FOMIA.TTOX' OF WOOD BY ROOT BUDS. 47 



is more attractive in colour, yet uncertain as well as small. Edmund Foster, crimson, is liable to the 

 thrip, therefore the centre not clean at all times, but is of first-rate form, and of the right stamp. 

 Sir F. Thessiger, is good late, the early blooms come ribbed, of medium size. Scarlet King is a little 

 too open, particularly if grown strong, is too flat on the face. Douglas Jerrold, yellow tinged, good 

 habit, petals want width ; but the worst fault as a show flower, is, the back goes before the centre is 

 up. Malvina disappointed me early, but late it is a desirable flower, the same with Morning Star, 

 which promises yet to be a favourite. White Defiance is a good formed flower, and tolerably constant, 

 but low in the centre, and pencilled, not pure white. Tom has a good stout petal, and appears con- 

 stant, but was too late to speak to its general character. Queen of Whites can bo improved upon ; 

 yet taken for all in all, is the best white up to the present time. George Yilliers is a good acquisition 

 to the dark purple class, and is very constant. Alice, so much looked to, has been a failure, inasmuch 

 as two-thirds of the plants produced single, or semi-double flowers, but when a good bloom was 

 caught, it was exceedingly striking, yet there is too much centre for the size of the flower ; and 

 although the outline is perfect, the face is flat. Sparkler and Albert, will not do as show flowers, the 

 latter may as a border variety. Niobe is a large promising flower, white and lavender. Louisa 

 Glenny, although good, is small, and too uncertain for general use. Ariel is also too uncertain. 

 John Davis, large and very coarse without novelty. Victoria, neat and pretty, but not enough of it. 

 Absalom, a passable orange salmon, which must be grown again. Granta's Gem, large salmon buff, 

 too quilly, but caught at times. Beauty of Versailles, purple, is behind the flowers of the present day. 

 Aurora, too thin and uncertain. Una, blush, too open. Compacta, small salmon rose, but very 

 uncertain. Robert Montgomery and Phantom, but indifferent. Of Fancies there is not much to 

 say. Glorie do Kain is a great acquisition ; white, striped and spotted with purple ; very constant, 

 and good shape. Spectabilis is also a good striped variety, yellow buff ground, striped red. Laura 

 Lavington, although not always tipped, is a good variety, the shape being fine. Miss Ward is of the 

 yellow ground class, good in form and full, not always tipped. Mrs. Merry, showy, but coarse. 

 Nancy, good quality, but thin and hard eyed. Cricket, good quality, of indistinct colours and queer 

 centre. Kossuth, good shape but rather too uncertain. Miss Bathurst, much too thin. Flora 

 M'lvor, a good useful flower. Lilliput Von Bayreuth, red and white, a good flower for exhibition. 

 La Peon, striped of average form. Claude, a useful flower, between Mrs. Wallis and G. Clayton. — 

 J. Edwards Wace Cottage, Holloway, in The Scottish Florist and Horticultural Journal. 



FORMATION OF WOOD BY ROOT BUDS. 

 The mode in which the wood of plants is formed has often been the subject of discussion ; by some 

 botanists it has been regarded simply as a deposition of matter between the bark and the old wood ; 

 by others it has been held, that it is formed by the downward descent of bud-roots between the bark 

 and the previously formed wood. This view is now very generally adopted, explaining, as it docs 

 not only the growth of exogenous plants, but also that of endogens ; and it offers, in addition, the 

 only rational explanation of our modes of propagating plants by budding. That this theory is the 

 correct one is proved by the economy of the Ficus Benjamina, and that of the true Banyan. Both 

 of these plants are remarkable for the profusion of roots thrown down from their branches. The 

 main stem of some of them does not form one solid mass, as in other trees, but is a congeries of thick 

 branching roots, which come down from the lower end of the large branches surrounchng the original 

 shoot or stem. The long horizontal main branches have not so conical a shape as in other trees ; for 

 the roots which are thrown out by each bud, instead of being sent down between the bark and the, 

 previously formed wood, are thrown out along the whole course of the branch, in masses which resemble 

 enormous horse-tails ; and hence the necessity which the branches of such trees have for the supports 

 which are formed by those roots when they reach the ground. 



