The Knoxville journal. (Knoxville, Ga.) 1888-18??, January 18, 1889, Image 6
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. A FLOWER THAT HAS ALL THE RAGE IN AMERICA. Its Possibilities and Endless Varie ties-Methods of Its Cultivation and Propagation—Antiq¬ uity of Its Culture. The culture of the chrysanticmum •ays fixer, the has New York Commercial Adeer' reached a point in this country from which it seems as if it could not recede, as it has done in the past Ei"ht years ago, says an authority on the sub iect, there were sold in this country not more than 5000 plants. ' This year it is estimated that not less than 1,000 005 plants have been grown by florists and 6tdd - The general impression was that this flower was a pretty object for borders in tne fall of the year, that it needed but little care and attention and would pro duee an abundant bloom of pleasing color when nature was about to don its more severe and melancholy look. Lit t|e sibilities they could have dreamed of its pos tainly as we see them to-day. Cer no flower has yet been found which produces at once such a profuse, delicate and vari-formed bloom. The possibilities it has shown in the divec tioa of color alone should win for it an esteem which no other flower can share. From the deepest of crimsons it may be followed through cverv known shade of reds, yellows and browns to the purest ana snowiest ot white. In shape it gives suggestions of form anti line quite un approached by anything else in floricul tural art. Granted that its growth is often irregular, there is in most of the finer specimens the evidence of a design embodying Nothing elements of singular beauty. certainly could surpass the sym metry of some of these gorgeous Chi nese varieties with their conically dis posed petals, while for gracefulness of line some of the Japanese varieties with their multiplicity of radiatmg petals waving rounding from large golden centers and at their tips in graceful curves towards their centres again, there exists nothing The more artistic or beautiful. varieties of the chrysanthemum, too, are endless. One flower sends out a multitude of quilled petals of varying length ing thatlooks like rays of light spread from a common centie; others, con trary to ail laws of symmetry, form a tumbling mass of feathery down; others •gain show bails of incurved petals that seem to bo guarding the blush of deli cate colors that hide below the surface ■ while others still spread out in bold and certain curves, in spiral twirls, or hu<* a central disk with close tenacity ° It can be readily imanined what amass of varieties there may be to speak of what shades, and half shades of color, ■what changes of form, when it is known that there are in existence more than GOO) distinct varieties of the flower, which have sprung from three modest and original field species that resemble our common differs from its daisy. Each of the (>000 fellow in color or in form, Tbe only characteristic they all have in common is that they have not a sweet odor, though what they “ have is not an unpleasant one. In the original form of the flower there is a yellow centre and radial petals about it in a single row. It grows wild in this way m three Asiatic countries, in Japan, in China and in India. In China the specie* is divided again into flowers of three different colors—yellow, white and lilac. The Japancte flower is the same, but withoncor two other shades of coiors added, while the Indian pos sesses the deep crimsons and bronzes, From these few plants assiduous care and attention have developed the thousands of varieties we know, by peculiarities of inter-breeding Some the and exhibition propagation. plants of now measure three feet in circumference. When the planet was first introduced into this country it was propagated for its medicinal qualities, as a febrifuge. It had a bitter taste and a slightly dis¬ agreeable varieties odor. As early as 1820 some Chinese were first introduced and cultivated as ornamental plants. For centuries it has been so regarded in China and Japan, the cultivation of the flower in Japan being so old and so extended I hat it has become a national emblem in the nation, and has a festival day set apart in its honor. On some ancient Japanese?embroideries the flower of the prominently. fourteenth century It until the figures end of the was uot lust cen¬ tury that it found its way to England. In 1820 there were only twelve sorts known in that country. In 1834 new varieties had been made at the time mentions as many as sixty kinds. In this country it was not until 1800 or thereabouts that John Beach and llobert Fortune gave an im¬ pulse thirty to their cultivation. In less than years the fondness for them has grown almost to a