Hon
Marshall P. Wilder, delivered before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, some thirteen years ago. The gentleman in question is a well-known and very successful hybridiser. "In my experiments, I have discovered that, for the production of double flowers, it is important that the pollen used for impregnation should be borne on a petaloid anther--that is, an anther bearing a small petal--and that this is still better if from a double flower. I also observed, that the larger and better developed this petaloid anther, the better chance for a fine double offspring; for, as might have been expected, the anthers being connected with the corolla, the number of petals would be increased by such an operation. I found, also, that, for the most perfect and symmetrical flowers, it was better to select single flowers, which were the most perfect in their petals, for seed-bearers; and that single or semi-double sorts with perfect corollas, when impregnated with petaloid pollen, will produce double flowers of a regular symmetrical formation. Of this I have the most conclusive evidence in the Camellia Wilderi, and many other fine double varieties in my collection, which were produced from the single red and single white Camellias, fertilised by pollen from a petaloid anther of double varieties."