270 General J^otices. 



the balance than either beauty or deformity. But the calceolaria is not 

 altogether the point at issue ; Dr. Lindley only makes use of it as the 

 peg on which to hang his charge against us, of converting the " fairest 

 races " into mongrel and debased forms. To this charge we should at 

 once plead guilty, promising in future to adhere more strictly to " wild 

 and genuine" forms, and to "abandon a pursuit which has as yet led 

 to few results which good taste can approve ;" but we have the evidence 

 of our senses, and that of the horticultural world, coupled with Dr. 

 Lindley's previous opinions, to bring against this charge. We may at 

 once advert to a few instances, ex pluribus, of Dr. Lindley's previous 

 opinions on cross-breeding and its results. Who said, " The power 

 which man has over nature holds out to us prospects of the most grati- 

 fying kind, in regard to the future gayness of our gardens ?" Who as- 

 serted that " improvements of the most remarkable kind are yearly 

 occurring in consequence of hybridisation ?" and tliat " hybrid produc- 

 tions are undoubted cases of improvements resulting from skill ?" 

 Who said, " The industry and skill of modern gardeners have been 

 creating intermixtures which greatly add to the beauty of the flower- 

 garden ?" And who even went as far as to say, " The constant drop- 

 ping of water will not more surely wear away the hardest stone, than 

 will the reason of man in time compel all nature to become subservient 

 to his wants and wishes ?" Who, indeed, but Dr. Lindley ? And yet 

 he now turns round, at the eleventh hour, and proclaims to all the 

 world that gardeners, through their ignorance, have brought ruin on 

 the "fairest races of the vegetable world." The doctor ought at least 

 to have been impartial in this charge. It is well known that gardeners 

 are not alone guilty of these acts. The late Earl of Carnarvon con- 

 verted some of the "fairest races" into mongrel and debased varieties : 

 witness l?hododendron alta-clerense, and Azalea thrysiflora, &c. The 

 present Earl of Mount Norris brought ruin on the Fseonia Moiitan. 

 Mr. Knight, Dr. Van Mons, and others, have done more injury among 

 our best fruits than gardeners ; to say nothing of that king of hybridi- 

 sers, the Rev. and Hon. William Herbert, who has, perhaps, brought 

 more ruin on the " fairest races," than all the gardeners put together. 

 Dr. Lindley says, if we must have hybridising, let us have it by those 

 rules by which alone it is possible to arrive at a really desirable result : 

 but Dr. Lindley knows, or ought to know, that the power which pre- 

 scribed the exact limits to which certain genera can change their na- 

 tures, has given unbounded limits to others, which set at defiance the 

 best rules of the most consummate philosophy, and, in their progressive 

 stations to a " desirable result," thousands must necessarily be discarded. 

 Here lies the whole secret. If we trace the history of our best fruits 

 and vegetables (to say nothing of the tulip, the dahlia, &c.), we shall 

 find the same cft'ects following the same causes, ever since the discovery 

 of the sexual system in plants. With these facts staring us in the face, 

 are we to give up a practice by which we are sure of ultimate success, 

 because certain " races " are falling into disrepute with those who can- 

 not take a comprehensive view of the subject ? Certainly not. Dr. 

 Lindley, Avith the candor of the true man of science, renounced some 

 of his former opinions, on conviction of their untenableness ; and, that 

 he may reconsider his opinions respecting cross-breeding in the vegeta- 

 ble world, these facts are, with the utmost respect, submitted to his 

 notice. — (-D. B. in Gard. Mag.) 



Lobelia splendens and fulgens, two beautiful varieties, apparently 

 belonging to one species, were introduced to Europe by rather a singu- 

 lar circumstance. Specimens of these plants were gathered in flower 

 in Mexico, by the celebrated botanists Humboldt and Bonpland, and 

 put into their herbariums in the usual manner. When these botanists 



