FREESIAS AND THEIR RAISERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 24 April 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

FREESIAS AND THEIR RAISERS

Writing in the "Nurseryman and Seedsman," Mr. G. H. Dalrymple says: To give credit where credit is really due as regards freesias, neither tho late Mr. Jacob nor myself should be given anything like as much credit for tho pre-sent-day freesias as should be given to the real originator, Mr. T. Hogg. He is the man who gave us the opportunity to work on freesias. There is also Mr. F. Herbert-Chapman, of Rye, who did very good work some years ago. He raised La France. I bought the stock and from this I have raised a great many of my best, notably Beauty and Marjorie, both A.M. last year. He also raised Fii Chapmanii and F. C. Auranj tiaca, which I would suggest was the start of Mr. Jacob's yellow strain. Therefore, I think both Mr. Jacob and myself, whatever w<j may have raised in later years, should give the credit to those who enabled us to start. Regarding Red Indian, I did not buy the stock of this from Mr. Jacob and I should say that F. Robinetta was raised some years before Red Indian appeareu. At Mr. Jacob's death in 1925, I bought what I thought was the entire stock of freesias, but I did not get all. My ideal fiower has been all along of the type of Apogee, a large open flower, the petals standing at right angles to the tube and not the narrow tubular flowers. I had many of these at one time, simply because for tho first few years I was breeding in ignorance of what better varieties there were. I was out of date. Seven or eight years previous to buying Mr. Jacob's stock I had made a start with Mr. Chapman's La France and by judicious crossings had begun to produce far better flowers. I always aimed at strong, tail, stiff stems, for a weak-stcmed flower is useless to anyone. As regards the history, that of the material that Mr. Jacob and I worked upon for a start, I have already given a few facts. I cannot speak authoritatively of Mr. Jacob's work, but I believe lie was given a certain number of varieties by tho raiser, Mr. T. Hogg, and made a start from them about 1912. I began in 1914 by buying sorts and later a few from Mr. Chapman, previous to having his stock of La France. This variety bred me Wisteria, which was given an A.M., and later F.C.C., a very high ' honour, and now I have a grandchild in Maryon, which I think is the most beautiful flower ever raised. Beauty is another which was raised from the same cross and this also got an A.M. I bought Mr. Jacob's stock in 1925 and had to take immediate delivery of the plants, just before Easter of that year, owing to the rectory having to be cleared for his successor. The plants were apparently somewhat diseased on arrival, but I did not realise how much until they were harvested in July. Many boxes contained nothing more than two or three corms, the remainder wasted away by disease. I burnt half the stock the first year and half the remainder the following year, and am convinced had Mr. Jacob lived lie would have had no freesias left in three years. His best varieties were yellow and he had far richer colouring than /anyone else, and T have / bred some very fine oranges and yellows from these. Personally I have always preferred and aimed at blue shades, including mauve, lavenders, etc., but the scent is weakest in these shades. One cannot have everything and if one gains the lovely colours of Maryon, one may have to lose the rich scent of tho freesia as everyone knows it. One must breed it back. Any raiser of new plants knows how difficult it is to breed the perfect flower and I do not claim to raise anything like the perfect freesia, but I do claim to raise coloured freesias, and when people pick out, say, Maryon, and say it is not so sweetly scented as tho common white variety, they cannot do better than buy F. Rcfracta Alba. The original colour bred into freesias was the result of F. Armstrongii, a rosy pink ilower found by Mr. Armstrong in South Africa in 1898. Crossed with the best forms of F. Refracta Alba the result was the named sorts put on the market by Mr. T. Hogg. F. Aurea was exhibited by Messrs. Wallace in 1902 and gained an A.M. This was the origin I think of all yellow sorts, as F. Chapmanii in the early days. I have tried breeding by carefully-thought-out crosses and by 'haphazard methods and also raised plants from seeds set by bees or insects or some unknown agency. The pedigree results win every time. I have been asked about breeding on Mendel's lines, but I am not sure after so many generations of hybridising whether Mendelism would be possible, as one would be using so much unknown blood. There was also Dr. Ragionier, but I do not think his work has much, if any, influence on present-day varieties.