The chrysanthemum is subject to the attack of black aphis and green-fly. These pests may be destroyed, out of doors, by syringing with quassia and soft soap solutions, by dusting the affected parts with tobacco-powder, and indoors also by fumigating. Mildew generally appears after the plants are housed. It may be destroyed by dusting the leaves attacked with sublimed sulphur. Rust is a fungoid disease of recent years. It is best checked by syringing the plants with liver of sulphur (1 oz. to 3 gallons of water) occasionally, a few weeks before taking the plants into the greenhouse. Earwigs and slugs must be trapped and destroyed.
Flowers for Exhibition.—Flowers of exhibition standard must be as broad and as deep as the various varieties are capable of producing; they must be irreproachable in colour. They must also exhibit the form peculiar to the variety when at its best, very few kinds being precisely alike in this respect. New varieties are introduced in large numbers annually, some of which supplant the older kinds. The cultivator must therefore study the peculiarities of several new kinds each year if he would be a successful exhibitor.
For lists of varieties, &c. see the catalogues of chrysanthemum growers, the gardening Press, and the excellent cultural pamphlets which are published from time to time.
[1] The Gr. χρυσάνθεμον (χρυσός, gold, and ἄνθεμον, flower) was the herbalists’ name for C. segetum, the “corn marigold,” with its yellow bloom, and was transferred by Linnaeus to the genus, being commonly restricted now to the species C. sinense.
CHRYSANTHIUS, a Greek philosopher of the 4th century A.D., of the school of Iamblichus. He was one of the favourite pupils of Aedesius, and devoted himself mainly to the mystical side of Neoplatonism (q.v.). The emperor Julian (q.v.) went to him by the advice of Aedesius, and subsequently invited him to come to court, and assist in the projected resuscitation of Hellenism. But Chrysanthius declined on the strength of unfavourable omens, as he said, but probably because he realized that the scheme was unlikely to bear fruit. For the same reason he abstained from drastic religious reforms in his capacity as high-priest of Lydia. As a result of his moderation, he remained high-priest till his death, venerated alike by Christians and pagans. His wife Melite, who was associated with him in the priestly office, was a kinswoman of Eunapius the biographer.
CHRYSELEPHANTINE (Gr. χρυσός, gold, and ἐλέφας, ivory), the architectural term given to statues which were built up on a wooden core, with ivory representing the flesh and gold the drapery. The two most celebrated examples are those by Pheidias of the statue of Athena in the Parthenon and of Zeus in the temple at Olympia.