JOURNAL OF HORTIODLTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



I April 8, I860. 



specimen of a Sempervivum ; the specific name was not decided njion, 

 aithongh an old and well-known plant. 



General MEETrNo.— Major R. Trevor Clarke in tlie cbair. After 

 the Tisnal annonncement of awards, and the election of fourteen new 

 Tellows. the Rev. I\I. J. Berkeley addressed the meeting, remarking, 

 in the first place, tliat at a recent meeting Mr. Bateman had exhibited 

 a portion of an Elm covered with knots, which he had met with at 

 Pan, and that he himself (Mr. Berkeley), had then stated that he was 

 acquainted with a tree in Rutlandshire similarly covered with knots, 

 on each of which there was an adventitious hud, but there were few of 

 these buds in the specimen from Pau. He now produced a number of 

 specimens from Cliiswick most curiously knotted, each bnrr having 

 one, and some of them several, adventitious bude. The knots were 

 precisely the same thiug'j on a small scale as the gnaurs on the stems 

 of Elms, which last make beautiful articles of furniture. 



Mr. Berkeley then read the following ^j/vcis of the statements re- 

 ceived as to the modes of preserving the fruit, from the persons who 

 competed for the prizes offered at the February meeting : — 



1. As the flavour of fruit is so easily affected by heterogeneous 

 odours, it is highly desirable that the Apple and Pear rooms should, 

 if possible, be distinct from each other. 



2. That the walls and the floor should be annually washed with a 

 Eolution of quicklime, to which common salt is sometimes added. 



3. That the room should bo perfectly dry, kept at as uniform a 

 temperature as practicable, and well ventilated ; but that there should 

 aot be a thorough draught, which would cause the fruit to shrivel. 



4. That the utmost care should be taken in gathering the fruit, 

 ■which should he handled as little as possible. 



5. That for present use the fruit should be well ripened ; but if for 

 long keeping, it is better, especially with Pears, that it should not have 

 arrived at complete maturity. This point, however, requires consider- 

 able judgment. 



6. That no imperfect fruit should be stored yviih. that which is 

 sotmd, and that every more or less decayed specimen should be im- 

 mediately removed. 



7. That, if placed on shelves, the fruit should not lie more than 

 iwo deep, and that no straw should be used. 



8. That where especially clear and beautiful specimens are wanted, 

 ihey may be packed carefully in dry bran, or in layers of perfectly 

 dry cotton-wool, either in closed boxes or in large garden pots. Scent- 

 less sawdust will answer the same purpose ; but Pine sawdust is apt 

 to communicate an unpleasant taste. 



^ 9. With care early Apples may be kept till Christmas, while many 

 lands may be preserved in perfection to a second year- 

 Mr. Berkeley next directed attention to one of Messrs. Veitch's 

 Orchids, not as an object of beauty, but as a physiological curiosity. 

 This plant, Thrixspermum lunifernm, had never produced a single leaf 

 either last year or this, but the place of leaves had been supplied by 

 its aerial roots, which have a green tint, resulting from chlorophyU 

 ibeneath their surface. The prize offered by Mrs. Lloyd Wynne tor 

 I^arcissus at the first Tuesday Meeting in April, 1870, was then re- 

 Jerred to, and it was stated that the object of the prize was not to 

 iring together a large number of mere varieties, although these would 

 not be excluded, but the best collection of species ; and Mr. Berkeley 

 added that he was glad to find that Mr. Baker, of the Kew Herbarium", 

 had undertaken to give an account of the genus. The collection of 

 Cephalotaxus from Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith, was then noticed. 

 and the species which were distinct pointed out, the lecturer observ- 

 ing that when Cephalotaxus Fortuni was first imported it was supposed 

 to be dioecious, but specimens both at the Lord Ohief Baron Pollock's, 

 at Hatton, and at Mr. Standish's, had produced on the same plant 

 ioth male and female flowers; therefore the plant is moncecious. 

 An example of Picea Pinsapo was exhibited as one of the effects of 

 the heat of last summer, and it was mentioned that the same tree had 

 produced its male inflorescence in two or three parts of England, and 

 the female at Hastings. With regard to the Lily from Mr. Max 

 Leichliu, of Carlsruhe, Dr. Thomson, after whom it "had been named, 

 was in doubt whether it was a true Lilium or an Authericum, and 

 Lad taken specimens to Kew to determine its relationship. Mr. 

 Berkeley then remarked that, although the Apple crop was good last 

 year, and it had been observed that it was rarely so in two consecutive 

 years, there was every prospect of its being again good this season. 

 As to Pears, it had been mentioned in some of the gardening periodi- 

 cals that the blossoms were injured, but in those he had examined he 

 iad never found a stigma destroyed, and it was there that the injuiy 

 from frost began, the stigma dying, and death being carried down to 

 the ovules. Mr. Berkeley concluded by pointing out a Fungus found 

 J)y Mr. Edmonds under Cedar trees at Chiswick, and which also 

 occurred under these trees at some other places, adding that an account 

 of it would be found in the last volume of the Linnean Society's 

 *' Transactions." 



Major Clarke said he would bring under the notice of the meeting 

 a little flower belonging to the family of Gladiolus, many of which 

 were gorgeous in crimson and gold ; but how difierent was this ! It 

 "Was remarkable for its small, pure pale blue flowers, and was just one 

 of those treasures Mr. Wilson Saunders deals with in his "Refuge." 

