82 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Ill reply to a question as to the possibility of producing a blue 

 cMTsauthemum, Mr. Thorpe said that a blue chrysanthemum was 

 exhibited at Philadelphia, but unfortunately it was made of paper. 

 However, he full}' Ijelieved that we should live to see a genuine 

 blue chr3'santhemum. The old botanists declared that we could 

 not have blue, yellow, and red in the same species of plant. But 

 we have blue, yellow, and red hj-acinths, and he saw no good 

 reason why we should not get the same colors in the chrysanthe- 

 mum. How limited were the original colors of the chrysanthemum 

 floAvers I They were a pale yellow, white, and a very weak lilac 

 shade ; and from these have been elaborated all the colors and 

 shades we now enjo}' in this flower. This has been accomplished 

 by very slow and persistent work, in selection and cross-fertiliza- 

 tion, and in the fixing of sports. Notice how intensified have 

 become the yellows and how many shades there are. The lilac 

 has become pink, of pure shading. Then as to red, CuUingfordii 

 oftentimes, when the flowers are closely shaded, presents us with 

 ueaii}' a pure tone of red. The most pronounced purple we have 

 today is a "sport" from the lightly tipped, incurved Princess of 

 "Wales. It is named Violet Tomlin and is really purple. Now we 

 cannot get purple without blue, and to those who are hard at work 

 in the field of development, a blue chrysanthemum would not be 

 a very great surprise. Raisers of seedlings frequently see signs 

 of a " new departure " four or five years before it actually takes 

 place. The blue chrysanthemum may first be obtained from a 

 sport. 



Joseph Clark asked if the continual cross-fertilizing and high 

 culture required to produce the large flowers now exhibited does 

 not injure the constitution of the plants. 



Mr. Thorpe said he did not believe that the constitution of the 

 chrj^santhemum had been impau'ed by continual cross-fertilization. 

 On the contrary the American .raised seedlings of the past three 

 3'ears have decidedly more vigorous habits than those of previous 

 years. The principal cause of this is that our raisers of seedlings 

 have now reached a point where they will throw awa}' all weakly 

 seedlings, except such as shoAv some new features which it is 

 desirable to develop in future generations. When his seedlings 

 are about four months old, then being generally iu three inch pots, 

 he discards all plants of puny growth and constitutional weakness, 

 thus doing away with all tlie bother of nursing them, and often 

 the temptation to keep a weakling when in flower. 



