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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



•Septbmbbb '26, 1907. 



breeder; we have selected with only one 

 object in view and have overlooked the 

 difference in productiveness of our in- 

 dividual plants. When we learn to scru- 

 tinize every cutting as to its quality, and 

 every plant from which a cutting is 

 made, not only as to its health and 

 vigor, but also as to its flower-producing 

 qualities, and to reject all but the very 

 best, then will we hear less of the de- 

 terioration of varieties. 



In a word, success in breeding, suc- 

 cess in propagating, in fact, success in 

 all floricultural operations, is due to that 

 quality by which some writer has de- 

 fined genius — an infinite capacity for 

 taking pains. 



Methodt of Selection. 



The following notes, though hardly 

 proper to be included in the reading of 

 this paper, may be of some interest if 

 subsequently printed. 



It has been our custom to so time 

 our crossing as to ripen seed for March 

 sowing. These seedlings have been 

 planted in frames and allowed to bloom 

 in the open, those showing desirable qual- 



the overdouble or bursting form. The 

 early bloomers have quite generally been 

 found the freest in bloom through later 

 trials. The bursters have increased in 

 number later, while the singles, though 

 still showing, have not been so numerous. 

 The larger number of desirable varieties 

 have flowered from two to four weeks 

 after the first bloom, and seldom have 

 any been saved after September 15. A 

 record of each cross has, of course, al- 

 ways been kept, and for several seasons 

 a brief record of each seedling blooming, 

 as regards doubleness and color. These 

 records cover 2,170 separate plants, and 

 during a season of confinement to the 

 house were tabulated and summarized in 

 various ways. It should be noted that 

 the records did not cover the entire num- 

 ber of plants from any cross, except in 

 a few cases, as sickly or plainly unde- 

 sirable forms were at once pulled up, and 

 many had not bloomed when freezing 

 weather came on. With these exceptions, 

 the notes are believed to cover the 

 ground reasonably well, and to be fairly 

 accurate. No distinction was made be- 

 tween those bursting from overdouble- 

 ness and those from malformation. 



E. A. Scribner. 



ities being removed to the greenhouse 

 for subsequent trial, the undesirable ones 

 being destroyed, and those not blooming 

 before frost being disregarded, experi- 

 ence having shown them to be generally 

 worthless. 



The first bloom has been from July 

 15 to August 8, varying in different 

 years. The plants blooming earliest have 

 been generally singles and those double 

 enough for commercial purposes, but of 

 medium or small size, with very few of 



Singleaeu and Doubleness. 



In 733 individuals (one season's 

 crosses), we had: Singles, 161; commer- 

 cial doubles, 361; overdouble or bursters, 

 211. In 1,437 individuals, we had: Sin- 

 gles, 385; commercial, 706; bursters, 

 346. In 2,170 individuals, we had: Sin- 

 gles, 546 ; commercial, 1,067 ; bursters, 

 557. It will be noted that the sum of 

 the singles and bursters approximates 

 quite closely the total of the commer- 

 cials. 



The earlier crosses seemed to produce 

 more singles and fewer bursters. The 

 crosses made December 10 to January 1, 

 where plants were at their best, before 

 feeding commenced, produced very nearly 

 an equal number of singles and bursters, 

 with the commercials showing a slight 

 increase over the sum of the other tw6^. 

 The late crosses showed the bursters in 

 excess of the singles, and the early and 

 late crosses showed the sum of the sin- 

 gles and bursters in excess of the com- 

 mercials. 



The above should not be considered as 

 at all conclusive, as the mid-season 

 crosses were very much in excess of the 

 early and late ones. 



Crosses of one female . by various 

 males and the reverse, when there were 

 100 or more individuals, did not vary 

 largely from the proportions of the 

 2,170 individuals noted before. 



Color. 



A large number of tabulations were 

 made and much care was exercised in 

 making them, but they all lead back to 

 one conclusion; namely, that the color 

 of the seedling is a matter depending 

 entirely upon the individual potency of 

 the parents. The most potent parents 

 as to color were those which were the re- 

 sult of many generations of previous 

 breeding to color. Some reproduced 

 their color better as males, others as 

 females, and others equally well in either 

 case. Special search was made for some 

 indications of the truth of the theory 

 that the male has the greater influence 

 on color. It is a positive fact that in 

 these 2,170 crosses the theory does not 

 hold. I could get no tabulation, the re- 

 sults of which would not be changed by 

 the withdrawal of certain male crosses 

 and the substitution of certain female 

 crosses, or vice versa. It is true that 

 certain mongrel crosses did show a slight 

 preponderance of the male color in the 

 seedlings, but they were few in number 

 and the withdrawal of a very few 

 crosses would have changed the result to 

 the other side. 



E. A. SCRIBNER. 



E. A. Scribner, the new president of 

 the Detroit Florists' Club, has been in 

 the retail flower business at Detroit for 

 about twelve years. Before that time 

 he was superintendent of Waterworks 

 park in Detroit, which all visitors to that 

 city know is one of the most beautiful 

 spots in a beautiful citj'. The grounds 

 now are the same as laid out by Mr. 

 Scribner many years ago. His experi- 

 ence thus embraces all departments of 

 the florists' business, and he is well 

 qualified by nature to preside over the 

 club's destinies in the coming year. 



THE SROCZYNSKI PLACE. 



The establishment illustrated herewith, 

 including a pressed brick flat building 

 and store, four modern greenhouses and 

 over an acre of ground, is the property 

 of Peter- Sroczynski, of Chicago, who 

 conducts both a wholesale and retail 

 trade at 810 Harding avenue. Besides 

 handling a general stock of plants, each 

 in its season, he makes a specialty of 

 Boston ferns, and he is also noted among 

 the trade for his success in forcing 

 Easter lilies. 



Mr. Sroczynski is better known to his 

 Chicago friends as "Big Pete." He 

 came to this country April 5, 1888, with 

 only 35 cents in money, but with the 



r. 



