CREATION OF AN IMPROVED VARIETY OF CROCUS SATIVUS. 277: 
instead of rising 10 to 15 cent. above the soil, as is the case with cul- 
tivated Saffron, they present themselves at the level of the soil, and 
their gathering is consequently very difficult. However curious and 
precious therefore my hybrid may be from the agricultural point of view. 
it has still the need to be worked up and improved by means of sowing 
and selection.” 
Unfortunately that is a long-winded work. Indeed, the sowing that 
I made of the precious seed gathered in the year 1897 from this hybrid 
will scarcely flower under five to six years. Will one sowing attain 
perfection, or may it not probably be necessary to await still another 
generation, that is to say, a further period of five or six years ? 
I should not forget to say that I possess still some hundreds of young 
seedlings from one to six years,old, which will not give me their first 
flower for one, two, three, four, five, and six years. Who knows but 
that among these dear unknowns there may be the phenomenon I have 
been waiting for, for more than fifty years. Inshort, I possess at present 
very interesting varieties, which may be called plants full of hope. 
So far, these hybrids have had but a botanical and theoretical value, 
but there only remains, it is reasonable to expect, a slight effort to be 
made in order to arrive at an improved type, which may render veritable 
service to Saffron cultivators. 
[Norr.—The preceding paper was accompanied by two others: Mon- 
sieur P. Duchartre’s ‘“‘Note on a Crocus with Monstrous Flowers’’ 
and ‘“ Note on a Monstrous Saffron,’ by Monsieur L. Lutz. 
Both relate to the hybrid Crocus sativus raised by Monsieur Chap- 
pellier ; but as they only describe in detail the peculiarities of structure of 
the monstrous flowers, without special reference to their hybrid origin, 
we do not reproduce them, although from the morphological standpoint 
they are extremely interesting. | 
