152 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



The Blue Section has proven the most difficult of all, as the seedlings 

 sport backward and forward between light lavenders and deep purples, the 

 intermediate colors being largely a composition of pink and blue, some of 

 them curiously and brilliantly colored. As yet I have not succeeded in secur- 

 ing a true blue, the nearest thing being a lavender colored flower, in which, 

 however, there was too much pink. 



In several crosses a number of curious seed sports have been produced, 

 frequently a cross between two crimsons producing pure white blooms, and 

 sometimes a delicate daybreak pink, the latter color invariably being slightly 

 variegated with a crimson or purple streak, and frequently with picotee edges 

 of the same color. 'J'his occurs where, as far as my records show, there has 

 been no white or pink blood in either of the ancestors, and is probably due 

 to the union of two like recessive characters existing in the ancestry, which 

 have become dominant in the individual which we term the "seed sport,"' 

 My studies of these variations in color seem to show that while there may be 

 several intervening hybrids that do not show the dominant character of the 

 sport, the character must, however, have prevailed to some extent at some 

 period in either one or both parents. 



In carrying on my work not less than 50,000 hybridized seedlings have 

 been grown, and while I consider the first six years practically lost, I have 

 been pleased to note that the advancement has been rapid during the latter six 

 years. During this period thirty-six varieties of commercial carnations have 

 been produced and profitably grown at The Cottage Gardens. Of these six- 

 teen have been introduced to commerce, four being crimsons, two scarlets, two 

 yellows, two variegated with white ground, three whites and three pinks. 

 There are now in my collection twenty hybrids that are commercially valuable 

 varieties, divided as follows : Four crimsons, two scarlets, two yellows, two 

 white variegated, four pure whites, four dark pinks and two light pinks. 



My most successful work in the fixing of colors was accomplished with 

 the Crimson Section. It is now fairly well established as a type, and is more 

 constant than any of the other types, and I have noted that many other 

 American hybridizers are using Maceo, Gomez and Governor Roosevelt in pro- 

 ducing their crimson sorts. The progeny of the above varieties have broken 

 into two different colors — crimson and scarlet. This may be explained by the 

 fact that they were derived from Mr. Dorner's Meteor, a good crimson, and 

 the English variety Winter Cheer, which is a true crimson scarlet. The 

 modified habit of Maceo, which I consider the most profitable commercial 

 habit in existence, is being generally bred into the other sections, and in the 

 end I hope to produce most of the desirable colors in carnations upon this 

 habit. 



I have found, as a rule, varieties do the best near the localities where 

 they originated, or in similar environments. Those varieties produced in the 

 East have, as a rule, done better with us than those produced in the West. 

 Inasmuch as we are working with a purely hybrid plant, the result of several 

 hundred years of hybridization, we must expect that the recessive charac- 

 teristics described by Mendel will be constantly reappearing in the way of bud 

 sports. This is well exemplified by the various sports which have occurred in 

 ^he variety "Mrs. Lawson." I have known of several pure white sports, prob- 



