524 GENERAL REVIEW. 



cms, others, as the Litchi, the Lougan, and the Rambutan, are 

 in India and China much valued as delicious fruits, and these 

 are produced by different species of Nephelium. The Horse- 

 Chestnut (dZsculus) and the North American species of Pavia 

 are best known, but the following genera are represented in 

 our gardens : Cardiospermum, Paullinia, Melianthns, Greyia, 

 Sapindus, Cupania, and Kcdreuteria, and several others, in- 

 cluding Xanthosceras . X. sorbifolia is a low and very strik- 

 ing ornamental-flowering tree, rivalling the Pavias and Horse- 

 Chestnuts in beauty (see 'Garden,' viii. 524). Root-cuttings 

 of this plant grow freely, every little piece forming a plant. It 

 would be interesting to know whether this plant cannot be pro- 

 pagated by grafting on the roots or stems of Kcelreuteria pani- 

 culata, or on either Pavias or Horse-Chestnuts. 



Melianthus majus is readily propagated by cuttings of the 

 root - stock or lateral growths, having a heel of old wood at 

 their base, and root - cuttings are also successful. Greyia 

 Sutherlandii (see ' Bot. Mag.,' t. 6040) is a scarlet-flowered 

 shrub, something resembling Melianthus, but with simple 

 leaves. This plant may be propagated from cuttings of the 

 partially - hardened young growth or from root - cuttings in a 

 genial bottom-heat of 70 to 80. This plant, albeit a showy 

 one, flowers so seldom in cultivation (unless starved nearly to 

 death), that it is worth while trying whether it cannot be grafted 

 on some other Sapindaceous plant, with a view to restricting its 

 vegetative or leafy growth. 



.ffisculus (Horse- Chestnuts). The Common Horse-Chestnut, 

 ^E. hippocastanum, is well known as one of the most distinct 

 of all our shade trees, while as a flowering tree it is unsurpassed. 

 A noble avenue of these trees, nearly a mile in length, exists in 

 Bushy Park, near Hampton Court Palace, and these present a 

 most attractive sight when in full bloom. It is supposed to be 

 a native of Asia and Northern India. Another species, J&. ohio- 

 tenses, is not uncommon in North America, where it is known 

 as the "Buckeye," and there is a variety of the Common Horse- 

 Chestnut which bears soft rosy flowers. It is one of the easiest 

 of all forest-trees to propagate, as it bears enormous quantities 

 of seeds, which germinate freely if sown in trenches as soon 

 as they fall from the tree in autumn. Like most other trees 

 raised from seeds, it is liable to vary greatly in both leaf and 

 flower, but any particularly good or desirable form may be per- 

 petuated by shield-budding on seedling stocks in June and 

 July. Cleft-grafting close to the ground in March also suc- 

 ceeds ; and flute-grafting or crown-grafting in April, either as 

 dwarfs or standards, succeeds well. The " Scarlet Horse- 

 Chestnut " belongs to the allied genus Pavia^ most species of 



