June 2C, 1909. 



HORTICUUTUKE 



893 



New Hybrid Calceolaria 



The accompanying photograph is that of a new hybrid 

 Calceolaria raised by Eobert Shore, head gardener in the 

 Botanical Department of the University of Cornell. 

 Forty-five plants were obtained as a result of crossing a 

 small shrubby variety, which originated as a chance seed- 

 ling from seed supplied by the Peter Henderson Co. of 

 New York, and a plant of the herbaceous type commonly 

 grown in greenhouses. 



A strange feature is the tallness of the hybrids, seeing 

 that the parents are of dwarf habit. However, the tall 

 character does not in any way detract from their beauty ; 

 rather it lends a charm which is not possessed by the 

 parents. The flowers stand well up above the foliage 

 and are beautifully mottled, the colors ranging through 

 all the shades of yellow and bronze to a shade of purple. 



the plant possessing the latter coloring being very dis- 

 tinct, and should it be reproduced from seed will un- 

 doubtedly prove a valuable acquisition as a greenhouse 

 subject. In size, the flowers and leaves are intermediate 

 between those of the parents, wMle the general habit of 

 the plant is not unlike that of C. kewensis, although per- 

 haps more graceful. An individual plant gives but a 

 poor idea of the decorative value of the hybrid, which is 

 seen to the best advantage when massed or grouped to- 

 gether with other ornamental plants. 



Many beautiful hybrid plants have been raised by Mr. 

 Shore, but being of a modest disposition very little has 

 been heard of him as a hybridizer. 



^ 4 9nei^ 



/ 



Crassula coccinea, Syn* Kalosan- 

 thes coccinea 



This beautiful flesliy shrub is a native of Table Moun- 

 tain, South Africa, and has been known to horticultur- 

 ists for a great many years. As a young man in the old 

 land I can remember seeing some magnificent specimens 

 at exhibitions. Here around Boston I have seen very 

 little of it and several well-known plantsmen have told 

 me it was a failure in this climate, which is certainly a 

 very erroneous idea. As a summer flowering plant I 

 don't know of anything that will more quickly attract 

 attention and its bright scarlet flowers, lasting for over 

 five weeks, make it very suitable for piazza decoration. 



Crassulas are easily propagated. After the plants 

 have finished flowering in July we take the stems and 

 cut them into pieces about an inch and half long and 

 insert in sand. They will root in about three weeks at 

 that time of the year and each piece will break two or 

 three eyes. In this age of hustle it takes a good deal of 

 patience to wait for a single cutting to make a decent 

 sized specimen. The quicker way is to prick the cut- 

 tings when rooted thickly into the desired size of pot ; a 

 ten-inch pot is what we generally use. Fill the pot full 

 of a good rich open soil (the above size will hold about 

 eighty cuttings), keep a little close for a day or two 

 and set outdoors in the full sun as long as there is no 

 frost. 



In winter we keep them in the coolest end of a house 

 where calceolarias and cinerarias are grown, the ther- 

 mometer quite often being as low as 34 degrees. When 

 the plant is about ten months old a few straggling flow- 

 ers will set which we cut off. Eight here I suppose is 

 where some get discouraged with the plant and give it 

 up as being no good for this climate, but if kept for 

 another season one will be rewarded with a plant about 

 three feet high with two hundred or more flowers if 

 grown in the above-mentioned pot. 



If a dwarf plant is desired the following method will 

 answer. After a plant has set for flower make cuttings 

 of the shoots the required length and fill a pan of good 

 sandy soil and set them in as thick as you can get them 

 and put for three weeks in about sixty degrees of heat 

 when they will be all rooted. Eemove to a cool light 

 house as soon as they are rooted and give a little weak 

 liquid manure occasionally until they show color. They 

 will flower beautifully although not so large as the older 

 plant. 



West Medford, Mass. 



