THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



253 



grown to great size ; it was not ripe 

 on the day of inspection. Langford 

 Incomparable was not ripe ! this was 

 the ugliest in the house. Trentham 

 Black sets badly, but when the set- 

 ting is over all goes well — fine 

 bunches, fine berries, black as death 

 and sweet as life. This grape hangs 

 well, without shrivelling, as does 

 Lady Downes, and both are fine to 

 keep till March, where there is a 

 little skill in grape-growing. White 

 grapes are but sparingly grown in 

 this house. There are but few that 

 ripen well with the black sorts, if 

 Black Hamburgh is regarded as the 

 key variety for the accommodation of 

 which chiefly the temperature, etc., 

 etc., are regulated. Certainly in a 

 mixed house Black Hamburgh should 

 be the key, and those not agreeing 



with its requirements should not be 

 grown with it. Thus, from the house 

 before us, it would be a decided ad- 

 vantage to remove Bowood Muscat, 

 Muscat of Alexandria, Cannon Hall 

 Muscat, for these all require more 

 heat than they get, and it is an in- 

 justice to Black Hamburgh to work 

 up the house for these ticklish sorts. 

 Buckland Sweetwater and Royal 

 Vineyard would go well with Black 

 Hamburgh, and give a grand variety 

 to the produce of the house, and 

 these are the two best grapes known 

 outside the Muscat series. White 

 Nice bears well here, the bunches 

 large. Syrian bears well, but the 

 heat is not enough to finish it. 

 Those who can do this well may rely 

 upon its hanging long in a fine, 

 plump, fresh, firm state. 



WHAT IS THE CALLUS ? 



A "wokd here in regard to the Eature 

 of the callus, as very erroneous ideas 

 are sometimes entertained by gar- 

 deners concerning it. Some are under 

 the impression that it is nothing more 

 or less than a bundle of roots in em- 

 bryo, which may or may not be de- 

 veloped according to circumstances ; 

 and I have never heard any one speak 

 on the subject who did not seem to 

 take it for granted either that the 

 rootlets issue immediately from the 

 callus, or that, ccme whence they 

 may, they penetrate directly through 

 it. In a series of articles on the 

 " Science of Gardening," which ap- 

 peared in the "Journal of Horticul- 

 ture," the writer takes the same 

 ground, and more than once affirms 

 that rcots are emitted from the 

 callus. 



Now, unless I am strangely mis- 

 taken, such an occurrence rarely 

 if ever happens. After examining 

 hundreds of rooted cuttings, I am 

 clearly convinced that the root fibres 

 are in all cases emitted laterally from 

 near the base, and that in those in- 

 stances in which they do seem to 

 issue from the callus, it is merely an 

 illusion caused by the swelling of the 



latter around the ends of the cut- 

 tings. Dr. Lindley remarks, that in 

 " cuttings the callus, which forms at 

 the end placed in the ground, is the 

 cellular, horizontal system, prepar- 

 ing for the reception of the perpen- 

 dicular system, which is to pass 

 downwards in the form of roots." 

 This is so theoretically, but, as be- 

 fore observed, it is highly improbable 

 that the perpendicular system is ever 

 so received, the roots showing a much 

 greater affinity to their new sur- 

 rounding than they have to the cal- 

 lus, of which they are entirely inde- 

 pendent. 



In the work from which the above 

 quotation is taken, " The Theory of 

 Horticulture," the callus is spoken of 

 as " those processes which usually 

 precede the formation of roots," and 

 this is, indeed, the only point that we 

 as gardeners need care much about. 

 Once become fully impressed with 

 the belief that any attempt to excite 

 cuttings prematurely is wrong in 

 principle, and we are then able to 

 account for many of those failures 

 in propagating which otherwise ap- 

 pear to us inexplicable. — American 

 Gardener's Monthly. 



