January 8, 1874. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



35 



buds originally inserted bad " taken," they produced perfectly 

 healthy green leaves. 



This disease, for I hold that all variegation is in some 

 manner unhealthy, had evidently been communicated from 

 the bud or scion to the stock before the death of the former, 

 and for a short time during its vain struggle for existence, con- 

 taminated the parts below. 



The Scientific Committee of the Royal Horcicultural Society 

 also records a like case with a yellow-leaved Laburnum. After 

 the inserted bud had died, variegated shoots were noticed 

 issuing from the stock both below and above the inserted 

 point ; and Dr. Masters, the English botanist, has stated that 

 an Abutilou had thrown out variegated shoots alter grafting 

 with a variegated variety, but ceased to do so after the inserted 

 graft died. 



But, in some instances, the stock exerts a marked influence 

 upon the scion, thus showing the co-operative system in use 

 between them. The Gunlcners' Chronicle mentions an instance 

 of a couple of Muscat Vines worked on the Black Plamburgh, 

 in the same house with a Muscat, on its own roots. Those 

 worked on the Hamburgh start fully five or six days in advance 

 of the one on its own roots, although they are neai'ly a fort- 

 night behind the Hamburghs they are worked on. It is a 

 curious fact that there has never been seen any difference in 

 the ripening season, nor any effect on the fruit. 



As we stated in the commencement, certain marked peculi- 

 arities will, sooner or later, always make themselves known ; 

 sometimes it will be one thing, and again another and totally 

 different feature assumes the superiority. The governing 

 cause, involved in mystery as it is, to a certain extent affords 

 us a clue by means of which we may study a very useful lesson 

 in plant life. 



We know that all vegetable growth arises from a cell, and 

 what are termed young shoots, leaves, blossoms, &c., are in 

 fact but an accumulation of cells, which, in time, develope 

 woody fibre and other organs. The propagator of new varieties 

 knowns that a single bud, or a section of a young branch, may 

 be inserted in a different tree, and these will unite and produce 

 fruits and flowers similar to the kind from which the bud or 

 graft was taken. Now, let us inquire into the changes that 

 occar during this growing process, or, as horticulturists term 

 it, " taking." Between the wood and bark is where active 

 growth takes place, and the layer of young cells found here is 

 known as the cambium layer. All growth, of whatever nature, 

 is by cells, the origin of which is, however, at present unknown. 

 But this cell-growth is accomplished by small protuberances 

 making their appearance on the walls of the older cells, and 

 these rapidly increase, and again, in turn, assist in the forma- 

 tion of others, and this is carried on so long as growth takes 

 place. Without going into a long dissertation upon the subject 

 of cell-growth, which would form a long essay in itself, I will 

 merely state that the question has been asked in relation to a 

 budded tree. Can the cells, at the point of union, be partly of 

 one variety and a part belong to another? My theory is, that 

 a cell singly is entirely a component part of the variety from 

 which it originates, either from the scion or stock, and is in- 

 vested with all the powers and principles inherent in that part. 

 A single cell cannot be of two varieties, but a collection of cells, 

 as, for instance, the cellular tissue, may be formed partly of 

 both. The vascular or fibrous tissue is governed by the same 

 laws, each separate, but the little bundles of woody tissue 

 uniting by their outside covering or walls, thus forms a com- 

 pact mass of wood, and the bud or graft has taken, which 

 ultimately forms the future tree. 



A bud is, in fact, an embryo tree. It contains within its 

 protective covering all the elements of tree growth, with all 

 the organs of vegetation and reproduction intact. Therefore, 

 when a bud is inserted beneath the bark of another plant, the 

 cellular growth at once takes place on both sides, these unite 

 by their outside walls, and the so-called sap commences to 

 circulate in the intercellular passages from one to the other. 

 It is, therefore, no wonder that certain peculiarities embraced 

 in the root may be found developing in the scion or top, and 

 t'ice versa. That the scion is enabled to reproduce its kind, is 

 due to the fact that its young growth is merely an increase of 

 cells already formed, and the variations alluded to at the com- 

 mencement of this paper are the result of constant currents of 

 sap flowing between the two remote portions of the tree, and 

 at the same time imbuing the one with certain marked cha- 

 racters contained previously in the other. Thus, in a somewhat 

 hurried, and I fear very imperfect manner, I have alluded to 

 the influence of the stock upon the scion, and vice versii. 



