MAM MOTH CALADI UMS. 



361 



greatest development ; this averages 

 about twenty-three inches. 



Another feature, usually overlooked 

 in this plant, is the strange and magnifi- 

 cent flowering. The flowers are shaped 

 like enormous Jack-in-the-pulpits. The 

 color of the sheath as well as that of the 

 spathe is a most peculiar shade of yel- 

 low ; a soft shade of yellow midway be- 

 tween that of canary and lemon. The 

 odor is most peculiar and characteristic, 

 and can be detected several hundred 

 feet away. The flowers are borne on 

 stalks from two to three feet high. Some 

 of those I have preserved in formalde- 

 hyde measure twenty inches in length. 



It has been a great surprise to me 

 again and again, to see how very few 

 people are aware of the fact that this 

 plant blooms ; in fact I have had my 

 statements to this effect questioned fre- 

 quently. The two flowers shown here- 

 with are the first ones of this season ; 

 they measure eighteen inches from the 

 calyx to the tips of the spathes. The 

 color is a peculiar shade of yellow, mid- 

 way between lemon and canary. The 

 odor is very pronounced and powerful, 

 and somewhat resembles ripe bananas. 



RAISING NEW PLANTS. 



BY ernl:st homing. 



However superficially we study na- 

 ture, we cannot help but see the strug- 

 gle for existence that is constantly 

 going on with all life and yet at times we 

 are apt to cry "back to nature" thought- 

 lessly without realizing what a poor 

 existence it would be if we depended 

 upon the uncultivated prairie or virgin 

 forest for our existence. 



When the Creator endowed man with 

 brains he truly gave him power over 

 the birds of the air and beasts of the 

 field. 



When we look at a field of corn with 

 ihe ripening ears reaching out across 

 the row r s or a field of cabbage with their 

 solid heads, we are apt to pass it by 

 with the thought that it is the result 

 of good cultivation and a generous, 

 rich land. But it is more than that. 

 It is the result of generations of 

 thought and study. Few would recog- 



nize the ancestor of the cabbage, Brass- 

 ica oleracea, an insignificant weed, 

 which by hybridization and selection 

 through the centuries has been brought 

 to the present state ot usefulness to 

 man. 



The Zca Mays or Indian Corn has 

 been cultivated so long that its origin 

 is lost in antiquity, and so it is with 

 all our flowers, fruits and vegetables. 

 The possibility of food supply, our 

 \ ery existence is owing to the tireless 

 brains and hands of former ages. 



There is nothing more fascinating 

 than a knowledge of the power making 

 it possible to produce new forms, new 

 types in nature. That man can to a 

 certain extent guide the divine law of 

 evolution and divert it to the attain- 

 ment of his own comfort and pleasure. 



All horticulturists with ambition feel 

 the desire to produce something that 

 excels, something larger and better 

 than has been produced before or to 

 get something new, but few have the 

 patience to accomplish. The process 

 is slow. It took, we might say, cen- 

 turies to produce the York Imperial 

 Apple from the wild crab, or the Jack 

 Rose from the wild briar, or the Early 

 Rose potato from the wild type of Sola- 

 tium tuberosum. 



It was this ambition or desire that 

 influenced the writer to make many 

 experiments in hybridizing, the fail- 

 ures do not make interestino- reading 

 so need not be mentioned. Success 

 came witli experiments on the mallow 

 family. 



The swamp mallow with its large 

 white flowers anel crimson centres are 

 so common in the low, wet ground in 

 New Jersey and other eastern states 

 that few could travel by train during 

 August without noticing them from 

 the car windows. 



Some of them are a beautiful pink 

 shade of color. It w-as this that led 

 to an attempt to improve them by 

 gathering seed from the best flowers 

 and cultivating them with the hope 

 of improving them. This led to failure.. 

 They seemed to lose the pink color and 

 only became coarser with good treat- 

 ment. 



The late Thomas Meehan suggested 

 hybridizing with the hollyhock which 



