JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



f May 23, 1867. 



berries. They were fine fruit and in Rood condition, consiatiiig of 

 K^eves' Eclipse, Mar^'uerite, and Sir Harry. For the best dish of 

 Cherries, Mr. Lynn took a aecond prize with Frof^ore Early ; and 

 Mr. Tcfig wfts awanli'd ft firBt prize for a K])Iendid dish of Bellegarde 

 Peaches, from the Dnko of Newtaetle's tiarden at Clumber. Mr. 

 Pearson, of Chilwell. t'xhibitcd a dish of Walnuts that had been kept 

 in fino condition by Mrs. Hetley, of Orton, near Peterborongh, for two 

 years and five months, to which a special certificate was awarded. 

 The method adopted is to allow the nnts to fall naturally from the 

 tree, then dry them in the sun and wind, and afterwards to ban f[ them 

 in bags in an attic. Mr. Cox. of Redleaf, also received a special 

 certiticatc for a collection of six kitchen Apples kept in fine condition. 

 Mr. Short, gardener to Lord Eversley, Hcckfii-ld, sent fruit of the 

 curious Cerat^us pseudo-cerasus. It is a small Cherry of a pale amber 

 colour, with a hooked beak at the apes, and in some instances grows 

 in pairs on one stalk, like the Cluster Cherry and Bigarreau Legrey. 

 The flavour is Hat and insipid. Mr. Shortt also specimens of young 

 Pears, showing how much the crop this season is infested with grubs, 

 and from this cause it may be anticipated that the Pear crop will suffer 

 much. 



Gentr-il Mef.tixo. — W. Wilson Saunders. Esq., F.R.S., in the 

 chair. The proceedings of this meeting were of unusual interest, and 

 the Council-room was densely crowded. 



After the election of seventeen new Fellows, and the admission of 

 the Wolverhampton Horticultural Society into union, the Rev. M. J. 

 Berkeley remarked that as the meeting was chiefly devoted to Tricolor 

 Pelargoniums, it would be most instructive to call attention to the 

 principle on which their colouring depends. The original species from 

 which they wsro all derived was the old Cape Pelargonium zonale, of 

 which he produced a specimen, and of which the leaves are only 

 slightly zoned. Tht; fir^t improvement on this was Fothergillii, which 

 ■was not imported but a sei^dling, and from that improvement all the 

 fine varieties around him had sprung. Mr. Berkeley then remarked, 

 that Tariegatiou really is a disease ; in fact, in the vegetable kingdom 

 evei"ything not normal in structure is a disease, giving as examples 

 Kohl Rahi, the useful portion of which results from an obstruction in 

 the stem ; Radishes. &c. Celery when blanched was also in a diseased 

 state, so were the tine varieties of Roses and Tulips. Mr. Berkeley 

 then exhibited diagrams showing the structure of the leaf of one of the 

 best brown-zoned Pelargoniums. On the upper surface wos a thin 

 layer of cuticle, next to this a layer of cells containing no colouring 

 matter, then cells of chlorophyll, but sometimes intrtead of being green 

 the cells of the zone were filled with red colouring matter, and in 

 proportion to the number of red and green cells, so was the character 

 of the leaf. The brown coloui* of the zone depended on the green 

 colour of the subjactnt cells showing through the red and giving an 

 olivaceous tint ; and in the Tricolor varieties if the variegation was 

 yellow, the yellow ceils shining through the red pi'oduced a flame 

 colour. Beautiful, hawever. as were the plants exhibited, it might 

 safely be concluded that perfection had not yet been attained, and he 

 ield up as a model a drawing of a leaf exhibiting distinct zones of 

 yellow', red, and green, without radiation, 



Tho Rev. Joshua Dix congiatulated the meeting on the success of 

 the Exhibition, the idea of holding which had first originated with 

 Major Clarke, and it was warmly taken up l>y the Council. The 

 Floral Committee had had great difficulty in performing their task, 

 owing to the great similarity of the varieties, and had, in fact, not 

 completed their awards when the meeting commenced. He might 

 mention, as the Committee could give no certificate to yearlings, bo- 

 cause such could not be depended on, many exhibitors would be dis- 

 appointed, who had brought most exquisite plants, with which no fault 

 whatever could otherwise be found. 



