THE CHRYSANTHEMUM.
Next to the rose no plant is now so popular as the chrysanthemum. It is some 10 or 12 years since, in this country, jts great value as an ornamental plant for the fall and early winter months has been fully realised, although it has been long valued in Europe, where it forms the great attraction in all the floral exhibitions of autumn. It is the floral emblem of Japan, just as the thistle is of Scotland, or the Fleur de Lis of France, and there is hardly a, home in that flowery land so ; poor that it is not ornamented by one or more varieties of the "autumn queen." In the gardens of the Mikado, which contain marvellous varieties of this plant, they are trained on wire frames to represent animals of all descriptions •— white elephants, yellow cows, and crimson dogs are by no means rarities in the grounds of the Mikado. The chrysanthemum, too, is put to another' purpose in Japan. When a rural swain makes up his mind to sue for the hand of some lustic belle, his first advance is to place as fine a specimen as he can procure on her doorstep. If it is watered, tended, and cared for, he knows he may " call again," but if neglected and allowed to wither and die, so dies out the hope of the unfortunate " Jap," so far as that particular damsel is concerned.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 1905, 25 May 1888, Page 6
Word Count
239THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. Otago Witness, Issue 1905, 25 May 1888, Page 6
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