FLOWERS AND GARDENS OF JAPAN. 

 By Ernest H. Wilson, Jamaica Plain, Mass. 



Delivered before the Society, with one hundred stereopticon illustrations, 

 January 8, 1916. 



One may safely assert that no garden large or small in the United 

 States of America is without its something "japonica." True, 

 not all the plants bearing that name are strictly native of Japan 

 for the ignorance of botanists and others has resulted in many plant 

 names being misnomers, but that is another story. 



To the horticulturists of this country Japan is of peculiar interest 

 for not only has it furnished our gardens and our greenhouses with 

 a host of invaluable plants but it is the only country of which the 

 first fruits, horticulturally speaking, came direct to the United 

 States of America. The gardens of this country secured the plants 

 of most lands through Europe and not only exotic plants but a 

 great number of North American native plants also. With Japa- 

 nese plants the case is different thanks to the enthusiasm of Dr. 

 G. R. Hall. It is well that garden-lovers of this country should 

 treasure the name of this gentleman for the plants he introduced — 

 Lonicera Halliana, Magnolia steUata, Malus Halliana and others — 

 are indispensables. It was in March, 1862, that Dr. Hall returned 

 from Japan and handed over his rich collection to Samuel Parsons 

 at Flushing, Long Island, for propagation and distribution. But 

 previous to this Francis Parkman of Jamaica Plain, Boston, had 

 received a consignment of plants from Dr. Hall, through Mr. 

 Gordon Dexter, and among others was the famous Lilium auratum, 

 which flowered for the first time in America in July, 1862. 



In the early 'sLxties Thomas Hogg visited Japan in the interest 

 of Samuel Parsons and introduced in 1865 many plants including 

 Magnolia obovata. 



Another American, Mr. W. S. Clark, who went from Amherst 

 College, Mass., and developed the Agricultural College at Sapporo, 

 in Hokkaido, in the early 'seventies of the last century, sent in 



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