354 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  10,  1898. 
fCHR 
V&O  £ 
UMS 
WHITE  CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Good  white  Chrysanthemums  are  among  the  most  useful,  accept¬ 
able,  and  profitable  of  flowers.  A  selection  of  blooms  of  the  best 
quality  and  of  the  largest  size  are  indispensable  to  the  exhibitor  of  cut 
blooms,  white  blooms  always  being  necessary  to  accompany  and  afford 
contrasts  with  coloured  blooms. 
It  is  gratifying  to  find  white  varieties  so  plentiful,  and  though  the 
Japanese  section  contains  them  in  the  largest  numbers,  yet  there  is  a 
fair  proportion  in  the  incurved,  Anemones,  Pompons,  and  singles,  but 
very  few  in  the  reflexed  class.  Needless  to  say,  white  varieties  always 
come  in  useful,  whether  large  or  small  in  size,  or  at  whatever  period 
they  are  produced.  Outdoor  blooms,  when  bright  and  fresh,  are  at 
any  time  in  demand.  They  may  be  had  in  profusion  in  August, 
September,  and  October,  as  a  rule,  if  suitable  varieties  are  planted, 
while  bush  plants  may  be  grown  in  pots  to  bloom  simultaneously,  and 
to  succeed  them  in  the  later  days  of  October,  in  November,  and 
December  as  indoor  decorative  plants,  affording  a  display  as  well  as 
flowers  f.  r  cutting. 
Knowing  the  popularity  which  Chrysanthemums  have  attained  to, 
I  have  thought  it  might  be  interesting  if  a  list  of  some  of  the  best 
and  most  popular  white  varieties  in  all  the  sections  were  presented  in 
an  article  before  the  numerous  readers  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture, 
whose  interest  in  anything  and  everything  that  pertains  to  Chrys¬ 
anthemums  is  now  at  fever  heat. 
Commencing  first  with  the  early  flowering  section,  the  most 
generally  useful  variety  is  Madame  C.  Desgranges,  a  dwarf-growing 
and  pure  white  Chrysanthemum.  It  is  amenable  to  various  methods 
of  culture,  by  which  blcoms  may  be  secured  of  various  size,  and 
in  limited  and  unlimited  numbers.  Large  blooms  are  secured  by 
disbudding,  but  when  size  is  no  object  plants  allowed  to  grow  freely 
and  flower  unrestrictedly  the  results  are  satisfactory.  Alice  M.  Love 
is  a  good  and  useful  early  flowering  white,  which  frequently  com¬ 
mences  to  bloom  in  July  or  August,  and  continues  later.  Harvest 
Queen,  Ivory,  Mrs.  Cullingford,  Lady  Fitzwigram,  and  Lady  Selborne 
are  among  the  best  white  blooming  varieties  for  early  supplies,  and  all 
are  undoubtedly  good,  especially  for  pots. 
The  general  Japanese  varieties  contain  the  bulk  of  the  white 
flowered  Chrysanthemums.  The  largest  in  size  and  the  most  artistic 
in  form  are  found  in  this  class,  which  also  contains  flowers  remarkable 
for  quality,  richness,  and  clearness  of  colour.  The  following  are 
almost,  if  not  all,  pure  white.  Baronne  Ad.  de  Rothschild  is  a 
remarkably  good  habited  variety.  Madame  Carnot,  a  strong  and 
succulent  grower,  produces  blooms  of  extraordinary  size  when  the 
plants  do  well ;  the  previous  variety  has  blooms  similar  in  style. 
Madame  Louis  Remy,  a  sport  from  Mrs.  C.  H.  Payne,  is  a  superb 
white  of  much  promise.  Beauty  of  Exmouth  is  good,  but  not  seen 
so  often  as  a  few  years  ago;  when  well  grown  the  colour  is  pure 
and  the  form  of  flower  graceful.  C.  B,  Haywood  is  a  large  flowered 
white  which  does  well  in  7-inch  pots.  Elaine  is  one  of  the  best  of  the 
oldest  varieties.  It  became  firmly  established  years  ago  as  superb  in 
purity  of  colour  and  regularity  of  shape  and  outline,  that  it  still 
occupies  a  leading  place  in  collections  of  decorative  varieties.  It  is 
.  now  discarded  as  an  exhibition  variety.  Similar  remarks  apply  to 
Mdlle.  Lacroix,  which  is  an  earlier  bloomer  and  has  longer  petals. 
