Si 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July SI, 1886. 



in the morning, and allowed to go out at night, and give plenty 

 of air all day. As a rule, the less fire that is used the better 

 — it should never be applied but for the purpose already men- 

 tioned, and to exclude frost. They will make considerable 

 progress during the winter time ; and towards the beginning of 

 February, if not already done, they should have their final shift. 

 All the young suckers they throw up should be removed, as 

 they only tend to crowd the leaves too much, and they rarely 

 flower at the same time that the niaiu plant does. Tying out the 

 side shoots should likewise be attended to to make nice uniform 

 specimens. As soon as they begin to flower they may be removed 

 to the conservatory, and kept cool and shaded to prolong their 

 flowering. 



The same routine applies to the cuttings as to the seedling 

 plants, except that they should be struck towards the end of 

 August, either in pans, or else singly in small pots, and as soon 

 as they are well rooted pot on as recommended above. 



One of the most important parts of the process I have omitted 

 to refer to, which, if neglected, farewell to all hopes of obtain- 

 ing good specimens (but the same applies to all other plants as 

 well) — viz., watering. I do not know of any special rule to lay 

 down for watering Cinerarias that does not hold good with mostly 

 all other plants ; to do this judiciously is only learned by prac- 

 tice. It must be given with caution during the winter time. 

 A pretty safo rule at all times is to let the ball get pretty dry, 

 but not so dry as to make the leaves flag, then water well so as 

 to soak it through. Weak liquid manure may be given once or 

 twice a-week after the plants get well rooted in their flowering 

 pots. 



Red spider and green fly are sometimes very troublesome. 

 When the former pest gets itself established it is a pretty sure 

 sign of bad cultivation. It is only with poor stunted plants 

 that ever it gets much ahead. I have never seen it attack any 

 plants that have been grown on, as described above, except where 

 grown with other plants that had been affected. The best way 

 to get rid of it is by dusting them over with sulphur. As soon 

 as the latter pest makes the least appearance, the house ought 

 to be fumigated immediately with tobacco paper. 



Although I have confined the above remarks to plants to 

 flower about April or May, it will be seen that the same general 

 routine will do for earlier sowings. To have them in about 

 Christmas the seed should be sown early in June. The best 

 place to grow these in is a frame behind a north wall, where 

 they only get the sun in the morning and evening. They like 

 a cool moist placo to grow in, and are very impatient of too 

 much sun heat at this time of the year. The cooler they can 

 be kept, the better will they grow. When the plants are done 

 flowering, all the seedlings — except such as may have turned 

 out to be first-rate varieties — should be thrown away, but those 

 that are worth keeping should be put into a frame, and kept 

 rather dry till such time as they have ripened their wood. Then 

 cut then down and well water the balls, and plant then out 

 on a Bhady border to throw up suckers for fresh cuttings. — 

 E. H'Intosh (in Scuttish Gardener). 



VARIEGATED PELARGONIUMS. 



tin. J. R. Peahson, of Chilwell, has been kind enough to 

 offer some criticisms on the subject of my paper on the sport- 

 ing of Pelargoniums, &c. ; and as he has only seen an abstract 

 of the paper presented to the Botanical Congress, I venture to 

 ask if you will kindly publish, in eatenso, the paper, of which I 

 enclose a copy. 



After Mr. Pearson has carefully read it through, he will see 

 that he has not confined himself to the subject he commenced 

 writing on. If he will kindly favour us with his views more 

 fully on the subject, I shall be very glad to reply to the queries 

 he has laid such stress on with regard to seeing and smelling 

 the pollen, and also with regard to the effects of electricity on 

 plants. Mr. Pearson appears to treat these matters very in- 

 differently. Does he do so from a scientific point of view ? or 

 is it because he has not entered into the subject with sufficient 

 minuteness to enable him to judge the effect produced by 

 electricity on plants whilst they are undergoing the process of 

 fertilisation ? — J. Wills. 



[ON THE SPORTING OF PELARGONIUMS AND OTHEE 

 PLANTS. 



BY J. WILLS, HUNTROYDE GARDENS, BURNLEY. 



This is a subject pregnant -with a vast amount of interest to many 

 ■who have watched this curious phenomenon in plants year after year. 

 Huoue, I believe, has as yet been able to fathom this wonderful freak 



of Nature, and any facts bearing on this extraordinary phenomenon 

 would no doubt have a tendency in some slight degree to clear away 

 some Bmall portion of the mysteries that surround it. It is one of the 

 wonderful provisions of Nature, to man almost unaccountable — a pro- 

 vision, nevertheless, by which many curious forms of plants are pro- 

 duced which could not be obtained in any other way. 



