46 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Hovey said, in regard to time, that it had been stated. that 

 a certain amount of heat is necessary for the germination of seed, 

 and if you distribute that amount over a long time you get no 

 more result than if the same amount is applied in a few days. 

 The lilac out doors begins to start about the first of April, and 

 flowers about the first of June, requiring sixt}^ days. Lilacs placed 

 in a temperature of from 50° to 70° remained in the same condition 

 for a long period. The eff"ect of ordinary temperature is nothing, 

 but 75 to 80° bottom heat, and a higher air temperature, would start 

 the growth, and a decline would check it. It is the same with the 

 lily of the valley ; if once checked they cannot be started again. 

 A temperature of 60^^ for thirty days makes a total of 1800°, and 

 if you can give this amount in less time you will produce the same 

 eflTect. 



Marshall P. Wilder agreed with Mr. Hovey in his ideas of heat, 

 and asked what was the shortest time in which he had known cut- 

 tings to root. 



Mr. Hovey said that he had placed verbena cuttings in wet sand 

 in a temperature of 80° or 90°, and they rooted immediately — 

 certainly by the next morning. 



Mr. Wilder said that he had rooted verbena cuttings handsomely 

 in thirty-six hours, soon after hot water was first introduced for 

 propagating beds, but not many plants root so easily. 



The Chairman asked whether the time would not depend some- 

 what on the condition of the cuttings. 



Mr. Rand said that he had rooted vei'bena cuttings so as to be 

 fit to pot in three days, but, though this might be done in April, in 

 autumn it would require thirty days. The lilac is grown in Paris 

 in underground pits, in a great deal of heat. If we have two 

 warm days successively in winter, newspaper editors immediately 

 write on the danger of injury to the buds of trees, and friends are 

 sure to bring in some swollen lilac buds. The lilac makes all its 

 growth by the first of July, after which the buds for the next year's 

 growth form and do not begin to grow until spring, but when we 

 have two or three warm days in winter, the scales will swell and 

 the buds show a lighter color. When it becomes cold again the 

 buds return to their former condition. Plants know too much to 

 put out before spring. There is no record of injury to plants be- 

 fore the first of March, but if we have a long spell of warm 

 weather after that time, succeeded by severe cold, there is great 



