Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/548

532 Of these, those that are late in blossoming offer a special interest. Among the plants of this class which the public justly regards with the highest favor are the chrysanthemums. Few plants combine so many desirable qualities as they; abundance of blossom, richness in coloring, elegance of form, and long duration, are some of their leading qualities.

The plant has been known from very ancient times, and the beginning of its cultivation among us dates from several hundred years back; but it was for a long time neglected, and only a few varieties were known, whose small, imperfectly shaped flowers gave no indication of what could be made of them if special attention were given them. Now the varieties are counted by hundreds. Some have been directly imported from China and Japan, but the most of them are of French or English origin. Intelligent sowing and careful selections have given unanticipated results; and several types have been developed which are quite distinct in the form and arrangement of their flower-rays.

The flowers are originally of a similar disposition to those of the field daisies. By cultivation they have been made double that is, all the minute flowers in the center have been endowed with large corollas like those constituting the white border of the daisy. Then the form of the corolla has varied so as to appear under very distinct types. Sometimes the petals curve upon themselves, so as to form a regular large head, as in what are called the Indian chrysanthemums. Others curve outward and give a more open form to the whole, as in the Chinese chrysanthemums. In others, again, the corollas deviate in every direction, constituting an odd, irregular type, but marked with a special artistic elegance, as in the Japanese chrysanthemums.

Chrysanthemums were formerly regarded as garden plants; they are equally house plants. There are few plants so well adapted to the ornamentation of our dwellings, whether they are treated as cut flowers or pot plants. For bouquets, only the orchis can rival them in lasting qualities. If cut in full bloom and kept in water, they will last two or three weeks; but the water should be renewed often, and kept pure with charcoal. Bouquets of exceeding elegance can be made of chrysanthemums. The flowers should be cut with as long stems as possible, and placed, after stripping the leaves from the lower ends, in a wide-mouthed vase (Fig. 1). The bouquet then has the appearance of a sheaf in which each flower displays its full beauty, and, by contrast of color and form, heightens the effect of its neighbor. A special business is made of growing flowers for these bouquets. In this cultivation all the flowers except the terminal one are suppressed on every branch, whereby the flower that is left reaches a large