The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-12-17
HISTORY OF THE cHRYSAN-
THEMUM.

cites. It has yellow, white, red, pur
pie or variously colored flowers. The
native horticulturists have found it
comparatively easy to modify its easy
appearance and color. There is an
old statement that the Soochow gar
deners take it when it is a foot above
the ground and pluck off the terminal
bud at the top. After a few days the
one bud originates two. These again
are decapitated and a similar result
follows, so that when autumn arrives
the number of flowers on one stalk is
very great, and they grow into a sort
of round hemisphere like a cart cover
ing.
It was the early . discovery that
notifications in the flowers could be
produced in this way that led the
Chinese to attach so much Importance
TO this flower. It was about A. d.
400, that it became a special garden
favorite and was valued by the poets.
Tan Yuen> Ming, of that time, was
very fond of it, and a search specially
I'm his poems has resulted in the fact
that he classed it with the pine for en-
durance. The petals remain in their
place after wind and storms, and it
was this feature in the flower which
he admired. The Chinese represent
yellow as the natural color, and they
add that asters, after a yeSr or two,
are apt to change back to yellow. In
some varieties the flowers are decidu-
GUS and in others not so. A pale yell
low changes to white after the plant
has lowered with unusual luxuriance;
and white in the same way, when ex-
hibiting a tendency to variation, be-
comes red. Such flowers wither OF the
stem. When the petals are far apart
they are apt to fall early, and after
the full period of blossoms they grad
ually drop off. If wind and rain
should come and shake them they all
fall off together and cover the ground
Such minute observation of a flower
ms this is an example of the pains taken
by the Chinese in the study Of nature.
The Soochow gardeners mentioned
mean, of course, the gardeners of the
great plain of which Soochow is the
capital, and Shanghi, with Taitsang
and Kiangyin, are particularly noticed
as having a climate or soil, Or local
skill in horticulture, which greatly
favors the variability of the Chinese
aster. From the statement made it is
probable that there is no part of China
where there is more success in cult
waiting the China aster, or more variety
In it than in the garden of these cities.
There are coarse and fine varieties.
Some chrysanthemums grow to' ten
feet in length, and some disks are as
large as a saucer. Two colors appear
on the same flower. These are called
coarse varieties. The finer include
velvety sorts and those which are
cylindrical in shape, or urn to the
west and are indented like a VOLTS
teeth. Those which are most valued
I'm China are flowers which begin with
being small and grow larger, and petals
which are close set, numerous and
fresh in color.
The chrysanthemum flower is tabled
by the { hinese to have the power of
comforting immortality. To obtain
the result it must be eaten with the
fruit of the wutung by the believing.
In Szechuan, there is in the Confucian
temple of the capital of the province,
an image of the genius of the chrys-
anthemum. The being represented is
said to be a girl who drank the wine
of the chrysanthemum flower IL the
Han palace and thus became iElmor.
tai. The students who pray to her
are successful in the examinations.
In the cave of the same city there is
a painting drawn upon the wall of a
woman holding a chrysanthemum in
her hand. Before her is represented
a monkey. She is called "The Lady
of the Chrysanthemum," and students
who pray to her have remarkable
dreams; the limitations conveyed in
these dreams are wonderful to relate,
sure to come true, say the native &C.
counts. The chrysanthemum Sinense
has probably for two centuries been
wellknown in Europe. The forets,
whether of the ray of the disk, are
never blue, but they appear with al
most every other possible color. The
books say that Chinese must, for long
ages, have been carefully cultivating
the plant, and that their great rich
nes in development and in variety of
proportion has risen from sporadic pc
cularity and intermixture with allied
species unknown in Europe. This last
effect would be caused by insects
bringing with them in their visits to
the flowers the pollen of neighboring
plants. The remarkable variability
of China aster plants is partly due to
an excellent constitutions, which al
lows them to be easily propagated by
cuttings. About half of the flower
heads should be DESTROYED to increase