AMERICAN HYBRID CONFERENCE. 



1065 



plants that have been successfully dealt with ; though most of them, the 

 Apple especially, having been improved with a view to the needs of Canada, 

 are of course less suited to the English climate. The series of Apples 

 and of Crab- Apples shown by Dr. Saunders was one of great interest to 

 American fruit-growers. 



A special evening meeting was arranged to enable the Conference to 

 see the beautiful lantern slides illustrating the series of Gladiolus 

 produced by Mr. van Fleet. These slides were probably unique of their kind, 

 and were declared by competent judges to be the finest representations of 

 flowers ever made for exhibition to a large audience. They were photo- 

 graphs made in the ordinary way, and then hand-painted by Mrs. van 

 Fleet. The skill displayed in the work reached the highest degree of 

 perfection ; and, as faithful portraits of natural objects, these slides will 

 have a permanent value to posterity. It was suggested that they should 

 be preserved in some public collection as a record of the actual state of 

 the flower at the present time. 



Subsequently Mr. Ward exhibited a remarkable series of Carnations 

 produced by himself. It was stated that this strain, ranging through 

 most of the colour types known in Europe, has been evolved in America 

 independently of the European Carnations for an indefinite period. The 

 habit of the American plants differed considerably from that of our own. 

 Mr. Ward has preserved a record of his crosses, and it is greatly to be 

 wished that the details of his work may be published, many of the 

 phenomena witnessed having a direct bearing on the problems of breeding, 

 and illustrating the principles of heredity obtaining in the case of the 

 Carnation. 



The above notes, together with the list of papers, will give the 

 readers of this Journal some conception of the wide range of topics 

 brought under the notice of the meeting. It is understood that the text 

 of these papers will in most cases be published in a special volume, being 

 the Report of the Conference. 



An excursion was made to the New York Botanical Garden at 

 Bronx Park, and here, on the walls of one of the rooms in the Museum 

 building, were exhibited mounted specimens of " The Wild Hybrids of the 

 North American Flora (illustrated by specimens of the parents and 

 progeny)." Mr. David George, the author of the paper on this subject 

 (No. 49 in the list), is a member of the staff* of the New York Botanical 

 Garden ; probably his exhibit was the most comprehensive series of the 

 natural hybrids of the flora of any country ever brought together. In 

 one of the propagating-houses, too, were to be seen growing a whole series 

 of Professor Hugo de Vries's mutations of CEnothera. A few words here 

 on the New Y r ork Botanical Garden may not be out of place. It covers 

 an area of about 250 acres, and exhibits considerable diversity in 

 character. The River Bronx, which practically forms one of its bound- 

 aries, at one place flows through a beautiful ravine, the bank on one side 

 forming the edge of a natural bit of forest which is to be retained 

 untouched ; here the Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is the prevailing tree. 

 Glacier-striated rocks, pot-holes, &c, add greatly to the beauty and the 

 picturesqueness of this portion. Higher up, the river widens out into 

 a sort of marsh, which is being partially drained in order to find space 



