THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



parts of our own country, w ill remember the most interesting, papers and 

 discussions upon this subject. Indeed, it may be said that there is no limit 

 to the development that may be made by this means. The discovery of 

 Mendel's law governing the results of hybridization furnishes a guide to 

 these experiments which will greatly aid in the accomplishment of im- 

 portant results, and the achievement of our highest ideal. 



The propagation from buds is the method by which plants are obtained 

 from cuttings and layerings, while in some cases buds are formed upon 

 the roots of plants, as in the Pyrus Japonica. Propagation from buds 

 involves the interesting fact concerning bud variation, through which 

 plants are produced of a distinct character from the parent plant. This 

 also produces some striking changes which we call " sports." Familiar 

 illustrations of this are found in the production of the pink Bridesmaid 

 rose from the white Bride, and the white Killarney from the pink parent. 



Bud propagation also involves an interesting variety in the case of those 

 plants where rudimentary buds are formed on the margin of the leaves, 

 or at the leaf axis, as is the case with members of the Begonia family. 



After a plant is obtained by the germination of seed, or by propagation 

 from buds, its growth and development next require our attention. This 

 involves, not only proper conditions of soil, but the plant food which the 

 soil contains. 



The ultimate object of the production of the plant and of its growth 

 and development is its reproduction. For this operation the flower of the 

 plant it formed. And flowers, whether for their own sake or as the 

 necessary precursors, are objects of the greatest concern to the gardener. 

 As the reproduction process, of which the formation of the flower is the 

 first stage, is an exhaustive one, it is necessary that the plant should be 

 well established before it flowers. When the growth of a plant from any 

 cause is too vigorous it is sometimes necessary to check the growth of the 

 vegetative organs as the necessary preliminary to the development of the 

 flower. This is sometimes done by root-pruning, but commonly, in green- 

 houses, by the use of pots. In some countries where the grapes do not 

 form flower sufficiently for a good crop, the vines are partly lifted so as 

 to check the operation of the roots. The flower itself is usually produced 

 at the end of the shoot or a spur from the side of the branch. Some- 

 times the flower buds for next year are formed soon after the dropping 

 of this year's flowers, as is the case with pears among fruits and Chinese 

 magnolias among flowers. More frequently the flower is formed at the 

 end of the new growth of the shoot and is a special development of the 

 foliation. Indeed, a great portion of flowers perform the same function 

 as leaves, while the highly colored petals do not have this function. 

 Double flowers are formed by the development of stamens and pistils into 

 petals so that, as a rule, double flowers have fewer seeds than do single 

 flowers. Indeed, this development of stamens and pistils into petals 

 sometimes goes so far as to leave none of the organs for the formation 

 of seed. 



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