This interesting subject is by no means all theory, as many 

 suppose, but is the result for the most part of close examina- 

 tion by means of a powerful lens. Future investigation will, 

 undoubtedly, reveal many novel features which we now know 

 not of, and to accomplish this fully the patient student of hor- 

 ticulture is asked to join the botanist in the pleasant task. 



But there is another and more popular aspect to this sub- 

 ject, the relative advantages of certain stocks for particular 

 species of plants. Under this heading we may take, for ex- 

 ample, the Plum worked on the Peach. Prejudice and distrust 

 on the part of many cultivators have done this operation 

 great injustice. To the owner of a heavy soil, where the Plum 

 root thrives luxuriantly, Peaches should bo planted with 

 caution ; but, on the other hand, in the great Peach districts, 

 with a light mellow soil, the Peach root will succeed far better 

 than the Plum. Peaches always make a large number of strong 

 fibrous roots, and return to the top a vast amount of nutrition. 

 The junction in certain varieties of Plum on Peach roots is 

 perfect, and the tree is long-lived and healthy. 



The testimony of some of our most noted pomologists goes 

 to show that the practice is correct, and a careful examination 

 plainly indicates that the theory is faultless as well. 



The subject of dwarfing fruit trees is not properly understood. 

 The Pear worked on Quince roots certainly dwarfs the tree to 

 a certain extent, and for a few years; but is the process caused 

 by some inherent property contained in the Quince? We think 

 not. Once allow the Pear to throw out a few roots above tho 

 point of junction, and the tree becomes a standard. Tho abun- 

 dance of sap or nourishment gathered up by the roots and 

 forwarded to the top causes in most cases a larger and finer 

 growth of fruit, thus showing that the Quince is adapted to 

 these kinds ; but take an uncongenial variety, and mark the 

 result. The fruit is often in such cases worthless. Years ago 

 we were told that budding Cherries on the Mahaleb stock 

 would cause the trees to become dwarf. Little did these pro- 

 pagators know that when they annually pruned their trees, 

 this was what dwarfed them, and not the root. The junction 

 in this case is always perfect, and it is a well-known scientific 

 fact that excessive pruning causes debility in a plant, and 

 that when vitality is checked tho tree becomes dwarf as a 

 matter of course. Excessive growth and productiveness seem 

 to he generally antagonistic. A dwarf tree, after the first 

 vigorous growth is over, will, if healthy, produce good crops 

 and mature a reasonable amount of new wood. Certain va- 

 rieties of Pears, as, for instance, the Bartlett, never unite 

 properly on the Quince stock — the cellular tissue of each never 

 seems to make a perfect union. Very many trees that we have 

 examined under a strong lens reveal a marked line between 

 the cell-growth of the two, and not, as in the case with other 

 kinds, a lengthening of both cell-growths, one up and the other 

 down, so that it is very difficult to determine where the exact 

 point of insertion really is. There are causes, over which we 

 have no control, that debar us from dwarfing some varieties, 

 but science has not yet solved the mystery. — JosuH Hooees,— 

 [Horticulturist.) 



HOLLAND HOUSE, 



THE RESIDENCE OP EAEONESS HOLLAND. 



Not one other among " the stately homes of England" have 

 had either for its possessors or its tenants such a series of 

 totally distinct characters, mostly celebrities, but differing in 

 their opinions as widely as in their positions. A volume could 

 be filled with anecdotes and stirring details, rendering the 

 continuous narrative interesting, which told how the house 

 passed from tenant to tenant ever since Geoffrey de Montbray, 

 Bishop of Coutances, and Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford, 

 held the manor in the time of "William the Conqueror. A 

 mere enumeration must eufEce in our columns. Sir Walter 

 Cope, James I.'s money-lender, bought the estate of the last 

 of the De Veres, and 'built, in 1007, the present mansion. 

 His daughter brought tho estate to the Earls of Warwick. 

 During the Parliamentary War General Fairfax was its tenant, 

 and tradition tells that he and Cromwell and Ireton held con- 

 ferences beneath its trees. Addison was husband of its pro- 

 prietress in 1716. It had various other tenants, and of these 

 were William Penn, the Quaker, politician, and colonist ; Mrs. 

 Morrice, daughter of the exiled Bishop Atterbury ; and Shippen, 

 the incorruptible Jacobite. In 1762 it was sold to Mr. Henry 

 Fox, ancestor of the first Lord Holland, and it has continued 

 in possession of this family. 



The grounds of Holland House have been several times 