 Another Gladiolus which he had brought with him he believed was 

 G. tristis, and it had flowers of a pale primrose tint, and was exquisitely 

 fragiant at ni^ht. The shabby-loukiug dormant plant which hu next 

 laid before them was the old Hemerocallis japonica or Funlda, snbcor- 



data, rarely seen in flower, simply because its cultivation is not 

 understood. It was perfectly hardy as to its foliage, but not hardy as 

 to producing its flowers in perfection. He had a plant by the side of 

 one of his ponds, which, though gi-owing freely, rarely flowers, but if it 

 flowers these are distorted. In a warm house, however, the plant 

 flowers in perfection, its blossoms being of a beautiful etherial white, 

 The key to its successful cultivation was this : the plant forms a 

 number of crowns or heads, the principal of which produces a flower, 

 but unless well grown and strong it will not flower at all, and fresh 

 crowns will be formed. All the subordinate shoots or heads must, 

 therefore, be pinched off except one for flowering in the following year, 

 and unless this is done the plant only affords an immense mass of 

 leaves. 



Mr. Bateman said those who had cultivated Cucumbers in the old 

 frames knew they would not gi-ow straight, and mentioned it was 

 related by Mr. Smiles of George Stephenson, that feeling annoyed at 

 his Cucumbers always growing curled, at last the idea strnck him to 

 grow them in glass tubes, when he exclaimed. I think I have " bothered 

 them noo." After stating that the Shaddock would grow well under 

 the shade of other trees, and that the Kumquat (of which a fruiting 

 shoot was shown by Mr. Sherratt), is still as beautiful as ever in a 

 wai-m gi-eenhouse or stove at Kuypersley, Mr. Bateman offered some 

 remarks on the Orchids, observing, in the first place, that the Thrix- 

 spermum refei-red to by Mr. B.^rlcciey was not the only instance of an 

 Orchid doing veiy well without leaves. Two in the East Indies, one 

 an Epidendrum and the other an Angi'a?cum, never x)roduced leaves. 

 Messrs. RoUisson's collection was especially commended to notice, and 

 it was mentioned that that firm had been growing Orchids before those 

 who generally exhibited these plants at the Society's meetings. The 

 variety of Oncidium cucullatum, from Messrs. Veitch, and O. nubige- 

 num, sent under the name of O. phalfenopsis oeulata, were next 

 noticed, the latter as coming from a greater elevation than any other 

 Orchid — namely, about 11,000 feet above the level of the sea. the 

 former as growing GOOU feet lower down. A Neottia from Mr. Wilson 

 Saunders, having mottled leaves, showed that Orchids were determined 

 to keep pace with the age, for the rage seemed to be variegated plants, 

 and a prettier plant than this with mottled leaves could scarcely be 

 found. With regard to the fine specimen of Sophronitis grandiflora, 

 Mr. Batemau said the pure burning red flowers vary in the plant's 

 native conntry from 1 to .S inches in diameter ; in the specimen be- 

 fore him they were just under rl inches, and were the largest he had 

 seen, except at the Bishop of Winchester's, where they were just over 

 3 inches. The beautiful examples of Odontoglossum macranthnm 

 hastiferum from Messrs. Veitch, and of Odontoglossum luteo-pur- 

 pureum fi'om the Bishop of Winchester's gardener, were then pointed 

 out, as well as Warscewiczella discolor, with pretty Gloxinia-like 

 flowers, and some other Orchids which had been shown at previous 

 meetings. Mr. Bateman, in conclusion, dir-ected attention to a flower- 

 ing truss of the pretty Sikldm Rhododendron named after himself. 



Major Clarke remarked that one of the Neottias — N. nidus-avia — is 

 a British species, also that Messrs. Lane's show would open on the 

 7th inst. 



THE ORIGIN OF DOMESTICATED PLANTS, 



DEMONSTRATED BY THE CULTIVATION OF THK WILD KADISH. 



[Theee is no subject in gardening of greater interest than 

 the origin of those cultiyated esculents which contribute so 

 much to our pleasures and necessities. The greater mass of 

 people never give the subject a consideration ; they are content 

 to eat, live, and enjoy, heedless of the efforts that have been ex- 

 pended, or the means adopted, to minister to their necessities. 

 But there are many in whose minds the question, Whence are 

 they? has often arisen, and to which a reply has been sought 

 in vain. To our good friend M. Carriore, of the Museum d'Uis- 

 toir,; Naturdle of Paris, we are indebted for the following most 

 interesting and practical sohition of the subject, and we feel 

 certain our readers will unite with us in thanking him by a full 

 appreciation of his ingenious labours. — Eds.] 



On seeing our fruit trees and kitchen garden plants, and 

 eating their produce, we naturally ask the question, How have 

 they originated? Two answers alone are possible — either to 

 admit that they are modifications or descendants of a wild 

 type, or that they were created much the same as they now are. 

 As every-day facts, supported and explained by science, con- 

 tradict the latter supposition, the former we may consider is 

 the truth. 



To trace the origin of a plant, how should we proceed ? By 

 tracing analogies, and making comparative experiments, study- 

 ing well their results, in order to form deductions and find out 

 resemblances. 



It is impossible to enter fully into the origin of all domesti- 

 cated plants, and it is equally impossible to trace even one of 

 them absolutely to its original form ; but let it be granted that 

 Eaphanus raphanistrum is a species, not, however, in the 

 sense in which naturalists generally accept the word — that is. 

 as being an absolute type, of which the extension is limited 



