484 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 354. 



condition when its two lobes spread out. This can easily 

 be seen with an ordinary pocket lens. The flower should 

 then be dusted over with pollen, not once merely, but once 

 or twice a day for several days. Every head thus treated 

 will produce good seeds. Mr. Shea deprecates the shear- 

 ing off of the ray-florets preparatory to fertilizing, although 

 he says it is invariably practiced by American breeders. 

 He recommends that the ray-florets should be removed 

 with scissors as soon as they wither. The seeds mature 

 and ripen quickly if the plants are placed near the warm 

 pipes, and if the flowers operated upon hang over so as to 

 almost touch the pipes, so much the better. When the 

 seeds are ripe they should at once be removed from the 

 receptacle. Mr. Shea's test for ripeness is pressing the 

 florets with his fingers, and if they come away easily they 

 may be gathered at once. The flowers nearest the centre 

 of the disk invariably produce a large proportion of single- 

 flowered seedlings, but flowers on the outside produce 

 nearly all double-flowered progeny. Mr. Shea has found 

 that seeds ripened on the extreme outside of the flower- 

 head produce practically none but double-flowered sorts. 



The best results, so far as time of flowering is concerned, 

 are obtained by crossing early with late flowering sorts. 

 Such a cross yields varieties which flower in the middle of 

 the season, say the second week in November, and these 

 •find most favor with growers. The qualities to be aimed at 

 depend upon various circumstances. Mr. Shea has always 

 discarded tall-growing sorts, the most desirable height, 111 

 his opinion, being five feet or less. He also destroys 

 varieties that have bad foliage. With regard to the size of 

 the flowers, that, he said, was controlled by the exigencies 

 of the exhibition tent. When two flowers of equal quality 

 in all points except size were placed before a judge he had 

 no alternative but to give the prize to the larger of the two. 

 But there was no doubt that too many points were given 

 for mere bulk of flower. Some of the largest-flowered 

 among the newer sorts were coarse and ugly. Refinement 

 of character — that is, elegance of form and pleasing colors — 

 ought to be a sine qua non with raisers of new Chrysan- 

 themums. In that direction much good work remained to 

 be done. Mr. Shea concluded by urging. English horticul- 

 turists to raise their own seedlings and to look out for the 

 blue Chrysanthemum. 



More New Chrysanthemums. — I trust I am not mistaken 

 in believing that your readers are interested in learning 

 what among the new varieties of Chrysanthemums are 

 favorably received here. I assume this is so because a 

 large proportion of our best new sorts are, I believe, of 

 American origin. This week the number of certificated 

 new varieties has been considerable. I would, however, 

 first name a variety which has not yet won that distinction, 

 but which will, in the opinion of competent judges, soon 

 become a great favorite on account of the exceptional color 

 of its large blooms. It is evident from its name, Madame 

 C. Capitant, that it is of French origin, although it was ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Godfrey, of Devon. It is a large, full, some- 

 what flat Japanese variety, with broad petals, and its color 

 is a pale pink, exactly the color of a Malmaison Carnation. 

 It is sure to be in great demand, especially with ladies. 



Miss Maggie Blenkiron, the variety mentioned by me 

 last week, was, I find, raised by Mr. C. E. Shea. It is a 

 large incurved Japanese, almost a pure incurved, the flow- 

 ers being conical, and the color rich yellow shaded with 

 crimson. Duicie Schrceter and Sir E. T. Smith, also from 

 Mr. Shea, are two rich yellow, large-flowered varieties of 

 the reflexed Japanese class. Mrs. W. }. Godefrey is one of 

 the white, hairy-flowered section, and, although it obtained 

 a certificate, I question if it is distinct from Mrs. A. Hardy. 

