628 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc- 



Gradiially, however, things changed and we find poppies, ghadiolus, 

 wall-llowers and all those old-fashioned flowers whose very men- 

 tion brings with it the scent of rosemary and thyme, flourishing in 

 the gardens of Europe. 



From the Orient came the oleander, the holyhock and the peach. 

 Koses were cultivated in the double state, probably at first by the 

 Romans. They were familiar with the process of dusting, while the 

 process of fertilization which was involved was not explained until 

 comparatively recent times. The problem of hybridization is per- 

 haps the most important in the field of horticulture. By its means 

 varieties are brought into existence and improved. The object of 

 the gardener is to improve vegetables and fruits, and to make 

 flowers more attractive. All of the valuable forms of asters, chrys- 

 anthemums, camelias, peonies, carnations, pansies, roses, tulips and 

 primulas are hybrids. At first, the method of obtaining these was 

 a deep secret, and the principle which is involved was not understood 

 until after the researches of Conrad Sprengel. His book, which 

 dates back to the 18th century, is entitled "The Discovered Secret 

 of Nature in the Structure and Fertilization of Flowers." This, 

 with the later scientific contributions of Darwin and others, has 

 shed the necessary light upon this subject, and the modern gardener 

 now experiments upon a scientific basis with closely allied species. 

 The number of hybrids annually produced is simply enormous. It 

 has been estimated that at present there are about 7,000 different 

 hybrids of roses alone, with an annual production of a number at 

 times surpassing 100. 



In the 16th century the lilac, the horse-chestnut and tulips were 

 the most important plants introduced into Europe. They reached 

 Vienna and came by way of Constantinople. So far as the tulip is 

 concerned, its introduction into horticulture is due to two famous 

 botanists. Conrad Gesner received the bulbs from Constantinople 

 and cultivated the plant at Augsburg. In his honor the tulip has 

 received the name Tulipa Gesneriana. Through the court-botanist 

 of Vienna, Clusius, the plant was introduced into England. The 

 tulip craze soon after broke out in Holland, when one variety was 

 sold for sums equal to those paid for the rarest orchids at the 

 present day. 



Other fads and fashions appeared. The primrose culture which 

 resulted from the production of a hybrid occurring in nature in the 

 Alps, known as Primula pubescens, produced another but a milder 

 form of horticultural mania. Gradually many plants were intro- 

 duced from America into European catalogues, e. g., Phlox pani- 

 culata, Monarda fistulosa, Pentstemon, RudlDeckia and Zinnia, some 

 of which are better known to the botanists of this country than to 

 its gardeners. On traveling through Europe it is interesting to 

 note how some of our common wild flowers are highly prized in the 

 gardens on the other side of the Atlantic, while with us they are 

 not deemed worthy of admittance into a well organized bed of 

 flowers. Our common butterfly-weed figured prominently at a floral 

 exhibition which I visited in London some years ago. Another of 

 our milkweeds, our astors and goldenrods were very decorative in 

 a German garden. At the Paris Exposition I saw large beds of our 

 American mountain laurel, which grows in such wild luxurience in 

 the sandy regions of New Jersey. The flowers may be had in June 



