May 7, 1888. ] 



JOUHNAL OP HORTIOUIiTDBE AND COTTAGE GABDENKB. 



387 



the same time. It has the merit of being less liable to revert 

 to the green condition than moat variegated plants which I know, 

 is not easily affected by disease, and is otherwise a useful orna- 

 mental plant. When it is also considered that no pots are 

 wanted for it at any time, its utility to those whose^iocommo- 

 dation for tender plants is limited is very great. It will do 

 planted out at the end of April. 



Golden S.uiE. — This deserves to be more generally grown 

 than it is, for it is not very particular in respect to soil 

 and situation, but the more it is exposed to sun the better it is 

 in colour. The plant is as hardy as the common Sage, but it 

 should not remain longer than two years, otherwise it becomes 

 unwieldly, and, peihaps, some of it may die off. It makes an 

 excellent edging arouud shrubs, and is in many respects a 

 plant deserving of attention. Its liability to flower is not so 

 great a drawback to it as to the Cineraria maritima, or Cen- 

 taurea gymnocarpa, and it looks well during the winter, but is 

 not ao yellow as when the growth is in a younger condition. 



Daotylis GLOMERiT.i. — This Grass, though hardy, is some- 

 how liable to die olY during the winter, so that I have on more 

 than one occasion all but lost it. In soils which are suitable 

 it may he planted by the end of April, provided, as stated for 

 other plants, it be (it to plant out at the time. When in good 

 condition this plant looks well, and it is certainly not so much 

 grown as it ought to he. 



To the plants above adverted to others may be added. 

 Cupheas are tolerably hardy, but I do not know that any ad- 

 vantage arises from planting them soon, and I hardly know 

 what to say about Petunias, for I have ceased to grow them to 

 any extent excepting from seed, the established kinds from 

 cuttings being so liable to die off. No advantage would, how- 

 ever, result from planting them early, and, therefore, it would 

 not be prudent to include them in the list. Many other plants 

 uaeful in the flower garden might be mentioned — as Pyre- 

 thi'oms, which may be planted at any time ; Lavender Cotton 

 the same ; while Viola cornuta is best planted in the autumn, a 

 better spring bloom following, and the same may be said of 

 Mimulus, Pentstemons, and sundry other plants. Perhaps in 

 no instance are the advantages of autumn planting more ap- 

 parent than in that of Viola cornuta, which seems to be proof 

 alike to cold, the attacks of slugs, and the other mishaps that 

 winter plants have to encounter, as it is seldom a plant is lost, 

 and it commences to flower much earlier by being established 

 so long before the flowering time. — J. Eobson. 

 (To be contmued.) 



RAISING VINES FROM SEED. 



Have any of 3'our readers ever attempted to cross Vines ? 

 If they have they will agree with me that a more tiresome, 

 tedious operation is not often performed. To tie a midge fit 

 to tempt a Derbyshire trout requires patience and manual 

 dexterity, but it can be tied in a cool room and when you are 

 in the humour ; but to cross Vines successfully you must wait 

 in a hothouse till they choose to open their flowers, and remove 

 each anther separately with a fine-poioted pair of scissors with- 

 out the least shaking, you must select pollen from another 

 flower and apply it to the minute'stigma, and if, tired of looking 

 at such minute objects, or oppressed by the heat, you take a 

 walk for half an hour, you will, perhaps, find a score of flowers 

 have opened in yonr absence. If these are examined with a 

 good glass they will generally be found covered with pollen, and 

 as I wish to be as sure as possible that the seed sown is really 

 the result of a cross, I should cut them all out and wait for more. 

 " As sure as possible." Well, I believe we never can be quite 

 sure. When every care has been taken, and I believe my 

 hands are as steady and my eyes as good as those of most 

 persons, still a strong glass generally shows a few grains of 

 pollen scattered on the style, if not on th^ stigma. If to pre- 

 vent this yon remove the cap from the bloom before it opens 

 of itself, you only increase the evil, for then the pollen is sure 

 to be distributed. Having done one's best to prevent the 

 stigma being fertilised by its own pollen, we must trust, if any 

 has fallen upon it, that that which is apphed from a foreign 

 source will be more efficacious. 



