CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

Matamata Record, Volume XIII, Issue 1110, 31 March 1930, Page 7

CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

SHANGHAI’S GREAT SHOW. One of the aesthetic treats provided for Shanghai each year is the chrysanthemum show organised by a small society of Chinese and foreign horticulturists, who succeed each year' in bringing an amazing amount of floral beauty together, reports the correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor. Japan is the “ land of the chrysanthemum,” but Shanghai produces blooms which are in no way inferior to those of the neighbouring island empire. An increasing knowledge of cultivation is improving the products. This year’s show was su revelation, for conditions have been favourable all the summer, and the blooms were gayer than ever before. To picture the array cf flowers demands the palette of an artist rather than the pen. Huge golden: balls, spheres of scarlet, of mauve, of purest white, groupings of loveliness in shapes of exquisite beauty, and withal that- touch of wistfulness that autumn gives to her blooms present a spectacle on which the eye lingers with utmost delight. To many people there is just the one chrysanthemum; to the Chinese exhibitor there are scores, and one’s imagination dwells romantically on the different names, the Golden Deer’s Horn, Yellow Dragon Beard, White Siao Sing, Doll Ball, and! White Jewel Crab, are some of the names, each distinct from the other and representing a different feature. The prize exhibit of this year’s show bore the quaint name of the Purple Ear Pick, a. fluted flower, with a golden heart. Another interesting exhibit was one plant boasting of 90 blossoms of the palest pink flecked with rose.