386 GENERAL REVIEW. 



of any having been raised in this country. In 1848, hybrids 

 were obtained, two of the most interesting being A. venoso- 

 striatum and A. striato-venosum, which are the result of recip- 

 rocal crosses between A. striatum and A. venosum. In 1855, 

 M. Lambotte of Namur exhibited several interesting hybrid 

 Abutilons, which were the produce of A. striatum fertilised 

 with pollen from Sida albida, and to these mules an extra 

 prize was awarded by the Ghent Horticultural Society. It 

 has often been observed that when the golden-blotched Abu- 

 tilons are grafted on the green-leaved A. striatum as a stock, 

 the latter is frequently induced to produce golden-blotched 

 foliage below the junction of the scion with the stock. A case 

 is mentioned (see 'Gard. Chron.,' 1875, p. 750) in which M. 

 Jean Driessche of Ghent succeeded in grafting the new Abu- 

 tilon Darwinii on to the variegated A. Thompsonii as a stock, 

 the result being that subsequent leaves produced by the graft 

 also became variegated as in the form A. tesselatum. 



Althaea. A genus of hardy malvaceous, annual, biennial, 

 and perennial plants, represented by the Marsh-mallow in 

 marshes near the sea, and by the stately Hollyhock in our 

 gardens. The last-named plant is one of the very few hardy 

 flowers which are noble enough in habit to produce landscape 

 effects. Mr Chater of Saffron-Walden, a well-known grower 

 and exhibitor, who has done much to improve and popularise 

 this noble-habited flower, recommends their being propagated 

 by single eyes in July and August, also by cuttings in the spring, 

 placed on a slight bottom-heat. Plants raised in summer are 

 best preserved by re-potting them in October into large pots 

 the larger the better in light, rich, sandy earth, and placing 

 them in a cold frame or greenhouse, giving plenty of air on all 

 favourable occasions : they will then grow during the winter. 

 In March or April turn them out into the open ground, and 

 they will bloom as fine and as early as if planted in the autumn. 

 Plants even put out in May will flower the same year. 



New varieties are, of course, only to be raised from seed ; 

 and the usual practice adopted by raisers is to grow a select 

 collection of smooth, round-petalled, semi-double varieties close 

 together, from which seeds are saved, which, like Stocks and 

 Asters, produce a certain proportion of perfectly double flowers ; 

 and the better the strain or selection, the larger is the propor- 

 tion of perfectly double seedlings obtained. The parent from 

 which the present race of Hollyhocks has been produced is 

 A. rosea, a herbaceous biennial introduced from China in 1573. 

 The common single-flowered seedlings may be used as stocks 

 on which to graft the tender double kinds. Cleft-grafting or 