Both  are  good  representative  whites  of  the  older  varieties.  Emily 
Silsbury  is  an  excellent  early  bloomer  of  recent  introduction,  a  good 
milk  white  variety  of  the  Japanese  reflexed  class.  Kentish  White 
and  Lady  Esther  Smith  are  two  fairly  early  dwarf  varieties. 
L.  Canning  is  of  similar  habit,  but  late  ;  it  is  an  excellent  white  when 
blooms  can  be  secured  in  perfect  condition.  Madame  Ad.  Chatin  is  a 
handsome  Japanese  incurved  of  dwarf  habit. 
Niveus  is  a  similar  variety  to  the  last  in  the  habit  of  the  plants, 
also  the  purity  and  style  of  the  blooms.  Madame  Chas.  Molin  gives 
very  clear  and  handsome  blooms  about  the  size  and  form  of  Y.  Morel. 
Madame  Gustave  Henri  produces  substantial  flowers  of  large  size  on 
plants  of  dwarf  habit ;  the  petals  are  long  and  tubular.  Madame 
Phillipe  Rivoire,  a  last  year’s  introduction,  is  worthy  of  the  high 
position  it  occupies  now  as  an  exhibition  variety.  Madame  Thdrese 
Rey  is  a  pure  white  with  cream  centre.  It  is  a  variety  of  first-class 
quality,  but  not  quite  so  indispensable  for  exhibition  as  formerly  owing 
to  recent  introductions.  Lady  Byron  is  a  beautiful  and  charming 
white.  Other  good  varieties  are  Mutual  Friend,  Mrs.  C.  Blick, 
Pelican,  Stanstead  White,  and  Potter  Palmer. 
Two  other  varieties--of  merit  demand  attention  from  all  classes  of 
growers — namely,  Simplicity,  a  prominent  large-flowered  white,  rather 
tall  in  growth  ;  and  Souvenir  de  Petite  Amie,  a  dwarf-growing  variety, 
one  of  the  most  compact  among  the  Japanese.  It  produces  excellent 
pure  white  flowers,  of  superb  form  and  quality. 
The  incurved  varieties  are  not  numerous  which  are  pure  white. 
The  following  answer  that  description: — J.  Agate  has  large  and 
perfect  shaped  pure  white  blooms.  Abbot’s  White  is  a  very  dwarf 
grower ;  the  petals  are  broad,  and  curl  in  a  peculiar  fashion,  which  has 
given  rise  to  the  descriptive  name  of  Attorney’s  Wig  Chrysanthemum. 
Duchess  of  Fife,  a  strong  grower,  and  reaches  the  height  of  6  feet, 
producing  white  flowers  of  large  size.  Empress  of  India  is  one  of  the 
oldest  and  best  of  white  incurved  varieties.  Ma  Perfection  is  a 
newer  variety,  having  been  introduced  by  Mons.  Cal  vat  in  1896.  It  is 
one  of  the  few  dwarf  habited  incurved  varieties,  but  produces  beautiful 
white  incurving  blooms. 
A  collection  of  white  varieties  in  this  section  would  not  be  com¬ 
plete  without  Mrs.  G.  Rundle,  which  is  one  of  the  small  exquisitely 
formed  flowers.  White  Beverley  and  White  Globe  are  old  but 
excellent  varieties. 
IVhite  reflexed  varieties  are  few.  The  best  are  Boule  de  Neige, 
which  is  dwarf,  and  has  a  reputation  for  lateness ;  Elsie,  a  creamy 
white  variety,  rather  early,  small,  but  extremely  useful ;  Emperor  of 
China  is  blush  white  ;  Hetty  Dean,  pearly  white ;  and  White  Christine, 
frequently  named  Mrs.  Forsyth. 
Among  the  large-flowering  Anemones  one  of  the  best  is  Fleur  de 
Marie,  very  pure  white.  Other  good  ones  are  Lady  Margaret  and 
Madame  Robt.  Owen,  the  latter  very  neat  and  distinct  flower.  Japanese 
Anemones  include  Dame  Blanche,  pure  white;  James  Weston,  white, 
sulphur  centre;  and  Mdlle.  Cabrol,  tinted  white.  Anemone  Pompons 
include  Aglai,  blush,  with  white  centre;  Emily  Rowbottom,  creamy 
white ;  Late  Duchess,  pure  white ;  and  Madame  Montels,  white, 
yellow  centre. 
