AprU 26, 1867. J 



JOUBNAL OF HOETIOULXUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDBNER, 



291 



gave the minimum, and I find no difficulty in growing Vines 

 so. An amateur who lives close by me, who produces splendid 

 crops of Grapes, and who took some of the leading prizes at 

 the great show in Edinburgh in 18C5, grows them even closer 

 than 2.J feet. The position of the lateral shoots, starting as 

 they do at an angle of 4.3° from the parent stem, is, that their 

 points cross each other, but this causes no difficulty when one 

 lateral only is allowed to grow from each eye, and the eyes are 

 12 inches apart on the average. I prune to the bud at the 

 base of the lateral. 



Of Grapes ripe in May, I would consider 40 lbs. a good crop 

 for rods 19 feet long, and Si feet apart ; if ripe in September, 

 50 lbs. If grown 2J feet apart I would allow a deduction of 

 10 lbs. in each case. — Wm. Thomson, Dalkeith Park.} 



ORIGIN OF TRICOLOR PELARGONIU^IS. 



In addition to the beauty of the foliage of Variegated Pelar- 

 goniums, there is an interest in their production as an aid to 

 a solution of the mysteries of hybridisation and variegation, 

 and however opposite the deductions of operators, a record of 

 their experience wiU always have a high value. 



Your latest correspondent on this subject is Mr. Pearson, 

 and he adds to his useful remarks an apparent objection to the 

 connection of scientific inquiry with the practice of cross-fer- 

 tilisation for new forms and colours ; that such an objection 

 cannot be really intended must be obvious, for Mr. Pearson had 

 just advanced good reasons for his selection of plants for fer- 

 tilisation. In the same way the Mr. Smith, of Dulwich, that 

 he names, does not deal haphazard with pollen and pistils. I 

 know weU Mr. Smith's careful combinations, his unwearied 

 care, and the beauty of the result. It is an acknowledged 

 truism that the more we know the better will be our practice. 

 Investigation conducted in a scientific spirit cannot fail to give 

 new truths that wiU admit of wider application than mere 

 Pelargonium culture. 



With reference to the Zonal Pelargonium leaf, Mr. Pearson 

 remarks, '• that from some unknown cause the dark colouring 

 matter has turned red, and that this tendency becomes here- 

 ditary." Let us endeavour to make a step towards this " un- 

 known " cause, it may be but a very short one, but it will be 

 an advance. 



Yellow, red, and bine, and their combinations in their infi- 

 nite variety, give us the whole range of our experience of 

 colour ; and a leaf of the Zonal Pelargonium in its so-called 

 green state contains within itself the three primary colours — ■ 

 yellow, red, and blue. For example, sketch the outline of the 

 leaf, mark thereon the zone in red ; then, with a transparent 

 colour, cover the whole within the outline with yellow ; the re- 

 sult is a yellow leaf with an orange zone. Again, cover the 

 ■whole with blue, and, it the proportionate depths of tint have 

 been duly observed, the appearance of a green leaf wiU be 

 produced with a zone of dark ill-defined colour. The beauty 

 of the Tricolor, whether white or golden, depends upon a dis- 

 turbance of the proportion of the three primary colours. A 

 partial removal of the blue gives the golden ground and the 

 brilliant orange or red zone, and the partial absence of the 

 three colours leaves a white ground. The specimens upon 

 ■which changes are required should be treated for combinations 

 as the pigments in the artist's colour-box, and but for the 

 many yet imperfectly investigated causes, the certainty of tint 

 in the cultivator's hands would be equal to the artist's ; but 

 with both much will have to be studied before a desired result 

 can be produced — the influence of sex, the unknown tendencies 

 to hereditary re-appearances and divergences, the singular 

 production of new colours by sporting, as it is vaguely termed, 

 instead of direct from the seedling stock, together with atmo- 

 spheric and actinic influences, all tend to veil this subject with 

 the mystery attendant upon uninvestigated causes ; still a 

 glimpse of Ught can be obtained, and by its guidance the pro- 

 duction of a Tricolor or Variegated Pelargonium is not the 

 mere chancework it is usual to consider it. 



With a better knowledge of animal physiology the greyhound- 

 breeder, alluded to by Mr. Pearson, would obtain better results, 

 ■with fewer puppies and less hanging. When vegetable phy- 

 siology becomes better elucidated, in the like manner the 

 gardener -will have less necessity for large seedings and fewer 

 contributions to the rubbish-heap. My own experience has 

 been that, ■with some attention to the laws of colour, I have 

 with a very few sof'd-pans been able to foUow very closely upon 

 the largest Pelargonium growers. 



