196 THE (1ARDENER. [May 



NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



At the nurseries of Messrs Downie, Laird, and Laing, Stanstead 

 Park, Forest I Till, can be seen some remarkable illustrations of the 

 influence of the graft on the stock in certain cases of grafted plants. 

 Mr Laing has been experimenting on some Abutilons, and in the first 

 instance grafted the green A. megapotanicum on the variegated A. 

 Thompsoni ; the scion came handsomely variegated, and presents even 

 a handsomer and more attractive variegated form than the well-known 

 A. Thompsoni. The next experiment was made with A. Thompsoni 

 grafted on the green A. megapotanicum, and in this case the graft 

 was allowed to make sufficient growth to get the blood infused, and 

 then pinched back ; this induced growth from the green stock, and, 

 strange to state, all the shoots made down to the very surface of the 

 soil came variegated. A further experiement was made with the 

 strong-growing green A. Due de Malakoff, budded on A. Thompsoni 

 in the manner in which a bud of a Rose is inserted in the Briar stock ; 

 a green leaf was left on the bud, which grew, and kept green, but all 

 other growth came variegated, and so gave a variegated form of Due 

 de Malakoff, to all appearance as robust in growth as the green Due 

 de Malakoff. In making these experiments, Mr Laing made use of 

 matured and young wood as grafts, and his experience has taught him 

 that hard wood with dormant buds is preferable to young points of 

 growth : the former is certain to come variegated ; in the case of the 

 latter, the young points inserted as scions go on to make green leaves, 

 and it is only when the points are removed that the fresh shoots 

 forced into growth thereby came variegated. Mr Laing also recom- 

 mends budding in preference to grafting, and that the stock and bud 

 should both be of a similarly matured character. In a course of lectures 

 " On Plant Life as contrasted with that of Animals," delivered before 

 the Royal Institution by Dr Masters, Editor of the ' Gardeners' Chron- 

 icle,' considerable reference was made to the variations secured by bud- 

 ding and grafting, and these Abutilons were brought forward as illus- 

 trations in point. In describing the influence exerted by the stock on 

 the scion, Dr Masters stated that it is a general belief amongst garden- 

 ers that in most cases but little actual change is produced by grafting 

 either in the stock or in the scion ; but the exceptions to this rule are 

 so numerous, and even from a gardening point of view so important, 

 that it seems better to consider that we have not succeeded in tracing 

 the effects in all cases than to deny the existence of such modifications. 

 1 n illustration of these points the lecturer alluded to the effect of the 

 stock in producing hardiness of constitution in the scion, and instanced 

 a case where grafts of Cupressus macrocarpa on the Red Cedar as a 



