242 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



stock at that time. Many others, who promised to contribute dur- 

 ing the present season, would have joined in the work last year had 

 our intentions been known to them before their supplies were 

 exhausted. 



Recent Varieties. 



While a large number of the new varieties put on sale in the 

 United States of late years show no marked improv^ement on older 

 types, there are still many of them decidedly superior in character. 

 The advance is perhaps most noticeable in the stems, which are 

 dwarf, stout and erect, and well furnished with luxuriant leaves to 

 the base of the flower, as compared with the long, slender and 

 sparsely leaved growth of older kinds. And the blooms in many 

 cases are of larger size and improved form, and better filled with 

 florets of the best texture. Considerable progress has also been 

 made in providing good types of the most desirable colors to bloom 

 at the various seasons, early, medium and late. Mrs. E. Gr. Hill and 

 Mrs. H. McK. Twombly, for example, are invaluable additions to 

 our earliest varieties, as are Eugene Dailledouze and Titian to the 

 mid-season set, and Challenge, Laredo and Mrs. J. George lis to the 

 late flowering sorts. Niveus, Fig. 52, in all essentials comes nearest 

 to the American ideal of a perfect variety. 



The tendency to low growth in the stems, while of much util- 

 ity when blooms for catting are the main consideration, is of far 

 greater importance in the production of decoi'ative and specimen 

 plants. It is not forgotten that blooms with two or three feet of 

 stem are a necessity in the cut flower trade, but there is proba- 

 bly little danger of the dwarfing of the plants being carried so far 

 as to render the flowers they produce unmarketable or useless for 

 cutting. Plants for decoration and exhibition can hardly be too 

 dwarf or stocky in growth, and it is in this connection that such 

 varieties as Golden Ball, which may be developed in excellent form 

 with one-third of the labor and expense usually required in staking 

 and training, will ultimately assert themselves and increase in 

 popularity. Perhaps the one feature of chrysanthemum development 

 which affords little or no indication of progress is the color of the 

 flowers. It is true that a few novel shades have been produced, but 

 these are of such indiflierent character that their utility is doubtful, 

 and most of them, from the florist's point of view, are certainly 

 valueless. The most serviceable flowers for decorative purposes. 



