Sf ptcmber 12, 18«5. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER.. 



205 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



To 

 W 

 Tn 

 F 



S 



Sun 



M 



SEPTEMBER 12—18, 1865. 



Sycamore lonves dirty browu. 

 Elder bcnios ripe. 

 Foxtail Oat Grass ripo. 

 Limo troc loaves turn yellow. 

 Horso Cbestnut leaves cbaugo 

 U Sunday aftek Tuinitv. 

 Sycamore loaves fall. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Kain in 



lust 



■38 years. 



!>ay. 

 (18.8 

 l\7.» 

 (l(i.7 

 (-.7.1 

 08..'! 

 C9.1 

 66.8 



NiKht. 

 41.8 

 45.6 

 46.3 

 48.'J 

 47.5 

 45.7 

 46.8 



Mean. 

 50.H 

 56.7 

 56.5 

 66.8 

 57.!) 

 57.4 

 66.8 



Days. 

 15 

 17 

 IIP 

 19 

 15 

 14 

 17 



Snn 

 Rises. 



m. h. 



32 of 5 



33 6 



Snn 

 Sots. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



m. b. 

 21af 6 



m. h. 



53 10 



52 11 



mom. 



65 



2 



4 3 



9 4 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m. h. 

 4aaf 1 

 38 2 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Days. 

 < 

 23 

 24 



25 

 26 

 27 



Clock 

 after 

 Kan. 



Day 

 of 



Yeiir. 



255 

 256 

 267 

 268 

 259 

 260 

 261 



From observations taken uoar London during tbo last tbirtyeiBbt yoavs, tbo average day temperature of the wock is 67.8" and its night 

 temperaturo 46.r. The tToatost beat was 86', on the 12tb, 1858; and the lowest cold, W\ on .tbo 17tb, 1840. The greatest fall of 

 rain was 0,90 inch. 



PHENOMENA IN RAISING SEEDLING GRAPES. 



HA"VrE forwarded to you a 

 small box contaiuins a few 

 bunches of Grapes for your 

 inspection and opinion. I 

 do not scndtliem on accoimt 

 of any gi'eat merit they pos- 

 sess, but more to illustrate a subject on which I am some- 

 what sceptical — namely, the crossing of Grapes. 



I beUeve that the liiajority of Grapes sent out of late 

 years as cross-bred varieties are in reality no crosses at 

 all, but simply sports from seed, that many plants loug 

 under cultivation are liable to produce. 



No. 1 is a white or golden seedling raised from seeds of 

 Wilmot's or Dutch Hamburgh, without any artiiidal im- 

 pregnation by any white variety whatever, or by any chance 

 of such unpregnation having taken place by accidental or 

 other circumstances, as no wliite Grape was in cultivation 

 in tliis place when the seeds were saved that produced the 

 plants from which these bunches were cut. Tliis variety 

 is a fortnight earlier than its parent, hardy, prolific, and 

 hangs well ; the specimens sent are not fair samples of 

 either bunch or berry. 



No. 2 is a white seedling from the same som-ce as No. 1. 

 Bunches generally large, loose, and sets very indift'erently ; 

 a fortnight later than its parent. Seeds saved from the 

 same bunch as No. 1. 



A tliird secdlnig, r^aised fi'om the same parent as the 

 above, has proved identical with Busby's Golden Ham- 

 burgh, with all its faults and failings most disagi-eeably 

 conspicuous, convmcing me that Busby's is really a seed- 

 ling from the Black Hambiu'gh, although at the time of its 

 distribution considerable controversy took place that such 

 was really not the case. For my o\vn part I never once 

 doubted the ciionmstance. My only doubts are as to its 

 being a cross ^^ith tbo Sweetwater. I am now perfectly 

 convinced that it is not so. 



I may here also state that I have prodneed the Chasselas 

 Musque true from seeds from the Wliite Frontignan, and 

 it is just possible that Mr. Josling did send out a seedling 

 of his own when he distributed his " Josling's St. Alban's," 

 although it tiu'ned out to be identical with Chasselas 

 Musque. It is a cmious fact that out of a number of seed- 

 lings saved from the Black Hamburgh I have not been 

 able to obtain one black (irape. 



