94 THE GARDENER. [F £B - 



its gemmule3 escaping into other varieties of Vines. But possibly 

 there is only one Champion geuimule in existence capable of doing 

 so, and it is to this erratic individual that the appearance of the 

 large-berried bunch on the Trebbiano Vine at Brayton last year is to 

 be attributed. AVhen the cuttings taken from the Vine that origin- 

 ally produced the " apparition " at Culford were sent to the Tweed 

 Vineyard, it is quite possible that one or other of them contained this 

 gemmule, and on its way north it may have thought that the atmo- 

 sphere of Tweedside, and the general treatment it would receive 

 under Mr Thomson's care, would not be favourable to its develop- 

 ment into a full-grown Champion. It therefore, before reaching 

 Carlisle, decided to remain south of the Tweed, and on arriving at 

 the Border City escaped from the cutting ; and instead of returning 

 to its old quarters at Culford, made its way to the Brayton vineries, 

 and there found a Trebbiano of the right sort, of which it immedi- 

 ately took possession, the result being as described in the number of 

 ' The Gardener ' already referred to. And now that Mr Hammond 

 has apparently got possession of this wandering gemmule, I hope he 

 will induce it to remain at Brayton, and to become of "steady and 

 temperate " habits befitting the locality — not going up and down, as 

 hitherto, among the vineries of the nation, changing the outward 

 appearance of other varieties of Grapes in such a manner that even 

 men of " competent authority" are unable to identify a Trebbiano 

 from a White Tokay. It strikes me that Brayton is rather an un- 

 canny place ; for did not Mr Hammond show at the Carlisle show in 

 1877 a bunch of Buckland's Sweetwater with such abnormally large 

 berries that a London contemporary — a " competent authority " too 

 — reports of it as a Golden Champion. Beally it is high time this 

 gemmule was put under arrest. B. 



SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



The monthly meeting was held in the Hall, 5 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, 

 on Tuesday evening, the 7th ult. ; Mr Dunn, President, occupied the chair. 

 Mr John Sadler delivered a lecture on the "Fungi." This division of the 

 vegetable kingdom, he remarked, contained 6000 genera and 25,000 distinct 

 species known to botanists. They were wonderfully diverse in appearance 

 and very widely diffused, every organic substance, animal and vegetable, 

 living or dead, being liable to their attacks. After a full and clear statement 

 of the results of scientific research into the physiology of the more prominent 

 and interesting of the various classes into which they are now divided, the 

 lecturer proceeded to describe a number of the Mushroom or Toad-stool species, 

 700 of which were indigenous to Great Britain : these included the edible 

 kinds, which were not only palatable but wholesome. They were, however, so 



