12 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



the case may bo. The best varieties of plants give no more trouble to 

 the cultivator than do inferior forms of the same s^^ecies, often much 

 less ; hence we may reasonably infer that by growing carefully- selected 

 varieties we shall be amply repaid by a better return for our time and 

 capital than would be the case were the plants we have to grow taken 

 without any, or but slight, discrimination. The variability of species 

 is not conhned to our plant-houses or gardens, but extends to the 

 lawn and shrubberies — nay, to the primeval forest itself. The observ- 

 ant cultivator may everywhere note nature's "masks and faces;" and 

 if wise, will turn this specific variation to good and useful- account. 



Those interested in Coniferai must often observe the variation of 

 such beautiful species as Abies Canadensis, Cedrus deodara, or the 

 Chilian Pine, Araucaria imbricata. While inspecting the rich col- 

 lection at' Elvaston Castle some little time ago, the head-gardener, Mr 

 ]\I'Kellar, pointed out some striking forms or varieties of the above 

 and other species. This variation, with regard to the last-named 

 species, we have also observed in the collection of Lord Poltimore, near 

 Exeter, South Devon. 



In the improvement of races great care and attention must be paid 

 to the condition of the seed-bearing plant. The state of fruition in 

 the vegetable as in the animal kingdom demands the highest possible 

 state of. health and vigour ; and it may not be out of place to remark 

 that debilitated or unhealthy plants, or such as by local causes are 

 dwarfed or stunted in their growth, frequently produce enormous 

 crops of fruit or seed. This is in many cases the last effort of 

 expiring nature to reproduce herself, although the seed borne by 

 exhausted plants seldom produces a healthy progeny : indeed, it is as 

 reasonable to infer that a debilitated plant can never produce a 

 vigorous progeny, as that consumptive parents never produce healthy 

 offspring. This last remark will of course apply with equal force to 

 cuttings and grafts taken from diseased or cankered plants or trees. 



Many of our finest varieties of Camellias, Azaleas, and Chrysan- 

 themums have been obtained from what are technically called 

 " sports ; " and in the fiist-named genera it is common to meet with 

 bud -variation fully illustrated by white flowers being borne on 

 coloured varieties, or vice versa. When these bud -variations are 

 exceptionally fine, they may be in some degree fixed by grafting the 

 portion of the branch affected, and thus perpetuating what, if left to 

 itself, would in all probability have reverted to its original form. 

 When we come to the aristocratic Orchids, we find this protean 

 variability illustrated in the superlative degree ; and it is here that 

 the cultivator has full scope for his judicial powers of selection. 

 Cattleyas are almost proverbial for their dissimilarity, and C. Mossiae 



