DISCUSSION 275 



Lincoln, Nebr., Jan. 20, 1909. 

 To the Nebraska State Horticultural Society: 

 Gentlemen: 



By resolution at the State Bee Keepers' Association a committee of 

 five has been appointed to serve for two years, to consider means of 

 securing legislation of mutual benefit to the horticulturists and bee- 

 keepers of this state. This resolution comprehends an invitation to your 

 society to appoint a similar committee to confer with ours; which in- 

 vitation is hereby extended in the earnest hope that it may meet with 

 your approval and favorable action. 



Yours very truly, 



STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 

 (Signed) A. A. Warner, President, 

 Frank G. Odell, Secretary. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH PHLOXES 

 NOTES FROM THE YORK EXPERIMENT STATION 



C. S. Harrison, York. 



The Horticulturist has no patent on his invention. It is generally 

 considered that what he finds out is public property. If good old 

 Mother Nature gives some pointers they belong to everybody. So the 

 sum of these experiments going into the general fund of information 

 makes it possible for the layman as well as the professional to become 

 an expert. As the result of our researches, we are happy to 

 say that even little girls are enthusiastically engaged in developing 

 flowers of new and rare beauty. This bulletin, the result of years of 

 observation, is designed to aid the nurseryman as well as the amateur 

 and it should be a great help in home adornment. 



In the tremendous advance of horticulture we are not to lose sight 

 of the susceptibilities of the phlox. 



There are two ways for the improvement of plants. Save the seeds 

 of the best, give the plants the best possible care, keep sowing seeds of 

 the very best year after year, and you are sure of some gain. 



Another way is to hybridize or cross the different kinds, then select 

 the very choicest. The last is the surest way of success. As like begets 

 like, there will be no very striking variation, so the former process is 

 slow. If you raise lilacs from seed for instance, and have only the 

 Vulgaris or common kinds to work on, you cannot make much head-way. 

 If on the other hand you have twenty kinds planted close together and 

 the bees mix the pollen then you are doing something. "We have several 

 new sorts secured in this way and hope for some satisfactory results. 



When you begin to hybridize there is a tendency to revert to the 

 original types on one side or the other. But as you proceed, you get 