craze. Varieties,ns we have said, are brought about by crosses of various kinds. Many flowers aro difficult to cross with others of their own species, but the chrysan¬ themum is not. The pollen of one kind wil1 fer!i,ize another as readily as it will °“ e of its own kind. Starting with the V? re ®, ° n fc lnal .varieties, and these each divlded again into different colors, it is easy t0 see tbat their cultivation is sim P ly end le8 f- 11 » a mere matter of arithmetical . . progression, climate Though the originally from a temperate lant chrysanthemum, is a hardy P - It will stand several degrees of frost without injury, though a sharp frost will often wilt the bloom. On this accoua t florists generally protect the P lant int h ;s country. In warm weather, however, it thrives in the open air. The cutting oflect on practised it which seems inter-breeding to have the has same on an ' ma * 8 - ft renders it delicate, not so ra,icb to the air as to its mode of life, To S row the best varieties chrysanthe munis need a rich soil,and just the right quantity °f water. Too much surfeits vi hcm; too little starves them. There growth ' oro they need watching. Again, their must be carefully attended to. At c ? rtail1 tim es they must be pinched S’ ve them strength; at others the laterals must be cut out, the buds carefully thinned down or manures of different kinds given. The first pinch in S is generally done soon after the plant the gets well under way in the spring, lf growth is strong then it may be , to take its Those plants course. which are least interfered with will give * bc best bloom in the fall. The first Pjnchings P‘ al] t bushy. have Sometimes a tendency the to plant make is a g ,owa as a standard—that is, one stalk a 'cne is allowed to grow to a certain when it is pinched, and all laterals below the top removed. The snoots thrown out at the top are then ben ^ down and woven about a circular °°P' and tne blossoms disposed at will in . due season, as the}'appear. The finest flowers of all, the large ones which are displayed with such taste in tne exhibitions, ure not grown with very much more care than the others. They generally in pots and short, though t l<: nature °‘ 'no chrysanthemum is to long and lanky. Ihe reason is thls: That these P lants arc grown almost entirely from cuttings made in July and Au S ust - At Hud time the tops of plants are cut and planted at once. They strike root within a few da y s > and from then until they bloom at the end of October lllcy are wc!1 nourished, all lateral branches cut off, and only one or two bl,da at most al ’ owed to appear. The resu ^ i® a grand flower like the Mrs. Carnegie—a bouquet iu itself, rich or del,CHte 111 color, as the ca3e may be. and a P 0lfect mass of lar g« spreading P°* a S To obtain new varieties we must oper ate with the seed. Cultivation hasgrad ually made this more and more difficult, f° r the iris which appears iu the original flower is often almost lost in highly cul tivated varieties. This iris, composed. of stamens and pistils, gradually through throws constant encouragment petals now the out in place of Having yellow selected mass of generative parts. the pollen "is transferred two line specimens with a brush from one plant to the other, and thus an artificial fertilization is made. It i3 a curious fact, however, that out of 11)0 seedlings propagated one-third at least will revert to one of the original type< and be worthless, a second ;j;i per cent, will show marks of progress, and of the remaining 33 there are not likely to be more than two or three new varieties of any value. For this reason it is always best to grow the chrysanthemums from cuttings. It is a waste of money for any but fanciers to buy seed. Good cuttings will not revert, though they will often show inferior qualities during the cutting first year ot' give their growth. flower, A and weak will cutting a poor even a strong will show poor results if its food supply is neglected, or it is subjected to too great heat or cold. The chrvsanthemum will thrive—even the finest" variet es-out of doors, but they should be carefully protected from frost as the time for blooming branches ap proaches. In winter the are cut down after flowering, and the under plants placed in a cellar, cold frame,or a heavy bed of leaves. When growing there is no plant easier to is propagate, by For this reason great care taken florists to obtain new varieties which they dantly will not sell until they have abun plants supplied for the themselves with young market. These plants bring everywhere from fifty cents each to $1. A single plant started in the half spring will soon grow and put out a dozen, leaves. Each leaf and an eye of the stalk can then be planted and xvill soon produce another