novel and singular combination of colour, resembl¬ 
ing the curious markings of some of the Orchid 
family. 
4. Red Dragon. —Red-chestnut tipped with yellow 
and sometimes spotted gold ; the flowers, which are 
very double and of immense size, are composed of 
long subulate petals of the most novel and elegant 
form, and very free flowering. 
general public taste in those days. Dr. Sharp, of 
Waltham Cross, whom I used to visit, was one of 
the best amateur growers and a great raiser particu¬ 
larly of the reflexed section, Hutt being at this 
time the great Pompon grower of the North. 
In the year 1862, I visited Salter's Nursery, 
Hammersmith. Messrs. J. &C. Lees' Nursery was on 
the very spot where Olympia now stands, and here 
lODg greenhouses stood a short distance from the road 
with a quick hedge running pretty well half a mile 
towards the west. How different then to now! 
Salter’s Versailles Nursery was directly opposite 
where the railway station is now, on the other side 
of the main road to where Lees’ formerly was. I was 
surprised at the few plants, (perhaps fifty seedlings) 
in a long French-looking conservatory; but what 
they had were good, and the elder Mr. Salter spoke 
very freely and pleasantly about his having been the 
first to introduce the pompons. 
I called in at the New Horticultural Gardens to see 
one of the first shows in the new conservatory at 
South Kensington. The late Mr. James, then at 
Islewortb, took first for six plants. Messrs. Veitch 
Cryptosperma ferox. 
shows. Mr. G. Eyles was then at the Crystal 
Palace, and a show was arranged there the next 
season to mend the disaster at Islington, and a very 
fine show there was, the result being the largest and 
best ever held up to that time. James George, now 
of Putney, had the old Christine nearly 10 ft. over. 
Mr. Chas. Turner was then exhibiting and showed 
Julie Lagravere, remarkably fine, causing quite a sen¬ 
sation. I came in for a prize for a large plant of Drin 
Drin ; this was about 1859. The late Samuel Broom, 
Temple Gardens, and I persuaded twenty-nine to 
assist in getting up a society for Brixton Hill. I was 
much against its being held at the King of Sardinia, 
a public house. I had to establish one at a school¬ 
room and soon got all the support and promises from 
the gentry; and they gradually abandoned the 
pewter pot and came over to the school. I thus in 
the face of great opposition, wholly and alone, 
absolutely established the Brixton Hill Society, 
which from that year to the present has had the 
longest and best run of prosperity, certainly of any 
local society in the South of England, and is to¬ 
day a model association of -whose happiness and 
welfare I am always proud to hear. 
The great event following this was Mr. Fortune 
5. Robt. Fortune. —Bright-orange or amber, large 
and very full ; a splendid flower, flowering very late. 
One of the best. 
6. Tarantula —A most singular flower, with a 
close button like disc, and a single spreading ray of 
long, slender, tubular, golden florets, 7jin. in diameter. 
7. The Daimio.—P ale pink changing to rose-lilac 
flowers, very large, double and of great substance ; 
a showy and attractive variety of the ribbon-form 
section. 
8. Wizard. —One of the most beautiful, flowering 
in the form of loose tassels of a bright red-maroon 
colour ; dwarf habit, free blooming and early .—From 
H. Connell's Floral Guide for 1869 . 
The result was a lot of prophesying as to their 
future success. At that time, and for a loDg time 
previously, and even after, we were contemptuously 
called “ Glennyites.” George Glenny who wrote 
" The Properties of Flowers,” and the weekly article 
in Lloyd's demanded that all flowers must be round, 
smooth and mechanically made, and the colours 
defined. The public firmly believed in his dictum 
and were infected by'his love ; consequently flowers, 
with long petals in the form of long strips of paper or 
long silk, could not have been more contrary to the 
or Standish had a dozen stands of cut flowers, 
flat on the board ; no raised cups in those days. 
These were the first wonderful Japanese kinds of 
which I have given descriptions. In the centre of 
the stand was a very fine incurved bloom of John 
Salter. The contrast was wonderful; not one, so 
far as I can remember, saw the least beauty in 
the long twisted silk kinds. My friend with me 
observed : “ Good job the introducer’s name was 
Fortune, for he will never make one out of them ” ; 
neither did be, for there was no sale for these kinds 
for years after. I believe it was only myself who 
could see a future before them, or the slightest 
hope of their beiDg made acceptable to the public. 
The secret of disbudding brought size and they 
became popular. I continued advocating and grow¬ 
ing them and issued the following:—(Extracted 
from my Floral Guide for 1869), which are, I think, it 
may be truthfully said the first published instructions 
how to grow the 
Japanese Varieties. 
“ These are certainly very novel in appearance and 
are distinct from the ordinary kinds of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, and most of the varieties do not fully develop 
their flowers until about Christmas, and are there- 
