Januar)'  18,  900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
47 
I 
National  Chkysanthemum  Society^. 
The  Executive  Committee  of  the  above  Society  held  a  meeting  on 
IMonday  evening  at  Carr’s  Restaurant,  Strand.  Mr.  Thos.  Bevan 
occupied  the  chair.  The  annual  meeting  was  decided  to  be  held  at 
Carr’s  Restaurant  on  Monday,  the  5th  prox.,  at  7  p.m.  The  Treasurer 
then  submitted  the  annual  balance  sheet,  by  which  it  appears  that 
the  income  for  the  past  year  is  about  £100  in  excess  of  what  it  was  the 
preceding  year,  and  a  sum  of  £50  is  proposed  to  be  added  to  the  reserve 
fund.  On  the  other  side  the  expenditure  for  prize  money  amounted 
to  £508  13s.,  Secretary’s  salary  £100,  and  various  other  charges  and 
expenses  incidental  to  the  working  of  the  Society.  Altogether  it 
is  considered  that  there  is  a  balance  of  about  £200  in  assets  over 
liabilities. 
The  Secretary  then  read  the  draft  annual  report  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  which  referred  to  the  high  quality  of  the  Society’s  three 
exhibitions,  to  the  work  of  the  Floral  and  Classification  Committees, 
and  to  the  satisfactory  condition  of  the  finances. 
Mr.  Harman  Payne  submitted  a  report  from  the  deputation  which 
visited  the  French  National  Chrysanthemum  Society’s  Show  and 
Conference  at  Lyons  last  November.  Upon  the  proposal  of  Mr. 
Moorman  a  vote  ot  thanks  was  passed  to  the  gentlemen  who  paid  the 
visit,  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  report  be  printed  in  the  new 
schedule.  Certain  fixtures — viz.,  those  of  the  Floral  and  Executive 
Committees’  meetings — were  after  some  discussion  duly  made,  these 
meetings  being  in  future,  for  the  convenience  of  country  members,  held 
on  the  same  day  of  the  week.  The  Schedule  Sub-Committee  presented 
an  interim  report.  This  involved  a  good  deal  of  discussion  relative 
to  the  foundation  of  an  Exhibition  Committee,  and  to  the  amend¬ 
ments  of  those  regulations  relating  to  the  shows. 
Late  Flowering  Chrysanthemums. 
We  have  this  week  cut  fine  blooms  of  Mrs.  H.  Weeks  (taken  on 
second  bud)  and  Georgiana  Pilcher,  which,  at  this  time  when  flowers 
are  so  scarce,  are  most  useful.  Mrs.  Weeks,  grown  on  the  bush, 
fl<iwer3  well  at  this  time  of  the  year  ;  so  does  the  charming  single 
Mrs.  Langtry,  which  at  the  present  time  is  in  full  bloom,  and  with  its 
lovely  perfume  is  the  delight  of  the  ladies.  I  find  cuttings  of  the 
latter  inserted  in  May,  and  potted  in  7  and  8-inch  pots,  do  well,  and 
come  in  late. — G.  Cabville,  Duncomhe  Parh  Gardens,  Helmsley, 
Chrysanthemums  in  Japan. 
An  American  lady  in  Tokio,  Japan,  has  sent  to  her  friends  a  very 
entertaining  account  ol  the  home  of  the  Cnrysanthemum,  its  people 
and  their  customs.  Among  other  matters  reference  is  made  to  our 
favourite  autumn  flower,  and  the  “  American  Florist  ”  is  indebted  to 
E.  G.  Hill  of  Richmond,  Ind.,  for  permission  to  print  therefrom  the 
following  descriptions  of  a  Chrysanthemum  exhibition,  and  one  of  the 
finest  private  collections  of  these  plants  in  Japan: — 
“Last  Wednesday  we  went  to  Dangozaka  to  see  the  famous 
Chrysanthemum  show.  Dangozaka  is  a  park  in  the  city,  about  six 
miles  from  here,  full  of  interesting  temples  and  trees,  but  the  most 
attractive  thing  at  present  is  the  street.  All  along  down  this  lane  or 
street  are  side  shows,  admission  to  which  costs  five  cents,  and  there 
one  finds  all  sorts  ot  legendary  history  carried  out  in  Chrysanthemums. 
