3 
been injured by the cold of the past week. The Arboretum collection 
contains specimens of all the species and varieties, and of many hy¬ 
brids, and is interesting as indicating possibilities in plant breeding, 
when hybridizers enter a broader field than the one to which they have 
generally confined their efforts. The natural crossing of species of 
Forsythias has produced plants with handsomer flowers than those of 
their parents. This is true of some Lilacs and Crabapples, and of 
many Spiraeas, Deutzias and Rhododendrons, and it is not improbable 
that from the new material which has come into gardens in recent 
years handsomer garden shrubs and more valuable trees than those we 
now possess will reward the patient labors of the plant breeder. To 
the hybrid Forsythias the general name of intermedia has been given. 
The parentage of these plants is not perfectly clear, although one of 
their parents is certainly the Chinese F. suspensa var. Fortunei, the 
plant which is most often cultivated in American gardens. The hand¬ 
somest of these hybrids and the handsomest Forsythia in the Arbor¬ 
etum collection, F. intermedia spectabilis, came here several years ago 
from a German nursery. The flowers of this form are bright yellow. 
Other handsome hybrids are var. primulina, with primrose-colored 
flowers, and var. pallida , with pale straw-colored flowers. The former 
appeared spontaneously in the Arboretum a few years ago. The flower- 
buds of all Forsythias are often killed in severe winters, but those of 
these hybrids were for a long time believed to be hardier than those 
of the species, although in the winter of 1917-18 they suffered even 
more than those of their parents. 
Prunus persicoides. This is a hybrid between the Peach and the Al¬ 
mond, which also produces handsomer flowers than its parents. The 
plants of this hybrid were in full bloom during the excessive cold of last 
week which did not injure them. The flowers are an inch and a half in 
diameter, with a bright red calyx, pale pink or nearly white petals 
blotched with deep rose at the base, and bright red filaments. This 
hybrid as a flowering plant is, perhaps, the handsomest of all the 
Peach-Apricot-Almond group. It originated in Europe more than a 
hundred years ago, but if it has never been common in American gar¬ 
dens it is no longer so; and it is doubtful if it is known to any Amer¬ 
ican nurseryman. 
The earliest Pear to flower, Pyrus ussuriensis, has been in bloom 
for more than a week and the flowers are untouched by frost. This is 
probably the largest of all Pear-trees as specimens occasionally occur 
in Korea sixty feet or more tall, with trunks 14 feet in circumference. 
The flowers are not as large as those of some of the other Chinese 
Pear-trees, and the fruit is small and of no value. This tree, however, 
is exciting much interest among American pomologists who believe they 
have found in it a blight resisting stock on which to graft garden pears. 