I have for many years watched the growth and development oi 

 plants from seed with great interest, and the producing of new forms 

 has been to me a never-failing source of pleasure. I will, therefore, 

 describe some of these curious phenomena, as witnessed by me ; at 

 the same time I do not wish it to be understood that the opinions 1 

 may have formed thereon are correct, my principal object being to 

 open up the subject, so that it may be brought under the notice oi 

 others more competent to deal with it. 



The tendency to sport hi the Pelargonium is highly developed in 

 the following kinds — namely, Flower of the Day, Brilliant, and, 

 lastly, Mrs. Pollock. The former was distributed to the puhlic some 

 fourteen or fifteen years ago by the Messrs. J. & C. Lee, and from 

 the very first year of its appearance np to the present time, I have 

 noticed green sports frequently breaking out from it. This goes to 

 prove that the variety called Flower of the Day was originally a sport, 

 and was not produced direct from seed, and has a tendency to prove 

 what I have before stated, to the effect that the more delicate kinds of 

 variegated plants cannot be perpetuated by seeds, but must be in- 

 creased by propagating the sports as they occur. This constant habit 

 of sporting in the plant above mentioned shows, in my opinion, that 

 the original parent was a green variety, probably Cerise Unique. 

 The same propensity to sport is often seen in Brilliant ; and, lastly, 

 Mrs. Pollock will often produce sports of a' dark green colour, with a 

 deep bronze zone, showing that it was originally only a common plain 

 Horseshoe land : but here, if I am wrong in the opinion I have 

 formed, Mr. Grieves, with whom this most valuable plant originated, 

 will no doubt correct me. 



Having mentioned three kinds of Pelargonium that are very much 

 given to sporting, I will now state what i think may be considered 

 one of the causes which bring this curious phenomenon about. 



Three years ago some Pelargonium plants were placed in a httle 

 house used for hybridising-purposes. This house was properly con- 

 structed, and placed in a position where it was not fully exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun, and where it had the advantage, when 

 necessary, of the heat from a tire at the back of a wall, which formed 

 the back of the house. My object in placing the bouse in this aspect 

 was to obviate the necessity for giving air as much as possible whilst 

 the plants were undergoing the process of fertilisation, and every care 

 was taken to prevent any distribution of pollen in the house ; but after 

 all my care, I found, during the following spring, after the seeds were 

 sown and had in due course produced plants, that some adverse 

 agency bad been at work, and that I must have overlooked or neg- 

 lected some important point, for the greater portion of the plants had 

 come quite contrary to what I had anticipated ; for instead of being, 

 as I expected they would have been from the parents used, beautifully 

 variegated, the majority of them produced plants with green or dark 

 zoned foliage, with here and there a sport breaking out from the side 

 of the stem. On looking about for the cause, I came to the conclusion 

 that the small perforated zinc ventilators, which were put in different 

 parts of the house for admitting air and excluding all kinds of insects, 

 had not been covered over so as to prevent a current of air from 

 passing in whilst the work of fertilisation was going on, and that 

 pollen from some other plants that were standing near must have been 

 dispersed by the ah, and that particles of it must have come in con- 

 tact with the flowers just at the time I had been fertilising them. 

 This struck me as being the probable cause of the seedling plants 

 sporting so constantly as they did. The following year, for the pur- 

 pose of testing the ,ruth of "this idea, I subjected the same plants to 

 precisely the same treatment, and was sure the bouse was very much 

 charged with pollen at the time I fertilised the plants, for a strong 

 breeze was blowing at the time, and thei-o was a good deal of ripe 

 pollen on other plants standing in the vicinity of those I had been 

 operating on ; and as soon as the seeds had germinated and the plants 

 were sufficiently developed, it was evident that the same phenomena 

 had occurred again. The same thing has occurred a^aiu this year, in 

 precisely the same way, and under the same conditions ; whilst of 

 plants o'f the same kinds that had been fertilised, and of which every 

 care had been taken to prevent any pollen coming in contact with 

 them after they had been fertilised, none produced plants in accord- 

 ance with the parents used, and no sports in any instance have oc- 

 curred. 



One of the plants operated on was a sport I obtained from Mrs. 

 Pollock, and referred to in a previous letter, labelled No. 1- The 

 plant, No. 3, referred to in the same letter, is the produce ol a plant 

 that had been subjected to the influence of the mixed pollen. 



The above facts have led me to the conclusion that a plant, if mixed' 

 pollen be used in fertilising it, will produce sports, more or less, as the 

 case mav be, and according to the state of the air at the time fertilisa- 

 tion is taking place. If the air is very much charged with electricity, 

 there will be a greater pcr-ceutage of plants with a tendency to sport ; 

 hut if there be little or no electricity at the time, seedlings like the 

 female parent will predominate. 



With regard to the production of variegated plants, my opinion is 

 I that the more delicate kinds are not perpetuated from seed, but by 