There  are  wire  forms,  for  instance,  of  a  man,  woman,  boat,  and  house, 
and  the  Chrysanthemums  are  trained  from  the  beginning  over  these 
wire  forms.  The  roots  being  inside,  the  dress,  for  example,  of  a 
woman,  sleeves,  sash  and  all,  are  one  mass  of  colour,  and  at  a  distance 
look  like  changeable  silk.  Very  small  varieties  are  used,  but  in  all 
colours  imaginable.  The  forms  are  all  life  size.  For  instance,  one 
very  fine  figure  was  that  of  a  Japanese  warrior  slaying  a  mammoth 
dragon,  all  in  flowers  except  the  face  and  hands,  which  were  of  wax. 
In  one  place  they  have  represented  the  famous  waterfall  at  Nikko  all 
in  white  Chrysanthemums,  and  the  spray  and  waves  at  the  foot  of  the 
fall  are  almost  perfect.  Then  there  was  a  big  boat,  all  of  the  flowers, 
in  big  waves,  with  life-size  figures  in  it,  and  the  whole  thing,  figures 
and  all,  worked  by  machinery.  A  man  sat  down  and  told  the  history 
of  all  these  things.  All  1  can  say  about  it  is  very  far  short  of  the 
reality.  No  one  can  form  any  idea  of  the  real  ingenuity  of  these 
people  unless  one  really  sees  it.  The  individual  flower  they  do  not 
care  for,  it  is  the  way  they  can  train  them  that  receives  their 
admiration.” 
Referring  to  the  gardens  of  Count  Okama  the  writer  continues  : — 
“The  entrance  to  the  grounds  is  beautiful,  such  hedges,  such  trees 
were  never  trained  in  America,  such  picturesqneness  was  never  seen 
out  of  Japan.  I  cannot  go  into  detail,  but  wnll  try  to  tell  about  the 
Chrysanthemums.  The  plants  are  in  sheds  made  of  bamboo,  and  im¬ 
maculately  clean  and  tidy.  There  were  six  sheds  altogether,  one 
devoted  to  wild  Chrysanthemums  entirely,  one  to  those  that  are 
trained  up  to  bear  one  flower  only,  but  not  one  equals  those  we  have 
seen  at  home.  Count  Okama’s  secretary  savs  they  care  least  for  that 
part  of  the  cultivation  of  these  plants  Each  flower  is  on  a  wire 
frame,  and  the  petals  all  combed  out  on  the  frame. 
“In  one  shed  were  three  plants,  a  white  ragged  variety  and  two  red 
ragged  ones;  they  aie  trained  in  a  wire  frame,  and  one  plant  has  over 
1000  blooms,  each  bloom  is  at  the  end  of  a  single  stalk,  and  all  this 
from  a  single  root.  It  is  fully  15  feet  across.  In  fact,  a  short  distance 
off  it  looks  like  one  mammoth  bouquet  of  flowers,  or  rather  like  one 
big  flower.  The  flowers  themselves  all  are  about  the  size  of  the  palm 
of  the  hand.  Another  shed  has  each  plant  trained  to  fourteen  blooms 
arranged  as  a  picture;  they  are  rare  sorts,  and  the  plants  are  raised 
in  back  and  diagonal  rows.  It  is  a  beautiful  sight,  and  very  pleasing 
after  one  gets  used  to  the  conventional  way.  Another  house  has  one 
big  plant,  and  from  a  single  root  there  are  forty  varieties  and  colours 
of  flowers,  all  having  been  grafted  upon  the  single  root.  It  is  mar¬ 
vellous,  and  there  is  no  sham  about  it,  for  one  can  see  the  root  and 
trace  the  flowers.  It  looks  like  a  huge  bouquet  of  all  colours.  Then 
there  were  two  immense  balls,  at  least  4  feet  in  diameter,  each  colour 
in  sections  like  an  Orange,  with  a  bow  knot  of  flowers  at  the  bottom, 
all  growing  inside,  but  a  solid  mass  of  bloom  on  the  outside.” 
