438 



JOUBNAL OP HOETIOULTURE AND COTTAGE QABDENSB* 



r Jnto If, 1801. 



irnt«r a»flumcB thftt iho Knf^lish pnme their ireoa to make them grow^ 

 withoDt properly consitleriun rcgnlarity of form or bilc of fruit. 



He reci'iiiiucbfifi prnimiK ^^ obtnin oyiumetncal trees dud large fmit, 

 by recofjnisiu^ tbo rhnructcr of tbu difftTfut branchcH ; as, for iu^taiice, 

 ^'bethtr Iruit-btaring or wootl-beariDg, and treatiug them accordingly, 

 iii opposition to the system of treating all alike, which he calls the old 

 fiyslem. and speaks of it rndier as "pruning without system." The 

 old plan leaves nature to form wood or fmit branches at will ; he 

 voold 80 control nature, as io form either at pleasarc. 



ProfesBor Kuil Koch, Berlin : Some propofeilions with respect 

 to ByBtexuntic botany. 



Three oepecial sources of difficulty beset the Bystematic botaniat of 

 our day. 1st. The confused nomenclature. 2nd. The scattered 

 literature. 3rd. The distribution of great numbers of plants by nnr- 

 Berrnien under fanciful names. One man can do but very little to 

 remove these obstacles, but n Congress of botaniBts and horticultaristH 

 will be better able to effect the necessar}- chanj^es and improvomente. 

 Professor Koch proposes to obviate the confused synonymy by rc- 

 tftining the specific name first given ; but as regards the generic name, 

 to place that which recent investigation has adopted 6rst, and the one 

 by which it was first described afterwards, in a parenthesifl. If an 

 author's name he given, it should be that of him who first described 

 the plant. Our nomenclature begins with Linna-us, and hence all 

 botanists prior to him are to be disregarded. Linnaeus, for instance, 

 describes Oruithogalum lutcum, but Salisbury discovered characters 

 of Fufficient importance in this plant to justify him in mating a new 

 genus, Gagea. Our plants should therefore be called Gagea Intea 

 (Omithopalum) Linn. 



Secondly, the scattered literature. Botanists now-n-days write in 

 German, French, English, Italian, &c., and in a large number of 

 different periodicals, so that it becomes very difficult, or next to im- 

 possible, for a man to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the 

 literature of the subject. Professor Koch proj>OBes, therefore, to 

 select a number of botanists from various countries to examine and 

 collate the separate publications of their several countries. A general 

 editor is to be appointed in a Knropean town where there is a pood 

 library, and all extracts are to be sent to him at that place. The 

 ^neral editor is to arrange these extracts scientifically, and to publish 

 them in the Latin language. 



Thirdly, as to the importation of plants by nurserymen. No disad- 

 vantage would rasne if the horticulturist were to adopt a provisional 

 name in the first instance, and then apply to a botanist for the correct 

 name, which could then bo published ; but in adopting this plan, there 

 are two diihcultiea to be encountered. Gardeners would seldom take 

 the trouble to change the provisional for the scientific name ; and they 

 would not always know which botanists studied particular families, or 

 would not venture to trouble them. This ought, therefore, to be the 

 task of a Botanico-Horticultural Congress. 



Fourthly, many botanists have already devoted themselves to par- 

 ticular families, and it is to be desired that others should do the aauie. 

 Horticulturist 8 might tlien apply to these botanists for information, 

 (fee. Professor Koch then points out several instances where he has 

 BUcceedeU in carrying out the proposed reforms. 

 Professor Kicks, Ghent : On the physiology of Cryptogamic 



plants. 

 U. Krelage, Haarlem : On the names of garden varieties 

 and their confused pynonynij, with special reference to 

 bnlbous and tuberous rooted plants. 

 Mr. Thomas Laxton, Stamford: On the variations effected by- 

 crossing on the colour and character of the seeds of Peas. 

 The specimens exhibited were selected for the pnrpose of illoB- 

 trating the varmtions produced by crossing, in the colour and 

 character of the seed of Peas, in the Eecond and succeeding genera- 

 tions. 



The reiiaUs of experiments in crossing the Pea tend to show that 

 the colour of the immeiato offspring seed or second generation, aome- 

 timos follows that of the female parent, is sometimes intermediate 

 between that and the male parent, and sometimes distinct from both; 

 and although at times it partakes of the colour of the male, it has not 

 been ascertained by the experimenter ever to follow the exact colour 

 of the male parent. In shape, the seed frequently has an intermediate 

 character, but as often follows that of either parent. In the second 

 peucration, in a single pod, the result of a cross of Peas, different in 

 fihnpe and colour, tlie seeds therein are sometimes all intermediate, 

 sometimes represent either or both parents in shape or colour, and 

 Bometimes both colours and characters with their intermediates appear. 

 The results also appear to show that the third generation, or seed pro- 

 duced from the second generation, ox immediate offspring of a cros?, 

 frequently varies from its parent in a limited manner — usually in one 

 direction only, but that the fourth generation produces numerous and 

 wider variations ; the seed often reverting back partly to the colour 

 nnd character of its ancestors of the first generation, partly partaking 

 of the various intermediate colours and characters, and partly sport- 

 in(f distinctly from any of its ancestry. These sportfl appear to 

 become fixed" and permanent in the next and encceeding geneiations ; 

 and the tendency to revert and sport thenceforth eeema to become 

 checked if not determined. 



