2 12 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
excelsa and M. Cathcartii, two other famous magnolias. April 2, 
1898, the seeds arrived and were planted immediately in a mix¬ 
ture of two-thirds of Yadoo fiber and one-third crushed charcoal. 
The seeds had scarcely been planted when a letter from Mr. 
Hooker arrived, which contained the following important passage: 
“ With regard to seeds, you are perhaps not aware, that they 
do not bear intertropical transportation. When director of Kew 
I received packets of these seeds over and over again, but not 
one ever germinated; the reason being the rapid decay of the 
albumen, involving that of the embryo. Such plants as these may 
be at Kew were all received in Ward’s cases, through the inter¬ 
mediacy of the Royal Botanic Garden of Calcutta. They had 
been planted in the cases in the Himalaya and sent by rail to 
Calcutta and so to England,—very few surviving.” 
“ By offering a sufficient inducement you might possibly have 
a Ward’s case filled with young plants in Sikkim and transmitted 
to an agency in Calcutta, to be forwarded to England, where 
they should be nursed before transmission to America—but I 
need not say that the expense would be heavy, and the risk of 
failure very great indeed.” 
After reading Mr. Hooker’s letter all my hope of raising plants 
from the seeds which I had received from Mr. Kennedy vanished 
and I almost forgot about them. About four weeks after plant¬ 
ing the seeds I was one morning surprised to find a few strong 
young plants in my seed pans, looking very much like weeds, 
piercing the surface of the soil, and a few days later there could 
be no doubt that one plant was Talamna Hodgsoni and the other 
Michelia excelsa. Both grew rapidly, but the latter was killed 
by too much kindness, while the other survived even this and 
formed in time a beautiful healthy plant with immense foliage 
of a deep bluish green color. When about six inches high I trans¬ 
planted it in a small pot in rich light soil and in the fall of 1901 
it had attained a height of over two feet, growing then in a 
six-inch pot. I intended to send the plant down to Florida to 
be set out in the open on my place, but being aware of the fact 
that this was the only specimen of its kind in this country, I 
though it too valuable to risk its culture out-of-doors, and for 
