Angust 5, ISCD. ] 



JOUaNAL OF HOBTICULTUJIE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



101 



soodlmg reiirodaccd itself almost without variation. A pnre primrose 

 seedling of very high quality gave some primrose-coloured flowers and 

 some primrose -with dark base, usually inferior to the parent. A 

 French white veined seedling gave a lot of prettily and variously 

 veined flowers. An orange-buff seedling gave also some few prettily 

 -veined Howcrs among many very rough ones, of the colour of the 

 parent. A tine purple seedling gave purple, marbled, maroon, and 

 lilac flowers, all of superior quality. 



Now, it might appear :it first sight that the above results militate 

 against the theory of improvement by selection merely. But it is not 

 really so. It must be told that the above is a record of general 

 results only. In most cases few or many individuals might have been 

 selected in advance of the p.arent. Let it further be remembered that 

 this is the result of one year's growing only, and it certainly proves 

 that a variation cannot always be fixed by a single effort, which we 

 are perfectly free to admit, it shows also the tendency of the mass of 

 seedling plants raised from cultivated or advanced varieties to revert 

 to a less civilised state. It shows farther, that a variation once ob- 

 tained, new ground once broken, often proves a fertile source of further 

 variation and advancement. But of this I shall give an example 

 by-and-by. Now, I do not think that the variation in colour recorded 

 in some of the above cases was due to fertilisation either by insects or 

 other instrumentality. But it might be eo. I merely express an 

 opinion on this point, founded on the fact that the progeny of some 

 varieties varied but slightly throughout successive annual sowings, 

 whereas that of others varied greatly. The inference I should draw 

 would be, that some variations are capable of a more rapid develop- 

 ment, some are more sportive, and some more readily fixed than 

 others. 



It will be farther inferred from the above facts that the finest 

 flowers do not always produce the finest progeny. And I have found 

 this circumstance corroborated iu dealing with other plants. Certain 

 individual sorts furnish a fine brood ; others, apparently equally good 

 sorts, an indiii'erpnt brood. Soaietimes a flower or fruit of indifferent 

 quality wUI produce a high-class progeny, and a high-class flower 

 or fruit an inferior progeny. The whole question is, I admit, beset 

 with difficulties, and offeis a fine field for observations and experi- 

 ments. The exceptions to the rule, that the best flov.-ers proceed from 

 the best parents, are numerous. Notwithstanding, unless we possess 

 " special knowledge," we cannot do better than work npon this rule ; 

 for, if we reject it, we have nothing so good to put in its place. 



One word as to the speciul k-nowledge just alluded to. Now and then 

 a variation, peculiarly fitted for the work of progress, will arise. Many 

 years ago, a Pansy, named Queen Victoria, raised by the late Mr. 

 Thompson, of Iver, proved of this character ; and more recently the 

 Eosea General Jacqueminot, .Jules Margottin, and Victor Verdier, may 

 fee taken as prominent instances. From these in their day, and for a 

 certain period, many more good flowers were raised than from all others 

 of the period pat together. Now, if one acquires this special knowledge, 

 there is sure gi-ound to work on. But I know of no law by which this 

 Cfaality of a plant can be determined in advance. In the present 

 state of our knowledge, I conceive that it can only be ascertained by 

 observation and experiment. 



I have raised many thousands of seedling Hollyhocfca, Roses, Zonal 

 Pelargoniums and other plants, simply on the principle of gathering 

 the seed from the most advanced plants and flowers without any at- 

 tempt at cross-breeding. My success under this method of proceeding 

 hasjjeen gi-eatest with Hollyhocks, as I could claim at one time (about 

 1857), the finest Hollyhock of almost every colour as of my production. 

 This I account for by the fact that the subject was a good one for 

 experiment. Althongh a flower long known to us, it had not been long 

 subjected to high cultivation, and was fully ripe for improvement. 

 With the Rose the case wa<! somewhat different. It had been ex- 

 perimented on fay ejever and industrious men in Fiance for a number 

 of years, and, doubtless, I was here traversing ground which some of 

 them had exhausted long before. However, success here has not been 

 adtogether denied me, and to which I shall have occasion to allude by- 

 and-by. Of Zonal Pelargoniums, I was fortunate enough to become 

 the possessor of a remnant of stock loft by the late Mr. Donald 

 Beaton ; and whUo many of the -variations and improvements that 

 have issued from my nnrseries are the result of mere selection, others 

 have been carefully and systematically bred. The Polyanthus is a 

 flower with which I am now carrying on experiments, with the view of 

 rendering it more available in spring gardening. Four years ago I 

 selected certain colonrs from a bed of mixed seedlings, with the view 

 of saving the seeds of each separately, hoping in time to be able to 

 reproduce each colour true from seed. The first sowing produced aU 

 colonrs from each variety, and while subsequent sowings have done 

 the same, yet each successive sowing brings a larger proportion of the 

 colour of the parent: and I do not doubt that ultimately each variety 

 will become fixed— that is, will reproduce itself true in colour from 

 the seed. 



