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HORTICULTURE: 



December 11, 19G9 



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I ORCHIDS ORCHIDS | 



= Our stock of Orchids was never larger or finer than at present, the great variety we cany 5 



E enables us to supply you with = 



Orchids for Any Purpose 1 



= From the tiniest little botanical orchids with flowers scarcely visible, to the large and 5 



S Gorgeous Cattleyas. E 



= We have just received the following freshly imported Orchids : Cattleya Warnerii, C. E 



= Qigas, Hardyana type and Dendroblum Phalasnopsis Schroederianum, all in fine E 



S shape. We also ofTer a lot of fine bulbs of Calanthe Veitchii, also materials such as S 



S Peat and Moss, Baskets, Books on Orchids, etc. Write for prices. S 



I LAGER ®, HURRELU 



wVummit, N. J. | 



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SOME RESULTS OBTAINED BY 

 GERMAN PLANT HYBRIDISTS. 



In a lengthy intei-esting article from 

 the pen of Walter Danhardt, published 

 in a recent number of Moller's Deutsche 

 Gardner-Zeitung, and in which the 

 earlier dependence on English, Ameri- 

 can and French hybridists of roses, 

 carnations, chrysanthemums, dahlias, 

 and herbaceous perennials is freely 

 acknowledged, attention is drawn to 

 the great advances made by the Ger- 

 mans in various directions. 



If German novelties in plants re- 

 ceive but scant notice in the garden- 

 ing press of England and France, more 

 particularly the latter, the reasons for 

 their silence are not intentional, but 

 are due to the lack of interest in the 

 German's endeavors to work in this 

 field; and of looking around. Among 

 cultivated plants which mostly have 

 been improved by German hybridists 

 and cross-breeders, and outside the em- 

 pire are greatly valued and admired 

 are the English or Odier pelargoniums. 

 Among professionals it is well-known 

 that the name Burger is inseparably 

 connected with these plants in their 

 improved form; and it is likewise gen- 

 erally known wherein the improve- 

 ments consist. He has after many 

 years of effort succeeded In obtaining 

 a new dwarf race, which produces 90 

 per cent of seedlings true to the type; 

 that is, that the dwarf habit of the 

 Burger race remains unaltered in al- 

 most every seedling; and in union with 

 this is a great variety in coloring in 

 the flowers, and other features. After 

 innumerable crosses of florists' varie- 

 ties and botanical species, Herr Burger 

 succeeded in getting a dwarf, compact, 

 bushy race of plants, which he re- 

 crossed with such Odier varieties as 

 Mabel, Mad. Thibault, and Perle von 



Wien, which have no lilac tint in their 

 flowers. From these crosses he got 20,- 

 000 seedlings in which scarcely two 

 colors were alike, and the lilac tint was 

 almost wholly obliterated. This amount 

 of progress was frustrated by the cross- 

 ing with the taller race, and the re- 

 sulting seedlings grew higher again. 

 Tliis malheur being at length got rid 

 of, the colors had to be improved. 

 There was a scarcity of the scarlet 

 color; and in order to obtain this 

 crossings with brick-red and scarlet- 

 flowered zonals was undertaken — an 

 uncommonly tiresome work. Burger 

 was unsuccessful at the first in his 

 efforts to obtain a zonal pelargonium 

 as seed parent, a zonal being always 

 used as the pollen parent and the zonal 

 blood was predominant; moreover, the 

 seedlings were mostly unfruitful, and 

 for further work, useless. Attempts 

 were then made by grafting the one 

 on the other; but this sexual union 

 was at the first not a success, but 

 finally this disinclination was over- 

 come by inarching, followed fortunate- 

 ly, by the formation of seeds, and the 

 raiser obtained brick-red colored seed- 

 liui^s: as for example, Perle von Hal- 

 berstadt, and the carmine-red Feurball, 

 out of which sprang the pure scarlet- 

 colored varieties. There was now a 

 new feature to be gained, for the scar- 

 let varieties had lost through the in- 

 fluence of the zonal blood the charac- 

 teristic spot of the true Odier pelargo- 

 niums; and in order to replace it 

 crosses with the spot-free scarlet, and 

 the spotted violet-flowered varieties 

 were made. These crosses had, how- 

 ever, not been successful, as the scarlet 

 color was spoilt by the influence exert- 

 ed by the lilac-colored varieties; and 

 further crosses and re-crosses had to be 

 made till this fault was at length oblit- 

 erated, and brilliant colors with beau- 

 tiful dark spots obtained. By the in- 

 fluence of the zonal blood in the Odier 

 face of pelargoniums, growth and fo- 



liage were improved. Growth was 

 more luxuriant and vigorous, the fo- 

 liage more sappy and of a darker tint, 

 and above all, it withstood the attacks 

 of greenfly, the chief plague of the 

 English pelargonium. The raiser is 

 still at work on the problem how to 

 obtain varieties immune to the plant 

 louse: and he is hopeful of obtaining 

 by further crosses with zonal varieties. 

 Chance has played a role in the devel- 

 opment of the new English pelargo- 

 niums. He had crossed ten years ago 

 varieties of Pelargoniums peltatum 

 with his seedlings, but he had obtained 

 no visible results thereby with P. pel- 

 tatum; and yet the P. peltatum had im- 

 parted very valuable properties to the 

 new race which had for several years 

 remained in abeyance, and which in 

 many cases were awakened all at once, 

 viz., the capability to bloom more than 

 once. The pretty variety Ballkonigen, 

 is one of these and it shows distinctly 

 its P. peltatum origin. This fact is 

 a valuable lesson for all hybridists, 

 viz.: that valuable features of the par- 

 ent plants often appear after a numer- 

 ous series of crosses. The varieties of 

 Herr Burger's raising have all the prop- 

 erties of continuous flowering, are. 

 indeed, "hybrid perpetuals"; and the 

 plants bloom the more abundantly 

 when they are not allowed to set their 

 seeds. 



It was once said that these new pe- 

 largoniums come true from seed. It 

 may be stated that seedlings in gen- 

 eral grow better and remain healthier 

 than plants raised from cuttings. The 

 seeds may be sown from July to Sep- 

 tember, and the seedlings by good 

 treatment may be as good as cutting- 

 raised plants, and make excellent ware 

 for selling purposes. It is an unpleas- 

 ant fact that the seeds vegetate irregu- 

 larly; but this misfortune may be over- 

 come in future. 



The varieties Burger has been so 

 fortunate as to raise from his numerous 

 crossps, extending over a long series 

 of years, are worthy of the attention 

 of hybridists and gardeners in other 

 countries, no other section of the pelar- 

 gonium family possessing their good 

 characteristics. 



FREDERICK MOORE. 



