APPENDIX. 601 



evidence that this question of prepotence between the male and female 

 parents varies, so far as evident characters are concerned, from the almost, 

 if not entire, overruling of those of the male to that of entire female pre- 

 potence, as in the case of the Lilies cited above. That this range of variation 

 in hybrid plants is due to the variable strength of characteristics or fixity 

 of habit in the parent species seems nearly conclusive, if it be not actually 

 proved by the fact that in some few cases notably in that of some Wil- 

 lows as observed by Wichura, and of Mr Seden's Lady's Slipper the 

 characteristic force of the two parents is so equally balanced that the off- 

 spring of both, when crossed reciprocally, appear to be precisely alike. 

 In this respect, also, we have observed analogous results in the case of 

 grafted plants, and this, taken with the facts which have been observed in 

 the grafting of Potatoes and Cytisus, seems to indicate that the same 

 general law governs the union of gemmules, whether the union be sexual, 

 as in the case of hybridism and cross-breeding, or vegetative, as in the 

 case of grafting and budding. If the same law apply to the union of the 

 gemmules of the vegetative and sexual organs and from the facts at pre- 

 sent known to us we may reasonably infer that this is the case then 

 grafting under certain conditions may facilitate hybridism, and vice vei-sd, 

 by drawing the characteristics of like plants into a still nearer relationship 

 than had before existed. As hybridism is more likely to be successful 

 when all the flowers are removed off the seed-bearing parent, except those 

 fertilised by foreign pollen, so in grafting we find that detached scions 

 take more readily on a young headed-back stock especially if the rela- 

 tionship be not of the closest kind than when worked on a branch or 

 stock which is itself allowed to grow and bear flowers and fruit ; and even 

 when the scion takes well under both sets of conditions, the practical 

 results are often very different. The late Mr Pearson, of Chilwell, after 

 having experimented with Grape Vines grafted on different stocks, came to 

 the conclusion that the stock, if completely headed off, and not allowed to 

 make any leaf-growth of its own, lost all influence on the scion in about 

 four years. It has now become highly essential to know not only whether 

 varieties of fruits are grafted and the name of the stock used when they are 

 described as being successful or otherwise in different soils or localities, 

 but it should also be explicitly stated whether the stock or intermediate 

 stock, in the case of double-grafted trees, is itself allowed to grow and 

 bear fruit, or whether its duty is merely to support the scion grafted on it. 

 That scions do sometimes influence the stocks on which they are worked 

 is evident, as has been already shown ; the converse of this, or effect of 

 the stock on the scion in many instances, has long been known, but there 

 are cases in which there is no apparent evidence of either stock or scion 

 exerting any reciprocal influence, each preserving its own character intact, 

 although they may be dividing the functions of plant-life between them. 

 Variegation can in many cases be communicated to a green-leaved plant 

 by budding or grafting it with variegated scions from the same or allied 

 species. In the case of Abutilons this is a well-known fact, and soon 

 after Messrs Veitch introduced the vermilion-flowered, green-leaved A. 

 Darwini, a variegated form was artificially produced on the Continent by 

 budding it with scions from the golden-blotched A. Thompsoni. This 

 practice has also succeeded with the Ash, Sweet Chestnut, Laburnum, 

 Pelargonium, Common Chestnut, Maple, Jasmine, Oleander, and Passion- 

 flower. Black, white, and red or striped Grapes have been produced on 

 the same bunch by splicing the branches of a black-berried and a white- 

 berried Vine together ; and analogous effects have been produced by graft- 

 ing the tubers, or even the haulm only, of red and white Potatoes. The 

 oft-quoted Cytisus Adami is said to have been produced by inserting a 