The experiments also tend fo show that the height of the plant is 

 Bingnlarly influenced by crossing; a ciosa between two dwarf Peas 



commonly producmg some dwarf and some tall, but on the other 

 hand, a cross between two tall Peai docs not exJubit a tendsncv to 

 dimination in height. 



No perceptible difference appears to resnlt from revaraiog tbt 

 parents and applying the pollen of the female to the vanoty pre- 

 viously employed as the male flower. 



Profoi^eor Lecoq, Clermont Ferrand: 



1. On the cultivation of Coicbicnm byzantinnm. > j 

 A description of the plant, and of tho method of cuUivating it« M 



horo given. The aothor rocommondo it for use in grcenhoaaes aoA 

 living-rooms, its corms being concealed by Lycopodium. 



2. On the mipT-ation of mountain plants. 



The object of the author is to show that the mountains of Aurercn* 

 have received their Alpine plants by tho agency of birds and of wind, 

 and not by a gradual migration during a fluppoaed glacial period, thft 

 existence of which ho denies altogether. 



This district, he says, vras, at the tertiary period, a vast platOML 

 with a mean altitude of 8-900 feet. Volcanic erujitiona then innndfttea 

 it, altered its soil and climate, and raised it in some places 1000 

 metres. " Then." says ho, "■clouds began to settle on the heigbta and' 

 fiuow to accumulate, and innumerable streams flowed from its icy 

 summits, and by their murmurs seemed to call to a foreign vegetatioik- 

 to come to enjoy these happy conditions. The hospitable appeal wM 

 heard." i'c. 



The boreal sjwcipp, with which alone we are concerned, and a list of- 

 which, about 10} in number, he gives us, could not, he s.iy8, liav* 

 arrived till after the volcanic elevation of the district, and thej coald 

 only have come from the Alps, the Pyrenees, Lapland, or the moniL- 

 tains of Grenada. But as all these species are either Alpine or. 

 Pyrenean, with the one solitary exception of the Arabia cebennensi^ 

 we may assume that these two great chains were the home fVom whiob 

 they came as colonists to France. 



The intermediate country is low and flat, and afforded them nd 

 resting place ; Darwin's theory of their progress by means of a glacial 

 period he rejects; and concludes that they must therefore have been 

 transported thither through the air, and mainly by budit of paB3&t9». 

 and violent storms of wind. 



M. Lahatk, Paris : On the preservation of fraits. 



The author says it is impossible to preserve fruits out of their 

 season if the trees which produce them are in bad health or conditioo* 

 M. Mas, Bourg : On the method to be followed iu ondoavour- 



ing to obtain new varieties of fruits. 

 Dr. Masters, London : Double flowers, A:c. 

 Dr. David Moore and Mr. A. G. Mobe, Glasnevin : On tbd- 



climate, flora, and crops of Ireland. 



The authors remark upon tho well-known humidity of tho climate^ 

 and the singularly slight difference that there is between the summer 

 and winter temperature ; a tUfference that at Dublin is only ITJ,* 

 Fahr., and on the west coast as small as 14''. Indeed, that of winter, 

 they say, is as high as though the island lay 15° nearer the eqoator. 

 Hence the peculiarity of the Irish flora, of which they give a list of 

 the more interesting species, and an accompanying map to show their 

 geographical distribution. The humidity of the climate and its low 

 summer temperature they find to t>e unfavourable to the ripening of 

 fmit and Wheat, but such as to render Ireland the country of all 

 Europe the best fitted for green crops and cattle -grazing. 



Appended are some interesting returns sent in by gardeners in tba 

 counties of Cork, Kerry. Galway. Mayo, SUgo. nud Fermanagh, in 

 answers to queries as to their success with fruit trees, and half hardy 

 shrubs and tlowers. These returns agree in showing that the climat* 

 of the southern and western counties is ill adapted to the growth <rf 

 fmit, but favourable to that of evergreens. 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES ON THE WAY TO THE HOLY 

 SEPULCHRE.— No. i. 



It 13 a strange transition to pass from the rude Alexandrian 

 vessel, shipwrecked in St. Paul'B Bay at Melita, to tho graixl 

 steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, carrying 

 out their living freight bent on business or pleasure. A greater 

 transition still it is to turn from the low white coast whicli 

 first greeted the Apostle's eyes to tho harbour of Vi^letta. with 

 its tremendous fortifications bristling with cannon, its wharvet 

 and quays, where representatives of every nation nnder heaven 

 are congregated together, jostling each other in that weary 

 struggle for " daily bread " that to the people of the nineteenth 

 century seems to mean anything rather than the *' food cod- 

 venient for thom." 



Amongst this motley assemhlngo a few months ago was the 

 tourist* whose route I intend to follow in these notes, and 

 whose collection of plants, together with a journal, has very 



--^--"'-^ 0^'-^- 



.li^y. • W. WanUyn, Esq. 



