222 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



SCIENTIFIC AND LITEEAEY NOTES. 



PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



ACCIDENTAL FERTILIZATION OF PAPILIONACEOUS PLANTS. 



We extract from the correspoiidence in a recent number of the Gardener's 

 Journal, the followiDg observations on accidental fertilization, furnished by a cor- 

 respondent signing himself J. B. W., and corroborating, from his own experience, 

 statements contained in a previous communication on this subject, by Wm. Dar- 

 win. I am in the habit, he observes, of growing the Black Belgian Kidney Bean 

 (Haricot d' Algiers) and a small seeded white Haricot side by side with the com- 

 mon Scarlet Runner, and I find a great tendency to seminal variation in the two 

 first-named, but none in the Scarlet Runner except a slight variation in the color 

 of the seeds, which is probably not greater than would occur if that variety was 

 grown alone. When I first obtained from the Horticultural Society the very dis- 

 tinct kind known as the Black Belgian, its seeds were of a jet black color, and the 

 pods they produced were of a creamy white, and much more fleshy than those of 

 the common Runner. I find, however, every year many pods that are thinner in 

 substance and almost green in color, while the seeds they contain are not b!ack but 

 darker or lighter slate color, so that it is only by making a selection of seeds that 

 I am enabled to keep the sort true. I imagine that this variation must be caused 

 by cross impregnation with the White Haricot, although that plant is so different 

 in appearance from the black one that many botanists would certainly make them 

 distinct species. The seeds of the small Haricot ought to be pure white, but there 

 are always some among them of a pale dun color which are picked out and thrown 

 away, so that I have no notion of what they would produce if sown. It is well 

 known to gardeners, that the dwarf varieties of Kidney Bean are extremely liable 

 to cross when two or more sorts are grown side by side, although some strongly- 

 marked varieties, such as the Newington Wonder, are less readily affected by 

 foreign influence. With regard to Peas, I think it certain that some at least of 

 the new varieties which are annually sold at high prices to a confiding public, are 

 the result of accidental cross impregnation ; and yet such crosses cannot be of 

 frequent occurrence, for I have grown both the Auvergne Pea and the Champion 

 of England intermixed with other kinds during several years, and they are still 

 perfectly true. It is well knowu that many of the most valuable varieties of the 

 Brassica tribe of vegetables have been originated by hybridization, and the facility 

 with which they cross, many a poor gardener discovers to his sorrow when his 

 "Unapproachable" Cabbage, or his " Unmatchable" Broccoli, has been hopelessly 

 spoiled by intermixture with the vile " Greens" of his slovenly neighbor, I have 

 heard it said, however, that none of the culinary Cabbages will cross with the 

 Turnip, which is a very curious thing if true. 



