272 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



ter of dollars and cents to cut the flowers of the former and sell 

 them before the center shows. But such judgments are essen- 

 tially personal. What buyers want is the fact. If the center 

 shows, the disseminator should state the fact. 



A blue chrysanthemum ia not impossible. It was formerly 

 taught that red, yellow, and blue flowers could never be gotten in 

 the same species. Scientists no longer believe in the incompatibil- 

 ity of the cyanic and xantliic series of colors. A blue chrysanthe- 

 mum may arise either from seeds or " sports." As far as seedlings 

 are concerned, one would naturally be tempted to save the seeds of 

 varieties approaching purple. Blue is perhaps most easily reached 

 through purple, but when the blue is once obtained the difficulty is 

 to keep out the purple. Probably we sliall never have an azure- 

 blue chrysanthemum. Even the fringed gentian, which is the 

 standard for azure-blue among wild flowers, is not always free from 

 purple. The tendency among chrysanthemums is to sport towards 

 white, instead of away from it. Of course, sports, like men of 

 genius, have a way of disregarding prophecies, but the tendency is 

 worth pointing out. The story is often repeated that in the year 

 386 A. D. the King of Corea had to pay to the Japanese Emperor 

 a tribute consisting of red, white, yellow, blue and black chrysan- 

 themums. Even granting that the tribute was actually paid, what 

 proof have we that the Japanese word for blue has meant the same 

 thing for fifteen centuries ? Moreover, how does the average per- 

 son know that the Japanese word is properly translated ? If those 

 who are striving to produce a blue chrysanthemum, are also cher- 

 ishing hopes of selling it for $1,500, they should be reminded that 

 the public may not care for it when it is obtained. A green chrys- 

 anthemum was very rare, but when the two plants of the pink 

 variety Yiviand-Morel sported to a green simultaneously in differ- 

 ent parts of England, the coincidence was barely mentioned in a 

 British horticultural journal. 



Fragrance [Mr, Miller). — Can chrysanthemums be made fra- 

 grant? Yes and no. Nymphaea is fragrant, but it is a small-flow- 

 ered variety. There are at least half a dozen others. How much 

 these can be developed is a question. At any rate, the large- 

 flowered varieties will certainly never all be fragrant. They are 

 valued for other things. If odor is associated with hereditary 

 constitution, the chances are small for making the genus chrysan- 



