1883. 



AND HORTICULTl'KIST. 



= 3 



with orbicular peltate leaves four to seven inches 

 in diameter, and producing a profusion of bright 

 rose-pink flowers, of which the males are fully two 

 inches in diameter. Its great recommendation is 

 its very free blooming character, and its flowering 

 in the depth of winter, when other begonias are at 

 re^t, thus prolonging the decorative season of these 

 beautiful plants." 



TuBKRS FROM GRAFTED ToM-VfOES. — We have 

 recently noted that the statement that Dr. Beal 

 was authority for the production of tubers from a 

 stem of potato on which a potato had been grafted, 

 was scarcely accurate. From a note in the Gar- 

 detiers ChfOJiiclc, it appears that the experiments 

 were by Mr. Maule and Mr. Alexander Dean "some 

 "years ago." Without at all disparaging the state- 

 ments made, it does seem as if a few more experi- 

 ments would be desirable. 



M. Carriere records in a recent number of the 

 Revue Horticole a case wherein he grafted a Jeru- 

 salem Artichoke on to the stem of the sunflower. 

 A curious result followed, viz., the formation of 

 tubers on the stem of the sunflower, no tubers 

 being found below-ground, although se\cral were 

 found on the stem just above-ground. 



M. Carrifere is a botanist of distinction, and re- 

 garded as a very careful and accurate observer. 

 It seems incredible that he should say that "he" 

 performed the experiment and noted the results as 

 stated, and yet there be any mistake in his conclu- 

 sions. The observation is one having such a very 

 close relation to the important practical question 

 with fruit growers of the influence of graft on the 

 stock, that we feel there cannot be too many of 

 these experiments, and we hope they will be re- 

 peated next year. 



The Hybrid Cotton Plant. — We were not 

 among those who ridiculed the idea that two 

 distinct genera, like the okra and the cotton would 

 hybridize. Unlikely as we think such a circum- 

 stance to occur, we like to hold ourselves open to 

 the chance of finding seeming impossibilides pos- 

 sible. The okra and the cotton arc not distantly 

 related, and hence we were quite willing to say to 

 those who professed they had found such a hybrid, 

 "Well, prove your case." The gentleman to whom 

 we wrote for such evidence declined to respond, and 

 we concluded it was a case wherein darkness was 

 preferable to light. This gentleman of course had 

 no right to respond unless he chose ; but as he had 

 taken the newspapers into his confidence, it was 

 but natural to expect he would have been glad of 

 the opportunity to tell all he knew. 



We do not know now but this Southern hybrid 

 cotton, is really the myth we have hitherto sup- 

 posed it to be — but happening to take up recently 

 an account of the botanical congress held in Am- 

 sterdam, in the spring of 1877, we find a statement 

 by M. Del Chevalerie, Inspector of Agriculture at 

 Cairo, Egypt, that such a cotton had made its ap- 

 pearance among a mass of okra growing at 

 Chibinel-Kom, in Lower Egypt. It has the habit 

 of the okra plant in every respect — making a 

 straight, scarcely branching stalk, from eight to ten 

 feet high, but yielding cotton instead of the usual 

 kind of okra seeds. The plant is said to produce 

 double the amount of cotton to the acre of the or- 

 dinary cotton, though not equal in quality. The 

 plants and cotton were exhibited at Amsterdam, 

 and though' none of the botanists present seemed 

 to offer any opinion as to whether it was a true hy- 

 brid, beyond what the facts of its surroundings 

 when discovered might suggest, there was no dif- 

 ference of opinion as to its being a totally different 

 form of cotton to anything yet known. 



Origin of the Treeless Prairies. — The ori- 

 gin of treeless prairies seems to be referable to an- 

 nual prairie fires, by the growing consent of those 

 who patiently investigate the matter, and thus one 

 of the great philosophical questions of the past age 

 is being finally set at rest. Up to, say, a couple of 

 years ago the belief of Professor Whitney prevailed 

 that there was something in the finely comminuted 

 soil of the prairies which so firmly enveloped the 

 seed as to prevent the necessary action of the at- 

 mosphere in inducing germination. Other hypoth- 

 eses — all, however, tending to the physical impos- 

 sibilities of tree growths — were in favor. In the 

 " Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia," for F.ebruary, 1881, probably the 

 first philosophic attempt to show the futility of all 

 these hypotheses appeared. It was there shown 

 that there was no moje reason why the seeds of 

 strong herbaceous plants should grow and form the 

 well-known flora of the prairies than the seeds of 

 ligneous plants ; that herbaceous plants or annuals 

 which could flower and commit their seeds to the 

 earth before a fire flew over them, could spread in 

 spite of prairie fires ; but that ligneous plants, 

 which required several years of growth before 

 seeding, could not spread when annually burned 

 down ; that, as a matter of fact, trees were being 

 raised by the million on the prairies by nursery- 

 men, and that wherever prairie fires were prevented 

 from occurring, the woodlands did actually en- 

 croach on the grassy prairie. This view now re- 

 ceives all the confirmation that is necessary from a 