I also enclose yon a bunch from a Vine received from a 

 friend in Spain. The fruit I send was perfectly ripe in the 

 tirst week of May, and has been hanging on the 'Vine just 

 in the same state as you see it: I think it would hang for 

 months to come. The name sent with it was " De Rey." 

 There is also enclosed another Spanish Grape like the 

 U. No. 233.— Vol. IX., New Semis. 



Ciotat, or Parsley-leaved. The Vine was received here 

 under the name of " Ghyprc fino." It may bo somewhat 

 diifcrent from the old Parsley-leaved, but of this I am not 

 certain. Tlic above wore all produced in ten-inch pots. — 

 T. ^I. Lindsay, (Jnrdcnci- In Jluhuft Niijiier, Esij., West, 

 Shamlon Otinlciix, lleknshuryh, N.B. 



[Tliese illustrations of Mr. Lindsay's furnish anotlier 

 proof that in the vegetable as in the animal kingdom, when 

 a fixed form has once been broken in upon, there is no end 

 to tlie vagaries that follow, without any hybridisation what- 

 ever, and aftbrdhig evidence in the opinion held by many, 

 and by ourselves among the number, that the ))rimary 

 agent in breaking in upon the normal fonn so stamps 

 its impress on the progeny, that at a certain uidefinite 

 period its shnilitude crops up. so to speak, where it would 

 be least expected. From these and other exjieriments 

 we liave seen with Grapes and other fruits, we believe that 

 one of the parents of the Dutch Hamburgh was white, and 

 we would even go as far as to say that one or other of 

 these wliite seedlings raised by Mr. Lmdsay from the 

 Dutch Hambm-gh is identical with, or very little removed 

 from, that white parent. 



We have lately seen some remarkable examples of this 

 — one at IMessrs. Pavers' of Sawbridgeworth, where Ml". 

 Rivers, sen., having raised a very fiiio melting Peach 

 from tlie I'itniaston Orange Nectarine, sowed the stones of 

 this Peach, and in retm-u it produced two disthict Necta- 

 rines, one with a yellow flesh, and identical in every w.ay, 

 both in fruit, flowers, and leaves with its grand-parent the 

 Pitmaston Orange, and another a wliite- Heshed fruit, in all 

 probability identical with its next precodhig ancestor. 



Another instance that we have seen is at the Ascot 

 Niu-sery, where Mr. Staudish has raised liis flue new 

 •• Royal Black " Grape from Bowood jMuscat impregnated 

 by Early Saumer Muscat ; and yet tliis Royal Black pos- 

 sesses no trace of Muscat in its flavour, but is a remark- 

 ably early jet-black Grape, as large as the Black Ham- 

 burgh, and ripening nearly three weeks or a month earUer. 

 Now, we have not the least doubt but that one or both of 

 ! those Wliite Jlnscat Grapes had at some time or another 

 an infusion of the black strain in the parentage. 



These are most interesting pliysiological questions, and 

 give great scope and interest to the present new ideas in 

 modern gardening, and wc hope to be fm-nished with much 

 more evidence, so as to enable us to draw some practical 

 conclusions on the subject. 



Seedling No. 1 bears considerable resemblance to Golden 

 Hamburgh, but is more firm in the flesh, it being in this 

 respect somewhat similar to the old Blacli Hamburgh. 

 The skm is perfi!ctly white, and, when dead ripe, of an 

 amber coloiu- ; judging from the specunens sent, it is not 

 nearly so good in flavour as the following. 



Seedling No. ^. — Had there not been other varieties 

 bearing the names of White Hamliurgh and Golden H-ara- 

 burgh, cither of these names would have been iar more 

 applicable to tins variety than to those that bear them. 

 Tiiis is in fact a real Golden Hamburgli : in every re- 

 spect — in size and shape of the berries and flavour of the 

 fruit it is a Hambm-gh. and even in the '•hammered" 



Ko. 8?5.— Vol. XXXIV., Old S-iniES. 