 Another of the hairy-flowered section is Mrs. Ward, the 

 flowers of which are very large and colored coppery red, 

 tinged with crimson. J. Bidencope is a big-flowered Japa- 

 nese variety of a bright magenta color. J. Lightfoot is 

 also a large-flowered Japanese of a pale lilac color, the 

 margins of the petals being of a deeper shade — a distinct 

 and pleasing break. Garnet is a very large incurved Japa- 



nese, as regular almost as Lord Brook, the color a rich 

 vinous purple, with a gray-purple reverse. Alice Seward 

 is a similar variety, but colored crimson-purple, with a 

 silvery reverse. I have a weakness for the single-flowered 

 varieties, and I, therefore, gladly record three beautiful ad- 

 ditions to this section in Purity, which has flowers of the 

 purest white, four inches across, the bright yellow eye-like 

 disk being an inch in diameter; Carrie Wells, a glorified 

 ox-eye Daisy, with a deep yellow disk and spreading terra 

 cotta red ray-florets ; W. E. Renfrey has flowers four inches 

 across and ray-florets of a rich glowing magenta color. 



Mr. Cannell exhibited a new introduction from Japan, 

 named Mrs. R. Filkins, which has medium-sized flat flow- 

 ers with narrow petals, fringed at the apex and of a bright 

 yellow color. It is described as forming a big bush which 

 flowers as freely as Miss Rose. Some immense flowers of 

 Hairy Wonder revealed the coarseness and ugliness of this 

 variety when overfed. Another ugly variety of this class, 

 which, however, succeeded in obtaining a certificate, is 

 Princess QSna, a rose-purple sport from Hairy Wonder. 



Grafted Chrysanthemums. — Two years ago a Belgian 

 gardener exhibited some Chrysanthemums which he had 

 grafted on C. frutescens, the Paris Daisy. They were re- 

 markable for the strength of their stems and the substance 

 and size of their flowers. In the January number of the 

 Revue de l Horticulture Beige for this year there is a figure 

 of one of these grafted specimens when two years old, with 

 an account of the treatment pursued by Monsieur Alex 

 Callier, the grower of the specimen, which was a dwarf 

 standard with a head nearly nine feet through, bearing 

 seven hundred and ninety well-formed flowers, the variety 

 being Val dAndorre. The plant was grafted in January, 

 and after flowering the following winter it was shaken out 

 and repotted, first into a comparatively small pot, and then 

 into larger pots, until finally it was planted in a tub a yard 

 across. The advantages claimed for grafted Chrysanthe- 

 mums over those on their own roots are that (1) large speci- 

 mens are easily grown and the stems are kept perennial — 

 there being, of course, no suckers ; (2) the plants grow 

 more vigorously and flower more profusely. At Kew there 

 are now half a dozen of these grafted Chrysanthemums. 

 They were grafted in January last on young stocks a few 

 inches long, and they are now quite equal to the best of 

 the plants on their own roots. The sorts tried are Maiden's 

 Blush, Stanstead White, Val dAndorre, Source d'Or and 

 Golden Dragon. Raisers who wish to give vigor to seed- 

 lings which are weak on their own roots should try them 

 on the Paris Daisy. It is possible that very large shrubby 

 Chrysanthemums could be grown out-of-doors in many 

 places if they were grafted on C. frutescens. 



London. W. WatSO?l. 



Plant Notes. 

 The Ridgely Chestnut. 



THE soil and climate of Delaware appear to be well 

 adapted to the growth of the Chestnut. The trees are 

 plentiful in all parts of the state, and many of them pro- 

 duce nuts of large size, which are of the finest quality. The 

 largest and best chestnuts are those obtained from trees in 

 the vicinity of Dover. This is, no doubt, due to the fact that 

 upon the farm of Mr. D. M. Ridgely, about two miles west 

 of Dover, there is a very large Chestnut-tree, known as the 

 " Original Ridgely Chestnut-tree." This tree is said to have 

 sprung from a sprouted imported Chestnut, which was pre- 

 sented to Mr. Ridgely by Mr. Dupont, and planted some 

 sixty or more years ago upon the farm where it now stands. 

 The nuts produced by this tree are known as Ridgely chest- 

 nuts, or Dupont chestnuts. Many seedlings have been grown 

 from the nuts of this tree, but few of them bear nuts which, 

 in both size and quality, equal the product of the original 

 tree. Those of large size are generally of an inferior 

 quality, while nearly all that are small are of excellent flavor. 

 I visited this tree last fall and found that it measured 

 fourteen feet in circumference at three feet above the 



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