With regard to the progress of improvement after selection, it would 

 appear that the greatest progress does not take place when the variation 

 is young. The most marked progress from a cultivator's point of view 

 seems to occur when the variation has been some little time under cul- 

 tivation, bnt before it loses the extra vigour not uncommon to selected 

 variations. A case illustrative of this view has recently come under 

 my observation. It is that of a plant of the Primula sinensis, which 

 I recenUy exhibited before the Royal Horticultural Society, under the 



name of Waltham White. It is a white-flowered variety with red leaf- 

 stalks (the white-flowered variety has commonly greenish white leaf- 

 stalks). The growth is exceedingly vigorous, the plant bearing a huge 

 pyramidal trass of large pure white flowers, of great substance. It is, in 

 fact, a giant among Primulas, and a giant of goodly and fair propor- 

 tions. Now, nothing could have been more unpromising than the origi- 

 nal variation from which this grand result has been obtained. It was 

 a coarse weedy-looking plant, bearing rough misshapen flowers ; but 

 there were the distinct features of extraordinary vigour, and the red 

 leafstalk. The first year's sowing from this plant produced more 

 variation than improvement; the second more improvement than 

 variation ; and now. in the fourth year, the characters above described 

 seem fixed, for all the seedlings raised from a choice pod of seed have 

 bloomed so nearly alike in colour, size, form, and habit, that the 

 variation may be fairly pronounced improved and fixed. 



Thus far I have confined my remarks to the variations of plants 

 from seed which appear to arise spontaneously, and are of everyday 

 occurrence. But there are other variations occasionally taking place. 

 which are known to cultivators under the name of " sports." Sports 

 are variations from the leaf-bud rather than from seed, and I class 

 them under selection, because iu their case man does not intentionally 

 step in with the view of giving a tui-n to the workings of Nature. 

 Cultivation may, and in many cases probably does, induce " sports," 

 but cultivation is not deliberately pursued with that object. As an 

 example of these we may instance the well-loiown case of the Nec- 

 tarine, which was a sport from the Peach — that is, a branch of a Peach 

 tree produced the smooth-skinned and otherwise different fruit known 

 as the Nectarine. My first efforts at improving the Rose were made in 

 1843, and were induced by discovering a sport. I observed a branch 

 and flower of the Bourbon Rose Proseqiine, then recently introduced, 

 of extraordinary vigour ; the flowere were larger and somewhat lighter 

 in colour than in the original ; the leaves were of a lighter green, more 

 obtuse, and destitute of the customary red nerves and red colouring 

 round their circumference. This, which I believe I am right in speak- 

 ing of as a sport, was, nevertheless, not a very marked example of this 

 tendency. It was cultivated separately and fixed, but did not depart 

 sufficiently from the original to be thought worthy of a new name, 

 and was, consequently, sold as a superior variety of' the Rose Proser- 

 pine. About the same time I observed a branch of the Rose du Boi, 

 boating pale flesh-coloured flowers. This branch was propagated, and 

 the new colour fixed. When about to distribute this as a novelty, to 

 my surprise I received it from France, under the name of Celina 

 Dubos ! Now, althongh I know nothing of the history of Celina Dubos 

 as received from France, I yet know that it was identical mth my 

 sport, and I think it is reasonable to conclude that it originated in the 

 same way. Also, about the same time, I observed a branch on tha 

 Rose Dr. Marx, producing leaves finely striped with gold; and a 

 branch of the Bourbon Queen, with leaves beautifally variegated witk 

 white. Both of these sports were propagated and fixed. Of Roses, 

 the Moss group is the most inclined to sport. I have, in days gone 

 by, frequently seen two or three varieties of the Moss Rose growing on 

 the same plant. I have seen the Baronne Prevost, which is naturally 

 a double rose-coloured flower, produce striped flowers, and others 

 nearly single. I have also seen Mrs. Bosanquet, a white Rose, pro- 

 duce a branch bearing red flowers. 



But the most notable recent case of this tendency is that of the 

 new Double Crimson Thorn ; and this is remarkable in having been 

 observed in two different places abont the same time. It should be 

 told, however, that both these plants had been purchased from the 

 same stock. The particulars of one case are as follows : — A tree of 

 the Double Pink Thorn had been planted in a garden some fifteen or 

 sixteen years, when a branch was observed to have started away from 

 the centre of the tree with unusual vigour. It flowered, and lo 1 tha 

 flowers were crimson instead of pink, presenting a marked contrast to 

 those on the lower part of the tree. The leaves, too, wore of larger 

 size, greater substance, and more deeply lobed. Young plants were 

 propagated from this branch by budding and grafting, and the charac- 

 ter was fixed. 



A few words with regard to the fixing of variations or sports seem 

 desirable here, and with that I shall close this part of my subject. Wo 

 have seen that variations or sports are, when reproduced from seed, 

 liable to vary greatly in character, with a general tendency to revert to 

 the type. From the first sowing there will probably be but few like 

 the variation, but by successive repetitions of the process of sowing 

 and selecting the variation is at length fixed. It is thus that many 

 of our races of annuals, as Asters, Stocks, Clarkias, Candytufts, Tro- 

 piBolums, and the like, not readily propagated otherwise than from 

 seed, have been obtained. But the process of fixing variations or 

 sports from the leaf-bud is almost certain to proceed without inter- 

 ruption. You graft, bud, or make cuttings of the sported branch or 

 plant, and the plants so propagated remain unchanged. 



I will now proceed to the second part of my subject — namely, tha 

 improvement of plants by hybridising and cross-breeding. I have said 

 that in hybridising and cross-breeding we start with a conception 

 which we labour to convert into a fact. For example, we find existiui; 

 in two separate flowers or fruits certain high qnahties, as size, 

 colour, form, flavour, mien, etc., which we seek to combine in one anj 

 the same individual. We cross or hybridise these two plants, sow the 

 seeds, and after few or many attempts, one out of many is likely to 

 give the desired result. As a guide in hybridising and crossing, it 