The Chairman then called upon Major Clarke. 



Major R. Trevor Clarke said, that when he had put together a few 

 notes on th'! general phenomena of variegation in plants, he was not 

 aware that the subject would be taken up by Mr. Berkeley ; but as his 

 own views previous to the meeting were somewhat different, ho would 

 state them. Major Clarke then said : — " Few who have been accus- 

 tomed to roam about with observant eye through copse and dell, or by 

 lake and river, in the sweet spring time, c^n have failed to notice 

 the frequent occurrence of variegation in wild trees, shrubs, and 

 plants. Whatever the nature of it may be, it is certainly not a special 

 effect of cultivation. What is it, then ? — a morbid state, as proposed 

 2jy some ? I tbiuk hardly so. Although in some cases accompanied 

 by constriction of the leaf aud tenderness of constitution, these con- 

 ditions are by no means necessarily concomitant. Not a few plants in 

 the variegated state are healthy and vigorous. The beautiful gold or 

 silver Holly sprig with its coral berries that decks our homes at Christ- 

 mas tide, was gathered from a strong and healthy tree, as strong and 

 healthy as those plainly clad in homely green. They do say the 

 berries won't gi'ow, but that we may have to discuss by-and-by. 

 Again, the Sycamore, with its leaves striped with silver, or flecked and 

 dusted with gold, is a lofty, vigorous, and healthy tree. 



*' Gardeners have but little to say against the general good consti- 

 tution of our beautiful queen of the May, Mrs. Pollock. She is of 

 fair and noble presence, and, like another Monarch in our land, has 

 given birth to u fair, noble, and numerous offspring. Mrs. Pollock 

 still lives in the hearts of our gardeners as our own dear Queen lives 

 in the hearts of her peo^de (applause). Say, then, is this etrange and 



certaicly beautiful manifestation a healthy but rarely occurring natural 

 phenomenon ? It is not a normal one, for there is in such jdants a 

 constant tendency to recur to another form which is more frequent 

 than itself. Gardeners call it a sport, translating unconsciouslj the 

 lusiis naturiE of the old Latinists. It certainly appears more fre- 

 quently as a bud-formation than as a seed-change. Poor Dr. Lindlej 

 used to aay that a bud and a seed were pretty much the same thing ; 

 the main difference is, that in the case of reproduction by seed, lik& 

 never, strictly speaking, produces like. I once made a very curious 

 observation bearing upon this subject. A half-variegated or magpie 

 seedling Pelargonium grew into a plant, and in this plant I traced tiie 

 nnmingled linen of green and white from stem to branch, from branch 

 to flower-stalk, and thence to the seed-vessel, which enclosed a parti- 

 coloured seed. That seed again produced a pied offspring, of which 

 one cotyledon was white and the other green. When a pure green 

 line in this case passed up into the seed-vessel the seed was green, and 

 so was the seedling. A white stripe, or line, ruled in like manner tho 

 destiny of a pure white offspring. These latter never developed a 

 second or true leaf pair. Seedlings with golden seed-leaves, however, 

 produce perfect plants. 



" Perhaps we should not be far wrong in considering variegation, at 

 any rate symmetrical variegation, as an occasional natural state, and 

 to class it witii other unusual developments — as laciniations in entire- 

 leaved plants, red or yellow twigs where plain bro^vn should be the 

 rule, the abnormally rampant shoot lately observed on the Devonian 

 Tea Rose, and the pigmy Clanbrazilianised branch occasionally seen 

 mimicking a rook's nest high on the lofty Norway Spruce tree. I 

 will not take up your time in multiplying instances, but hope that I 

 have sufficiently explained myself on this point. 