WINTER  ACONITES, 
Almost  as  soon  as  the  new  year  opens  the  golden  flowers  of 
the  Winter  Aconite  begin  to  thrust  themselves  through  the  soih 
Protected  from  defilement  by  the  blackness  of  Mother  Earth  as  they 
force  their  way  through  the  ground,  the  little  Elizabethan  ruffs, 
which  shield  the  flowers  at  that  period  of  their  career,  serve  afterwards 
as  ornaments  to  the  golden  blossoms.  They  are  small  and  unassuming 
these  Winter  Aconites,  yet  their  beauty  in  a  mass  is  only  equalled  by 
the  cheerfulness  they  inspire  by  their  gleams  of  gold  when  the  garden 
is  otherwise  dull  and  bare.  They  are  harbingers  of  the  bright  flowers 
of  spring  and  summer,  and  show  us  that  golden  colour  which  brightens 
our  hearts  with  the  summer  sun. 
It  is  strange  how  some  despise  the  Winter  Aconites,  They  are 
too  cheap  to  be  exclusive,  they  are  too  hardy  to  give  trouble  to  arow, 
and  they  are  not  exotics,  but  thrive  in  our  own  dear  land.  These 
things  are  against  them  being  found  in  many  gardens  of  the  exclusive, 
but  they  are  their  passports  to  the  hearts  of  the  numbers  who  care 
for  the  modest  beauty  of  our  simple  hardy  flowers  of  spring.  It  is 
somewhat  anticipating  things  to  speak  of  Eranthis  hyemalis  in 
connection  with  the  word  “  spring ;  ”  yet  spring  comes  with  the 
Snowdrop  and  the  Winter  Aconite,  and  does  not  dally  until  the  last 
frosts  are  away,  and  the  sun  is  warm,  and  the  breezes  balmy  and 
mild.  Thus  one  would  speak  of  them  now,  when  their  coming  is  at 
least  nigh. 
Although  not  believed  to  be  a  true  native,  the  Eranthis  is 
naturalised  in  some  places  in  this  country,  where  it  has  been  so  long 
that  it  may  be  said  to  be  as  truly  British  as  some  of  our  families, 
whose  descent  can  be  traced  to  some  ancestor  who  established  himself 
in  “  this  seat  of  Mars  ”  from  across  the  silver  streak,  which  is  our 
barrier  from  the  outer  world.  The  Winter  Aconite  has  so  long  been 
with  us  that  we  look  upon  it  as  of  native  birth.  We  rejoice  when  we 
see  its  bright  flowers,  for  they  tell  us  of  the  crowds  of  blossoms  which 
come  behind. 
When  one  has  penned  this  appreciation  it  seems  superfluous  to  say 
aught  about  the  flower  and  its  wants.  It  demands  little  from  our 
hands.  A  moist  rather  stiff  soil  is  what  it  likes,  but  it  will  content 
itself,  and  be  happy,  too,  in  a  lighter  one.  With  moisture  and  shade 
it  can  do  without  the  stiff  soil,  but  it  resents  having  its  tubers  dried 
by  the  summer’s  drought.  One  has  experienced  this  in  hot  and  dry 
seasons,  such  as  sometimes  fall  to  our  lot.  The  Winter  Aconite 
should  never  be  kept  long  out  of  the  soil,  and  ought  to  be  planted  as 
early  as  possible  after  the  pretty  leaves  die  down. 
It  may  be  too  common  to  take  up  for  itself  a  large  space  in  the 
garden,  yet  it  need  not  altogether  monopolise  all  the  space  in  which  it 
grows.  It  may  be  planted  among  other  plants,  which  will  occur  to 
those  familiar  with  flowers,  whose  blooms  would  succeed  those  of  the 
Eranthis.  I  have  a  bed  of  Winter  Aconites  and  Lily  of  the  Valley 
in  a  shady  corner.  There  the  two  are  in  happy  companionship,  the 
cups  of  the  Eranthis  passing  away  long  before  the  bells  of  the  Con- 
vallaria  appear.  If  the  leaves  of  the  Winter  Aconites  are  not  away 
when  the  Lily  of  the  Valley  comes  into  growth  they  are  soon  hidden 
by  the  shapely  leaves  of  the  “naiad  Lily  of  the  Vale,”  as  Shelley 
calls  it. — S,  Arnott. 
