206 Dr. Mac Culloch on the 



flavour to that produced by fire : it had even struck me that the 

 flavour was superior ; hut, as must be expected, it is not produced 

 so early in the summer as under the forcing frame. 



I might here, under this head, and for the same purpose, pro- 

 duce other examples ; but they are unnecessary in proof of the 

 fact itself, which is even thus sufficiently established as an induce- 

 ment to more extensive trials. I may now quote another plant, 

 which seems to aid in confirming the opinion, that a seedling from 

 native seeds is really more hardy than the imported parent, or 

 than its portions propagated in the usual methods of slipping or 

 laying ; or that there is a certain power thus possessed over the 

 naturalization of plants. 



This is the Psidium Catleianum. In Guernsey, or elsewhere, 

 there were plants of this shrub produced by this process, and 

 which yet never bore fruit; which even now, after many years, 

 and in the very same houses, have not produced any, while the 

 seedlings from the English seeds are annually covered with a 

 profusion of ripe fruit, the plants becoming fruitful after the second 

 year. The seed in question was produced by the Horticultural 

 Society ; and its generations, as far as they have gone, are all 

 equally fruitful, while the original slips remain as barren as at 

 first. This then seems a fair case of naturalization, and appears 

 to confirm the conclusions formerly drawn as to the Canna indica 

 and the Zizania. Whatever others may be conceived to bear on 

 this point, will be found in the appended list ; but I am unwilling 

 to place them here in confirmation, while any doubt remains, 

 that I may not appear to prejudge the question. 



The last question of a general nature here noticed, is that 

 which relates to the advantages gained by removing plants from 

 the greenhouse to the open air. It has happened to a great num- 

 ber in Guernsey, some of which will be found in the appended list, 

 that after many years of care, and following the usual fashion, the 

 growth continued stunted, or the plants even threatened to die ; 

 many of them actually dying, and no possibility of producing a 

 seed having occurred. From weariness rather than system, these 

 were turned out to their fates, and the consequence was immediate 



