AZALEA INDICA SEEDLINGS. 87 



The Chairman congratulated the meeting that, notwithstanding 

 the severe weather, we had to-day, as on previous occasions this 

 season, a very fine display of plants and flowers, and called on 

 exhibitors for some account of their various contributions, and 

 their methods of cultivation. 



Marshall P. Wilder said that all his horticultural life he had been 

 hybridizing the azalea and camellia, in the hope of producing im- 

 proved varieties, and as he could not expect to remain here many 

 years, he had been desirous to bring his seedlings into flower in as 

 short a time as possible. Two years ago he promised to produce 

 seedling camellias and azaleas, from seed then germinating, some 

 of which should be in flower at this time, and now he exhibited 

 two grafted azaleas, one of which was in flower, and the other 

 would be abundantly in bloom another year, and an ungrafted 

 seedling camellia, of the same age, in bud, besides a grafted speci- 

 men. Whether or not it would pay to take so much trouble to 

 bloom seedlings early was not the question ; his purpose was to 

 show that it could be done. The stocks of the azaleas were the 

 common A. Phoenicea. The seed was sown December 11, 1873, 

 and came up in March, 1874, so that the flowers were produced in 

 less than two years. Mr. Wilder said that he visited his green- 

 house every morning, before coming into town, and again every 

 afternoon, and saw that the plants were regularly watered and 

 cared for. The cause of the early flowering is the grafting into 

 older stocks, the principle being the same as is applied to the 

 eai'ly production of new seedling fruits. 



E. W. Buswell remarked that the Messrs. Clapp had caused 

 their new seedling pears to fruit much earlier than they would 

 otherwise have done, by inserting grafts from them in the branches 

 of old trees. 



Charles M. Hovey said that in dealing with all horticultural 

 questions we must be governed by principles. It is not often that 

 we see seedling azaleas brought into bloom in two years. They 

 generally require from four to twenty years. He had a camellia 

 from fifteen to eighteen years old, which only flowered last year — a 

 very vigorous plant with fine foliage. He had raised a seedling 

 rose from Gen. Jacqueminot, sowing the seed in December, and 

 the plant flowering in May, though roses do not commonly flower 

 under one or two years. One of the first persons to experiment 

 in accelerating the production of seedling fruits and flowers was 