Some persons will say, But why raise seedling Vines ? Have 

 we not already plenty of good kinds .' Are not a great many 

 of the new ones worse than the good old varieties ? No doubt, 

 and some are very valuable additions. I certainly am not 

 amongst the number of those who despair of great improve- 

 ment in Grapes, ^^^ly should we not try to add to the good 



qualities they already possess that of scent? It has always 

 struck me that if Pines had no scent they would not rank so 

 high in public estimation as they do now. If Grapes, in ad- 

 dition to their beauty and flavour, possessed a fine bouquet, 

 would it not be an improvement '.' This is what I have been 

 trying at for some years, and I will tell how the idea came into 

 my mind. Meeting with the rest of the Fruit Committee at 

 Chiswick some years ago, we entered a house of young Vines 

 in pots. The moment we entered there was a strong smeU o£ 

 ripe Strawberries, and I exclaimed, Why here is the old Haut- 

 bois Strawberry which I have not seen for years ! Dr. Hogg 

 laughed and said, " It has the exact smell of that Strawberry, 

 but it is a Grape." Never having heard of the Strawberry 

 Grape, or of any kind of Vine with scented fruit, I was very 

 anxious to taste it, but like almost all the members of the 

 Committee, spat it out immediately— the strong perfumed 

 flavour was to me most disgusting. To my surprise one gentle- 

 man said, " I do not agree with you, I like it." 



Whilst tasting the other varieties the following traii> o{ 

 thought passed through my mind : — What a pity a Grape with 

 such a fine scent should be so nasty. After all some one likes 

 it. Is it not because the flavour is in excess ? Who can eat 

 a Williams's Bon Chrutien Pear which has ripened on the 

 tree ? Yet the same Pear gathered before the flavour is too much 

 developed is first-rate. Fusel oil is, perhaps, the most disgust- 

 ing thing in nature, but an infinitesimal drop in a large 

 quantity of barley sugar gives the flavour of the Jargonelle 

 Pear. Who does not like the smell of a good ripe Apple .' but 

 few would choose to live with a bushel of Eibston Pippins inr 

 their drawing-rooms. Why should I not try to modify this 

 flavour by crossing with our best Grapes ? Besides, it is 

 said the American Grapes are proof against the attacks o£ 

 mildew ; perhaps the cross may possess the vigour o£ con- 

 stitution. 



Influenced by these reasons I procured some cuttings, grew 

 them, flowered them, and crossed the flowers with our best 

 Grapes. Seedlings from these crosses are now fruiting. I do 

 not know if they wiU be of any value, but they are most interest- 

 ing. I think never before were such leaves seen on a Grape Vine. 

 One, a cross with Muscat Hamburgh, has leaves more deeply 

 cut than that variety, and almost twice the size. Some have 

 deep red stalks and leaves of the darkest possible green, and o£ 

 large size, whilst others might have descended from the Parsley 

 Vine. One has not only set its fruit, but the fruit is already 

 stoned, whilst a Black Hamburgh next to it and nearer the 

 boiler is only just coming into flower. The few showing fruit 

 appear rather small in the bunch, so 1 have crossed thera 

 again with the largest Grapes known, such as Canon Hali 

 Muscat, Alicante, &c. What do you think of my chance of 

 raising a good Grape '? 



Of one fact I am certain, few persons know the amount of 

 trouble, expense, and anxiety represented by one good thing in 

 the way of fruit ; the prizes are much talked about, the count- 

 less failures are known only to the disappointed ones. I have 

 now scores of Peach and Nectarine trees showing fruit for the 

 first time ; numbers of seedling Vines, a few of which will 

 fruit this season ; lots of seedling Bhododendrons, and about 

 six thousand seedling Pelargoniums, so you see I am trying to 

 leave my mark. — J. E. Pearson, Chihccll. 



Movements of the Colocasia escdlenta. — In a paper, ad- 

 dressed to the Academy of Sciences, M. H. Lecoq mentions as 

 an instance of movement in plants the Colocasia esculenta. In 

 visiting his hothouse in January last, he perceived a motion in 

 one of the leaves of this plant'; he at first attributed it to a 

 draught, but upon examination remarked the same motion in 

 the four other leaves, there being no more at the time. It was 

 a sort of rhythmical tremor, so long as to aiiect the plants that 

 stood near. His attention being thus aroused, he continued 

 his observations daily, and found the motions of the Colocasia 

 were not regularly periodical. Sometimes its tremor would 

 last the whole day and following night ; it usually occurred 

 from nine in the morning until noon, and not unfrequently the 

 plant would remain in a state of perfect rest for days, and even 

 whole weeks. This induced M. Lecoq to attach a few light 

 bells to the plant, in order to be warned of the approach of the 

 paroxysm. On one occasion it began at two o'clock after mid- 

 night, and continued nearly the whole morning. The bells 

 tinkled, and the leaves of the Colocasia struck the neighbouring 

 plants with sufficient dietinctuess to enable the author to count 



