1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



27 



shell-marl has been exposed to public sale; and 

 since it was thus procurable by iiirmers at large, 

 its application is becoming more general. From 

 20 to 25 carts, such as already specified, are given 

 to the acre, of this shell-marl, in a dry state: it 

 loses, in drying, a fifth of its bulk wet from the 

 pit. The effects ot marl are observed to be not 

 immediate, but lasting: crops from marl are a 

 fortnight later in ripening than those from lime, 

 and The grain of less weight by one-tenth, in 

 equal measure. 



Lime is rather preferred even to shell-marl, its 

 quicker operation suiting belter with the short 

 tenure of a tenant's possession. It is applied at 

 the rate of six carts lo the acre, in light soils; and 

 •of eight, ten, or sometimes sixteen, in clay soils. 



From the Magazine of Horticulture. 

 THE ROHAN POTATO. 



This celebrated potato will be very extensively 

 cultivated the coming season. It is one of the 

 most extraordinary varieties for productiveness 

 ever known ; nor are its eating qualities inferior. 

 Though not held up lo be equal to the forty-fold, 

 the Mercers, and other well known kinds lor the 

 table, they are, nevertheless, equal, if not superi- 

 or, to ma:)y of the potatoes which are to be found 

 in our markets. For stock there is probably no 

 crop that can be raised more productive. Twelve 

 hundred bushels to the acre can probably be grown, 

 if the statements of Judge Buel and others can 

 be relied on, who have raised them. During the 

 past dry summer, side by side with other kinds of 

 potatoes, the produce was as ten to one. The 

 severe draught affected the crop in a great degree, 

 yet the produce was immense. St. Helena pota- 

 toes, a variety in considerable esteem, did not pro- 

 duce a crop that would pay the expense of dig- 

 ging, in the same ground where the Rohan af- 

 forded thirteen pounds to one planted. In our 

 notices of vegetables, which will appear in our 

 next number, we shall add some additional facts, 

 relative to their growth, produce, and importance 

 to the farmer. 



From Loudon's Gardeners' Magazine. 

 CROSS FECUNDATION OP PLANTS. 



The effect of the preceding winter on hybrid 

 plants has led to some interesting results respect- 

 ing cross fecundation. It is known to scientific 

 gardeners, that, in the case of hybrids generally, 

 the progeny takes the constitution of the female 

 parent, while its characteristic features are those of 

 the male. Hence, it might have been foreseen, that 

 a cross between Hdsa semperflorens and the Ayr- 

 shyre rose, the latter being the female parent, 

 would produce a much hardier progeny, than ifthe 

 crossing had been reversed. It might also have been 

 anticipated, that a cross between the tree rhododen- 

 drons of Nepal and the Rhododendron ponticum of 

 the temperate parts of Asia, the latter species be- 

 ing the female parent, would produce a much more 

 tender progeny, than a cross between the Asiatic 

 tree rhododendrons and those of North America, 

 the latter being the female parent. Hence, we are 

 able to account for the apparently anomalous cir- 



cumstance of some of the Bengal hybrid roses 

 having been destroyed altogether by last winter's 

 frost, while others have been only partially injured; 

 and hence, also, we discover the reason why the 

 progeny of Rhododendron cataicbiense, Rhod. max- 

 imum, R. caucdsicum,&ic., fecundated hy Rhododen- 

 dron arbdreum, have stood the last winter, scarcely, 

 if at all, injured; while the progeny of i?. pdnit- 

 cum, fecundated by R. arbor&um, has invariably 

 been killed down to the ground, or totally destroy- 

 ed. While the loss of some hybrid arbutuses is 

 to be accounted for on this principle, the mode of 

 producing, by cross fecundation, a number of others 

 which shall be nearly as hardy as the common spe- 

 cies, is clearly pointed out. In short, the confir- 

 mation of the general principle, that, in cross fe- 

 cundation, the constitution of the female parent 

 prevails in the progeny, is, we think, the most im- 

 portant gardening feature that has transpired dur- 

 ing the past year. 



It has long been known, that, among plants rais- 

 ed from seed, whether the parent has been cross 

 fecundated, or otherwise, there is frequently con- 

 siderable constitutional difference in the progeny; 

 some being hardier than others, and some being 

 earlier or later than the average of the species, of 

 coming into leaf or flower. These differences 

 in seedlings may be seen on an extensive scale, in 

 ev^ry hawthorn hedge and oak wood; and, in 

 a more limited way, they are exhibited in seed- 

 lings of different sorts of evergreens, such as the 

 arbutus, Qaercus JHcx, Portugal laurel, Magnolia 

 grandifldra, ^'c. The causes of this difference 

 never have, and, probably, never will be, disco- 

 vered; but, nevertheless, any facts which bear on 

 the subject are worthy of record. Thus, it has 

 been found that the severe frost of last winter pro- 

 duced a much more injurious effect on the nar- 

 row-leaved varieties of Rhododendron ponticum, 

 such as R.p. salicifolium than on the varieties with 

 broad leaves. The same remark applies to the 

 narrow-leaved varieties of Magnolia grandiflora, 

 M. g. lanceolata having had the foliage more in- 

 jured than any other variety. 



It is worthy of remark, that all deciduous trees 

 and shrubs of the colder parts of North Ameri- 

 ca, that had ripened their wood, have escaped 

 wholly unhurt; while some natives of Siberia, 

 such as Lonicera iatarica, though, when in a dor- 

 mant state, they are capable of resisting the most 

 severe cold of the British winter, were, from 

 being in a growing state when the severe frost 

 suddenly took place, severely injured. Even the 

 evergreen magnolia of North America, M. gran- 

 diflora, in places where it was exposed as a stan- 

 dard tree, in the free air of the climate of London, 

 only had its leaves injured, and that, in most , 

 places, but partially; the buds having broken out 

 in the course of the summer, in every case that 

 we have seen or heard of On dry gravelly soil, 

 in Hertfordshire, such as at Tofleridge and Ches- 

 hunt, even the leaves of standard evergreen mag- 

 nolias have escaped without the slightest injury; 

 thus placing the hardiness of this fine tree beyond 

 all doubt. Most of the beautiful species of Ma-i 

 honia (evergreen berberries), from California, 

 have also stood the winter, without their beautiful 

 foliage having sustained the least injury. Garrya 

 elliptica, an evergreen from California, proves to 

 be of the same degree of hardiness ae the cora- 

 mon laurtistinus. Aimiba japonica, like many 



