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8 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Septbmbbb 26, 1907. 



charge of the gardening. One of the 

 illustrations shows the drive, looking to- 

 ward the house, with Hydrangea Otaksa 

 on either side. The other pictures are of 

 specimen plants. These plants are all 

 set in the ground and stay outdoors all 

 winter. In the autumn they are turned 

 on the side and covered with soil. 



The larger illustration, in which Mr. 

 Burke stands beside one of his plants, 

 serves to give an idea of the size of 

 these hydrangeas. This plant is about 

 seven feet high and the same distance 

 through. It was planted four years ago 

 from a 12-inch pot. Mr. Burke says the 

 flowers on this plant were pink in 1906, 

 and this year are blue, though nothing 

 has been used in the soil which would 

 account for the change in color. The 

 other plant is a more perfect specimen, 

 the flowers being more evenly distribut- 

 ed. The plant is over six feet high and 

 about seven feet in diameter. It has 

 been literally covered with flowers, which 

 were so numerous that it was almost im- 

 possible to get an accurate count of 

 them; there were several hundred. The 

 flowers on this plant are pink this year 

 and were blue last year. 



Hydrangea hortensis var. Otaksa ia 



4 ^«r^ >4rf^ 



BREEDING AND 



PROPAGATION 



Closely Related Subjects* 



The coupling of these two subjects 

 seems eminently proper, as the present 

 situation, especially with regard to the 

 carnation, is that the breeders are yearly 

 producing new and better varieties, and 

 the grower is just as rapidly destroying 

 them by improper methods of propagat- 

 ing and growing. 



Perhaps a short summary of the ex- 

 tent, or, better, the limitation, of the 

 writer's experience may be of use in es- 

 timating the value of any ideas ad- 

 vanced in this paper. For some eight- 

 een years I have been actively engaged 

 in growing cut flowers for market pur- 

 poses, largely carnations and chrysanthe- 



Hydrangea Otaksa at Warwick Neck, R. I. 



mums, and for the last thirteen years 

 have been interested in the breeding of 

 carnations, with no very striking success 

 so far as the putting out of phenomenal 

 new things is concerned. 



The Commercial Method. 



The work has been conducted strictly 

 from the commercial standpoint and, 

 like all work of this kind conducted from 

 this standpoint, has but little value in 

 a scientific way. Questions of economy, 

 the saving of time, labor and greenhouse 

 space, compel the dropping of any line 

 so soon as it shall appear not to offer 

 reasonable chances for gain. We cannot 

 study retrograde or degenerate move- 

 ments. Failures — that is, undesirable 

 types — are at once destroyed and re- 

 placed by what seems to give more 

 chance of gain, and no proper study is, 

 or can . be, made of the causes of the 

 retrogression or degeneracy. This same 

 con^mercial pressure and desire to econ- 

 omize time leads us to keep incomplete 

 records and lays us open to more than a 

 suspicion of inaccuracy. General state- 

 ments, summaries or conclusions, no 

 matter how positively put forth by us, 

 are open to suspicion also, because we 

 have no true conception of what sciea- 

 tific accuracy means. Many of us en- 

 tirely fail to study the scientific work 

 which has been done, or is being done, 

 in breeding and heredity, while the best 

 of us can hardly lay claim to more than 

 a superficial knowledge of it, gained 

 through digests, reviews and summaries. 



The Scientific Method. 



On the other hand, the scientific stu- 

 dent of these matters is not primarily 

 concerned about the commercial value of 

 his products, and will preserve for care- 

 ful study degenerate or sickly individ- 

 uals which the commercial breeder will 

 promptly discard. Failures are failures, 



the greenhouse hydrangea, for it is not 

 hardy outdoors in the north without care- 

 ful protection. It is ordinarily seen in 

 tubs on lawns and is one of the finest of 

 plants for the purpose. Late in autumn, 

 when the leaves have fallen after light 

 frost, the plants are removed to a frost- 

 proof cellar and kept rather dry until 

 spring, when they are repotted and the 

 growths cut back. During summer a liber- 

 al supply of water should be given. 



Handsome pot plants for spring sales 

 can be grown in little more than a year. 

 Old plants, given a little heat in winter, 

 will give an abundance of cuttings in 

 February and March. They root quickly. 

 Pot on till June. Pinch out the tops. 

 During summer plunge outside where 

 drainage will be good. They have to 

 ripen the growth, and most growers leave 

 them out until after early frosts to do 

 it. They should be repotted in time to 

 be reestablished before frost. Keep cool 

 in the greenhouse until January, when 

 liberal treatment, with 50 to 60 degrees 

 of heat, will give plants in flower for 

 Easter. 



Approach to the Resideoce of J. A. Foster, Warwick Neck, R. L 



