1889.] TRANSACTIONS. 9 



It is quite likely that no amount of study will avail to deter- 

 mine with certainty, why every fruit of the earth was yielded pre- 

 maturely, A. D. 1889. We may not learn with the strength of 

 conviction, for what occult reason the canker-worm disappeared, 

 and the caterpillar ravaged in very wantonness. Bacteria, it is 

 asserted, are deadly foes to the pear tree. In what manner and to 

 what extent, are these lowest forms of vitality subject to climatic 

 influence that they did not get in their tine work during this year 

 of our Lord, 1889, wherein, if countless foes have compassed us 

 round about, Fire-Blight at least has not been mustered in the 

 ranks of the devastating legion. 



And yet another question, of serious import to ourselves. 

 Shall not the science of Horticulture review the practice of graft- 

 ing? If the unsettled problem of its expediency or wisdom is not 

 solved by ourselves, to whom such research should be familiar, 

 by whom then unless those delicious sciolists who resolve Flori- 

 culture, Pomolog}', Horticulture and the growth of vegetables 

 into distinct and separate classes! Says that high authority. — The 

 Garden {E7ig.) : 



The Evils of Grafting. — I was very glad to see the remarks 

 from such a good gardener as Mr. Scrase-Dickins on this sul)jcct 

 at pp. 607-8. Grafting is in eflf'ect a kind of adulteration. 

 When we ask the nurserymen to sell us one plant they often give 

 us two in a more or less — generally less — effectual state of com- 

 bination. It is an analogue of the coffee and chicory business. 

 Amateurs cannot be too alert and cautious in seeing that they ob- 

 tain either honest plants on their own roots, or if grafted plants, 

 then a declaration to'that effect should be made by the nursery- 

 man, and the name of the stock on which the species or variety 

 ordered is worked should be given. Grafted plants of .all kinds 

 arc open to all sorts of accidents and disaster, and very often 

 the soil, or the climate, or the cultivator is blamed by employers 

 for evils which tlius originated in the nursery. It is to be hoped 

 that all cultivators interested in trees and shrubs will now keep 

 their eyes open and note the behaviour of grafted as compared 

 with own-rooted kinds. If grafted plants are better than own- 

 rooted ones, then let us accept them, but do not let us be deceived 

 in the matter. If in certain places grafting as a convenience has 

 to be resorted to, then let it be root-grafting, a system that event- 

 ually affords the scion a chance of rooting on its own account in 