Mr. Pearson observes that no single plant of this class was 

 antecedent to Mrs. Pollock. I am sure he will pardon a cor- 

 rection of this statement. The first Golden Tricolor I saw was 

 raised some fifteen or twenty years ago by Mr. Basket, of 

 Blackheath, and appropriately named Kainbow. I cultivate it 

 still, and largely, for its splendid truss, in the borders ; in early 

 spring, the crimson zone on its yellow ground has not yet 

 been surpassed. As summer advances the green predominates. 

 From Rainbow a sport was shortly after produced with a silver 

 ground, a forerunner of Italia Unita ; this plant stiU holds its 

 place in the catalogues as Burning Bush. From these plants, 

 long previous to Mrs, Pollock, seedlings of merit have been 

 raised at Mr. Hally's Nursery, Blackheath. This Rainbow 

 must not be confounded with a second and later plant of the 

 same name, and altogether distinct from it. 



I notice this as pure matter-of-fact, and without the slightest 

 intention to detract from Mr. Grieve's claim, should he make 

 it, to a different origin for his splendid seedlings. For the 

 pleasure they have given me I am under a deep obligation ; and 

 I wish, for the light he could throw on this subject, that we knew 

 more of the history of his unrivalled plants. — M., Deptford. 



P.S. — Since writing the foregoing, I have had the great plea- 

 sure of reading Mr. Grieve's remarks in your last. They so 

 perfectly take precedence of the little I can add to a knowledge 

 of this subject, that I leave it to your discretion whether my 

 notes should appear. It inserted, I wish to say also, that though 

 it would be presumption on the part of a mere experimentaUsfc 

 to differ from a master upon a point of practice, yet upon a 

 point of theory important to the question, Mr. Grieve will, I 

 hope, receive the following correction in the spirit it is offered. 



Mr. Grieve, states that " knowing, as I did, that the mingUng 

 of brown and yeUow -will produce red," he proceeded to ex- 

 periment on this basis. Now red being a primary colour, it 

 follows in theory that no combination can produce it, and any 

 attempt in practice must fail ; the after-reasoning is conse- 

 quently unsound. The yeUow margin under the brown zone 

 would not produce red, as Mr. Grieve supposes. This can be 

 proved by placing two transparent mediums of those colours 

 over each other. In fact, the zone appears brown on account 

 of the junction at that part of the three primary colours, as I 

 have endeavoured to explain before, and wherever the blue is 

 abstracted the yeUow takes the place of the green, so to speak, 

 and the bro'wn becomes red, or rather orange red. In practice 

 Mr. Grieve has admirably redeemed this Uttle sUp, by so ably 

 selecting the means of abstracting the blue, and releasing 

 the splendid combination of yellow and red, as exemplified in 

 Lucy Grieve, Sea. 



A further removal of yellow developes the zone into carmine, 

 but it is at the expense of endurance to the leaf ; it rapidly 

 loses its ground. The great point to combine beauty with 

 vitaUty is to secure a rich orange ground, the best example of 

 which that I know, is Golden Pheasant, the best bedding plant 

 of this colour I have seen. It increases in size and beauty of 

 colour by exposure in the open borders. 



If correct in the foregoing, I deduce this, and offer it as a 

 suggestion to growers — in changing a green leaf to variegation 

 nothing is added, it is a matter of abstraction, more or less 

 simply ; and if this be true, it would certairdy smooth the path 

 to yet more brilliant combinations of leaf-colour than we now 

 possess. — M. 



LEGUMES FROM MADAGASCAR. 



SoiiE two months ago a vessel called the " Wild Wave'' arrived 

 from Madagascar, being the first ship from thence to this port, 

 with an assorted cargo of the produce of the island. Besides 

 sugar, coffee, rum, 18,000 mats, most beautifully made, and 

 2000 straw hats, as good as the best Leghorn, there were 

 some bags of Beans, Peas, &c., the latter only sent as samples. 

 I bought these by auction, and I have been giving them away 

 amongst my horticultural friends. I send you a small sample 

 of tiuree kinds, marked 1, 2, and 3, and shall be glad if yon can 

 throw any light on their uses, if they can be used as a vege- 

 table, their names if possible, how they should be planted, and 

 on what sort of soil. I have about a bushel of each left. If 

 you think them likely to- do well in this country, I should bo 

 glad to send any person who would hke to try.them, a smalf 

 package of each on receipt of thirteen stamps. The mats and 

 hats were sold by auction at M. each. — Geokge P. Mabtin, 

 Broad Green., near Liverpool. 



[The first commercial venture from Madagascar to Liver- 

 i pool is highly interesting. The samples of seeds sent are 