■' Closely connected vrith variegation, or the partial absence of chlo- 

 rophyll from the leaf, is the occurrence of striped or pure white flowers 

 upon red, blue, or otlierwise coloured plants. I find that the colouring 

 matter, if white may be called a colouring matter (and in this case it 

 is), is identical in both cases. It is probably the fact that both in- 

 white llowers and variegated leaves there exist yellow cells, which be- 

 come more apparent when the tissue is treated with an alkali. I believe- 

 the colouring matter is what chemists call luteoline. For fear of 

 wandering into another and still more interesting subject — that of the 

 colouring matter of flowers and plants in general, I will not now 

 allow myself to soar into the regions of chemistry ; I will merely 

 remark that this subject has been partially investigated by several dis- 

 tinguished Freuch chemists, and that I hope I may live to tell yon 

 some day what little glimpses they gained from their peep into Natnre's- 

 wondrous laboratory. 



"I regret extremely that circumstances have prevented me from- 

 contributing more practically, I mean in the way of plants and so on, 

 to this most interesting Exhibition, and that for the same reason I 

 have not been able to put together a more detailed scientific note or 

 collection of facts on the subject. I have scarcely attempted this, my 

 mission to-day being principally to place before you a subject upon- 

 which I understand several of my brother gardeners are prepared to- 

 give some valuable and interesting information. How well they have 

 responded to our invitation to ventilate this subject I need not say. 

 We reckoned upon a respectable few enthusiastic exhibitors with a few 

 choice plants, but they have come upon us lilie an army, even like the- 

 Byronic Assyrian, "their banners are gleaming with purple and gold."" 

 On entering the room this morning I found Judges and Committee in- 

 a state difficiilt to describe, in a perfect emharrns de ri<:Jt^ssc. It had 

 ei'idently been raining Golden Pheasants and Golden Fleeces. Poor 

 Mr. Dix stood there looking like — like — Danae in a golden shower of 

 Mrs. Pollocks." 



Major Clarke then introduced to the Meeting Mr. Grieve, as one of 

 the gentleman who had offered to read a paper. 



Mr. Grieve, after expressing his gratification that the Tricolored 

 class of Pelargoniums had been cousidei-ed of sufficient importance, 

 to form the subject of a special exhibition, said that as his efforts had,. 

 he believed, been admitted to have been in pome degree instramental 

 in the production of that beautiful race of ornamental Dlaiits, and as 

 discussion and information on the subject was invited, it would not, 

 he hoped, be considered presumptuous to offer a few remarks on their 

 history. 



The cause, or causes, of variegation in the leaves of plants, inclad- 

 in<7, of course, the Pelargonium, were as yet, he believed, unknown, 

 consequently no means could be successfully used to produce it ; but; 

 when from some unknown cause it spontaneously developed itself in 

 an individual plant, then, in accordance with the law or doctrine of 

 hereditary transmission of qualities, little difficulty was experienced 

 in inducing it to reproduce itself in succeediug generations. The 

 chemical or other changes, boweve.-, which must take place in a 

 plant to induce its foliage to become variegated, present, undoubtedly, 

 a vei7 interesting subject for iuquiiy. and were worthy, it might be 

 supposed, of the attention of the vegetable physiologist. He had at 

 different times consulted various authorities upon this subject without, 

 however, being much enlightened thereby. Dr. Hope says that there 

 is in pleats a colourable principle, consisting of two separate parts, 

 one of which forms a red compound with acids, while the other forma 

 a yellow with alkalies; and he attributes the gi-een colour, produced 

 by the latter, to the mixture of the yellow matter witli the blue in- 

 fusion. The two principles, according to him, may exist together or 

 separate in different parts of the same plant. Dr. Balfour also says,. 