plant, which will grow and soon furnish material for another half-dozen. By forcing the plant through the winter a large de¬ mand can be supplied at rates which certainly look remunerative. Once the plant is out of the hands of the sole owner, however, he can no longer pro¬ tect himself against competition. For this reason the greatest circumspection must be employed to guard against the loss or straying of a single plant. The Nile and the Egyptian Famine. Egypt is made fruitful not by the rain fall, for there is none, but by the annual floods of the Nile, caused by excessive rains m the equatorial regions, It is known that the river Nile h now unusually low, and has been so during the summer, so that a serious drought its prevails valley. throughout the greater part of Sir Samuel Baker, the emi nent African explorer, has expressed the opinion that this is the result of the ob struction and deflection of the flow of water from the Atbara branch, a large tributary which rises in the mountains of Abyssinia and comes into the main river from the east, 200 miles below Khartoum. This gentleman says that there are places where the Atbara runs through dammed sterile plains, that it eould be up and the waters turned into the desert to be swallowed up in the sands and thirsty earth, until in the course of time it could dig for itself a new passage to its former bed, where it flows between hills, Mr. Baker thinks this diversion of the river might be occasioned by enormous rafts and accumulations of drift wood, or itcould be done by the warlike tribes of that region to cut the waters offfrotn Egypt. These waters could not, how ever, be turned out of the Kile basin, and in the course of time would find their way back into the lower basin. In just such a manner lie conceives that the seven years of famine in Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs, as described in the book of Genesis, were produced, The river had been cut off by design or through the operation of natural causes and seven find years their were required through for des¬ the waters to way the ert flack to the river channel lower down. The subject is an interesting one, and may explain the sagacity of Joseph, the Grand Vizier of Pharaoh.— Picayune. The Butch Law of Itegal Succession. As the Dutch Legislature has fixed the law of succession to the throne on the death of the present King in the per¬ son of his only daughter, there will not probably be any serious political dis¬ turbance iu ease of the demise of the aged monarch, but the question of her marriage will form one of the great problems of the next decade, at the ex piration of which period the young Princess will be freed from the regency. Of course the German Chaucellor has already settled his plans that she should marry a German prince, looking gradu ally to the absorption of the rich and thrifty kingdom to the ranks of the German Empire. The fact is that Am¬ sterdam forms one of the natural outlets for Germany’s foreign commerce, and the few rich and prosperous colonies that Hollaud possesses would prove to be of inestimable value, both in a com¬ mercial and maritime point of view, to the great German Empire. But Kng 'and is not likely acquiesce in any such a solution to the question, as it is to her interests that Belgium and should remain intact under a system of neutrality. it is rumored in Dutch court circles that the young princess might find a congenial mate in Prince George, the second son of the Prince of Wales, but that selection is likely to find but scant favor Within the councils of the German Fatherland.— San Francisco Chronicle. -----—* - Wild Dogs in Georgia It -will be news to many that wild d ogs are still to be fduud iu Wilkes County. While some farmers burning off brush the other and day a litter of puppies, long-haired collie breed, closely re found sembling in the Scotch They were a hollow log. were ex¬ ccedingly fierce, and tradition has it that their the parents locality. have The been old frequently dogs seen in are said to be very wild and ugly-looking customers to come in contact with.— Alla /(a Constitution. n-*T 1. rlth tt? i'vivTT U1NLY xz Ja JDf’llllclIlt n lylu Tjnrfl O'*-* Kip 1 '-' Tsp/xfiptruVo 1 Are Diamond Dyes. They excel all ofhen in Strength, Purity and Fastness. None others are just as good. Beware of imitations—they are made of cheap and inferior materials and give poor, weak, crocky colors. 36 colors; 10 cents each. Send postal for Dye Book, Sample Card, directions for coloring Photos., making the finest Ink or Bitting (10 cts. a quart), etc. Sold by Druggists or by WELLS, RICHARDSON & CO., Burlington, lit. For Gilding or Bronzing Fancy Article!, USE DIAMOND PAINTS. 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