The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-15

COIltS III q WHICH ID
given over to ennui, is peculi-
arly fitted to perform the duties which
have been accorded to it. Sir Francis
Bacon said, Il doe hold it, there ought
to be Gardens for all the Moneths Of
the Yeare, in which, severally, Things
of Beautie may be then in Season"
| Because of the forcing processes in
knowledge coming from years of
study, we have somehow got beyond
the season" of flowers. Formerly
the rose was dedicated to the spring
time, but to-day we find roses at all
seasons. So with violets, and if one
cares to get cherry blossoms in Feb
ruary, why, they en- be had, if they
are ordered far enough IN advance
TO everything there is a season."
we are told, and of all the flower sea-
sons which retain individuality that
of the chrysanthemum holds its own
with greater degree of accuracy
''The Golden Flower" as its name
indicates-being derived from the
Greek words of that signifcance-ha
lost some of its distinctiveness, so far
as color is concerned Originally
golden, by close application on the
part of the growers of flowers we
i have the still incomparaialg, yellow,
but in addition we have the rich dam
ask, the royal purple, the flushed pink
and the dazzling white which flash
from the florists windows and sepa-
rate admiring people from the cash
necessary to possess these glorious
beauties. Within recent years, too.
there has been one produced which is
real sea-green. Blue, however, is
elusive, and there is yet to be seen a
blue chrysanthemum as we'll as blue
rose. Mr.. Kipling told of the futiity
of trying for the blue roses in his
verse:
"Roses red and roses white,
Plucked | for my loves delight
She'd have none of all my posies;
Babe me gather her blue roses"
There is an element OF the pathetic
in the wonderful coloring. Here are
the quiet, subtle hues that seem ap-
propriate, indeed, to the autumn and
the early winter, and not to the fresh
coloring hours of the parting year,
when the mists come pouring in at
shutdown and the very sunshine itself
is pale and cold. And it grows colder
and more gray till at last the glorious
Golden Flower bursts into its most
marvellous bloom and riot of color
just at the time when the world needs
cheerfulness most
That is why, perhaps, the chrysan-
themum is called the Flower of
Cheerfulness in its native land The
sixteen-p etalled chrysanthemum is on
the royal standard of Japan, and the
Chinese have legend to the effect
that the flower is the emblem of
Eternal Cheerfulness in Adversely.
Even the strange perfume Of the
chrysanthemum is in harmony with
its season. 1t is not sweetness-like
the perfume of the violet or the rose
and yet after all, it is tragically sweet
1t speaks Of violent action, and, per-
haps, it is because of its struggle for
existence that it tells its story in the
perfume.
To grow chrysanthemums at their
best it is necessary to pluck off the
first buds-yes, and the second and
the third, and many more, till the
struggling plant brings forth fifteen
or sixteen buds. Then the leaves and
the shoots must be pinched back, till
the whole energy Of the plant is di-
rected toward the blossoms. The re-
suit, in the hands of a competent
grower, is the great blossom which we
see in the windows of the flower
shops. But it has been struggle,
and the protest of it all is shown in
the perfume which is pungent, strik-
ing, and little bitter-spicy, they call
it, technically.
In all the glory of the shopping
season-best along the time when the
world is getting ready to celebrate the
holidays which fall between Nove1n-
Der 20 and the first of the New Year
there is nothing so attractive as
window filled with the Flower of
Gold, and this means not only gold,
but crimson and lavender and pink
and the white that vies with the snow
that comes with the best of the chry-
santhemums.
The first chrysanthemum show was
held in Norwich, England, in 1929.
The Philadelphia Horticultural So
ciety held the first chrysanthemum
show in the United States in 1889
The first chrysanthemums to be
brought to Europe were taken from
China by shippers of the tea trading
ships.