90 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Avitli weakness. In his view variegations of the begonia, etc., 

 came in a different category. 



Mr. Hovey remarked that, on the other hand, the variegated 

 agave and the Pliormium tenax var. are as strong or stronger 

 than the plain. 



Mr. Buswell said that the point which he desired to ascertain 

 was whether a plant is necessarily weaker because variegated. 



Mr. Hovey thought it might safely be set down as a general 

 rule that variegated plants are weaker than the plain, like the 

 negundo, already mentioned, and the variegated horse chestnut, 

 but there are exceptions. 



Mr. Gray agreed with Mr. Hovey, and mentioned as an excep- 

 tion the golden 3^ew, which is hardier than the green. 



Henry F. French desired to speak as one of those who are not 

 so well versed in horticulture as the gentlemen who had preceded 

 him, for he found that such could sometimes contribute to these 

 discussions, at least by drawing out those who have more 

 experience. He thought that while we cannot tell why one plant 

 should bear a red flower and another a yellow one, we could not 

 expect to account for sports. There is no difficulty in getting 

 evidence for one side of a theory, if you will only leave out the 

 other. Mr. Hovey has spoken of the Baldwin apple as unchanged 

 by the thousands of stocks on which it has been grafted, but his 

 observation had been that if you buy them by the hundred barrels 

 from different localities, you will get apples so different, that you 

 can hardly recognize them as the same variet}'. Sports of the 

 Baldwin have also been exhibited here, some of them resembling 

 the Roxbury Russet much more than the Baldwin. To his mind 

 there was sufficient evidence that the Baldwin can be affected by 

 the stock, and also of the existence of the Sweet and Sour 

 apple, with one side sweet and the other sour, which had been 

 doubted by some. B}' cultivating plants in a particular vfny you 

 can change the color ; the hydrangea, for instance, which by the 

 application of charcoal, becomes purple instead of pink. 



Mr. Hovey remarked that it is well for us to bear in mind that 

 fruit does not often show the influence of a mixture of pollen the 

 same year. Squash seed often varies when the fruit is apparently 

 genuine. We fertilize the camellia, but see no change in the 

 flower. The variations caused by cultivation are not permanent, 

 for scions taken from a neglected tree and well cultivated, will 

 produce the Quest fruit. 