Pompons  proper  are  represented  by  the  old  white  Cedo  Nulli,  a 
bushy  growing  variety;  La  Puretd,  Maid  of  Kent,  Mdlle.  Marthe, 
Purity  and  Snowdrop,  both  very  similar  flowers,  but  the  latter  is  the 
taller  grower,  and  is  usually  late.  Two  other  white  varieties  are 
Soeur  Melanie  and  White  Trevenna. 
Single  white  Chrysanthemums  are  extremely  pretty,  and  well 
adapted  for  decoration  and  cutting.  Miss  Mary  Anderson  (fig.  63,  p.  365) 
takes  a  leading  place  ;  i *  is  of  medium  size  and  of  good  quality.  Mrs. 
C.  Hawtry  is  a  large  white.  Purity,  a  pure  white,  is  another  good 
variety;  so  also  is  Snowdrift,  Christmas  Cheer,  Agnes  Peters,  and 
Miss  Cannell.  Jane,  or  Snowflake,  is  also  a  valuable  variety,  and 
should  be  included  in  a  collection  of  single  Chrysanthemums. — E.  D.  S. 
INCURVED  AND  JAPANESE. 
I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  members  of  the  N.C.S.  Floral 
Committee  have  a  good  knowledge  of  the  flowers  they  have  to 
adjudicate  upon.  But  all  the  same  I  fail  to  understand  on  what  basis 
they  determine  the  sections  into  which  certain  new  flowers  shall  be 
placed  when  the  distinctions  in  them  are  so  minute  as  to  defy 
elucidation.  Looking  over  the  incurved  at  Kingston  the  other  day, 
shown  in  the  best  stands,  I  could  but  note  how  much  the  old  and  true 
incurved  forms  are  being  ignored  and  displaced  by  others  that  are  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  incurved  Japanese,  but  have  by  the  N.C.S. 
Floral  Committee  been  included  in  the  incurved  section. 
It  is  true  some  first-class  growers,  and  especially  dressers  who  can 
pull  the  recalcitrant  petals  into  place,  and  pluck  out  the  many 
pendant  ones  at  the  base,  can  produce  these  flowers  in  fairly  good  form, 
but  as  seen  undressed  they  are  in  most  cases  not  one  whit  more 
incurved  than  are  some  regarded  or  classed  as  Japanese,  such  as 
Robert  Owen,  Duke  of  Wellington,  Louise,  Madame  Fatzer,  Queen 
of  Buffs,  Robert  Powell,  Mad.  Desblanc,  and  some  others.  How 
coarse  when  compared  with  the  incurved  of  other  days  are  Perle 
Dauphinoise,  Leonard  Payne,  Duchess  of  Fife,  Major  Bonnaffon,  Mad. 
Ferlat,  Lady  Isobel,  Globe  d’Or,  Ma  Perfection,  and  some  others,  all 
of  which  need  much  dressing  to  make  them  fit  to  face  the  judges. 
Size  in  incurved  and  coarseness  are  quite  disp'acing  the  fine  old  incurved 
qualities  of  other  days.  Why  not  now  let  any  incurved  flower  be 
shown  as  an  incurved  without  restriction,  leaving  the  merits  of  each 
flower  to  the  judges  ? — A.  D. 
NATIONAL  AMATEUR  GARDENERS’  ASSOCIATION. 
At  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  National  Amateur  Gardeners’ 
Association,  held  at  Winchester  House,  Old  Broad  Street,  on 
November  1st,  Mr.  A.  H.  Needs  won  outright  the  silver  challenge 
cup  for  twelve  Japanese  Chrysanthemums.  The  blooms  were  good  in 
all  respects,  and  well  worthy  of  the  prize. 
HENRY  WEEKS. 
On  page  343  you  state  that  a  certificate  was  awarded  to  Mr.  Wells 
for  Chrysanthemum  H.  Weeks,  whereas  it  was  awarded  to  myself. 
As  the  same  error  occurs  in  the  “Garden”  I  take  the  first  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  correcting  it. — H.  AVeeks. 
