THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



71 



sre 



sai 



not having 



"aen t proof that the stocks generally employed 

 P^jSat in strength, and a somewhat obscure 

 *" fdbw« which, if I understand it aright, means 

 Jt that 'the natural seedlings of R. ponticum 

 ■^liflium are more luxuriant than cross-bred 

 tToftbe gaQje species crossed with arboreum, 

 rjf bY inference I suppose that seedlings of ponti- 

 and maximum are adequate stocks for the hybrids. 

 %T is fer »3 m y observation goes, the very reverse of 

 2?* ? the case— witness : R. arboreo-caucasicuin (R. 

 P^JliAflum), a P lant three times aa luxuriant as its 

 B*^ h Dareilfc R. caucasicum and R. alta-clerense, 

 luxuriant than R. catawbiense. But Mr. Fraser 



gore 



m ^" "in a ad an important fact to our physiological 

 i^<r* and disprove an opinion of the late Dean of 

 '^ - »-* — '* ' — — : — Mr. 



bSA it, * 



jUncbester 



experience 



states that hybrids exhibit almost invariably the 



and habits of the female parent, and that 



Aincter ana u»un B ^ — 



ZMfa between R. arboreum auu 



kLjv unless the seed be saved 



•^ unless the female be hardy. Mr. Herbert states 



catawbiense, 



" Cross-bred 



/Hort Soc. Journal, Vol. II., p. 98) : 



' * seem to assimilate more to the male than to 



regetable; 



thefemal m 



^^ .'» and he adds—" As far as I have seen, a cross 



whel* the male is hardy and the female tender, is much 

 more baity than one where the female is hardy and the 

 male tender. This is very important and conspicuOU s 

 in crotf-bred Rhododendrons." These remarks were 

 written in 1846. What experiments have since been 

 made to disprove this opinion ?— and upon what facts 

 does Mr. Fraser found his statement ? Since Mr. 

 Herbert's day we have few records of experiments on 

 cross-breeding, and if Mr. Fraser can furnish any in 

 confirmation or confutation of Mr. Herbert's opinions, 

 he will do good^ service to vegetable physiology. I 

 most not be tempted to diverge into the subject of 

 grafting in general, though some of my critics challenge 

 me to such a course. I will only remark, that with 

 certain peculiar exceptions I never saw a plant yet that 

 was not stunted by grafting, unless it be the yellow 

 Horse Chesnut. The Copper Beech undoubtedly is, 

 unless the disease which affects its colour affects also its 

 growth, for who ever saw a Copper Beech as large and luxu- 

 riant as the common Beech, and, strange to say, where 

 it does flourish more than usual, on soils where the 

 Beech is native, it appears to have a tendency to lose 

 its colour. I am asked whether I would cultivate the 

 Peach on its own roots. Certainly I would, if I could 

 obtain such plants ; and, as the next resort, I would have 

 them grafted or budded on the Almond, according to 

 Mr. Knight's suggestion. I have no experience on this 

 head, but the opinion of Mr. K., who, as a physiologist, 

 gardener, and accurate observer has seldom been sur- 

 passed, will I think justify me in differing from some 

 of mv critics, and till they have disproved his theories, 

 I am content to abide by them. /. JR. 



FrigiDomo injured by soaking in boiled oil— In order 

 to render it less liable to injury by the weather, I 

 naked a few yards of « Frigi Domo " in the boiled oil 

 commonly used by house painters. When I examined 

 i alter three days' soaking, the outside folds of the 

 cotn were little injured, but the inside was burnt 

 almost to powder, forming a black charred mass with- 

 out any coherence excepting in the parts nearest the 

 outade, where on being opened, it fell into small, thin, 

 £rk flakes still retaining their exact original shape. 

 ZL a 7 of , ? our reade rs explain the cause of this 



Si T V i , m me afc the same time whether boiled 

 ATP^ advantageously used in general for coating 

 "Ter wtton or hempen netting and cloth exposed during 



we spring n fruit walls ? A Subscriber, Birches Green, 

 *«*r Birmingham. 



Notice* of Books;. 



*«* and its Adulteration^. By A. H. Hassall, M.D. 

 r 8vo. Longmans (28s.). 



beei i tS? e j v 6e ° r four y ears the P ublic mind has 

 Jonrnil «n a 1 a series of articIe s in the medical 

 MfieU ofT-f Lancet > lowing that almost every 

 nation «r «. II consum P t 'on is adul terated . The exami- 

 ne CornnT* £ eS WaS 8aid by the editor > Mr - Wakle 7> 



an "Analvf- i c dd,esex » to be P laced 5n the hands of 

 this « Chmm • Samtar y Commission." The reports of 



fcMBed wrr* Were read and ad raired by the un- 

 fbnditv o L- A Cied the y di scovered in them a pro- 

 «e the mpmk ntlfic , know ledge. Every one asked who 



mp ^bers of this Analytical Sanitary Commis- 

 we their means of information ? and how 



■ton 



But 



although 7v , re P°rts entitled to confidence ! 



1 »e»mf pv?° dy , avowed the authorship, it 

 ^.f^ent that the members of the 



soon 

 « Com- 

 ld that 



^^n itoint 8Utemen ta were useful, and up to a 



^P'«on a, I*, CUrate » ?<* that the y were P e » to 

 whi ch wa« »„ i! deficient in ^e kind of knowledge 

 ^mission '' ex P ected from " An Analytical Sanitary 



We 



^on ^i!^ n that the on] y member of this * Com- 

 0f ** book h f r ' Arthur HiU Ha ssall, the winter 



* Soa *e indff 6 U3 ' P reviousl y known as the author 

 2 nd of a l ■ t r i ent works on microscopical subjects, 

 T^hed ^W-fowured report upon the water 



fr* Jt apneaiJ ^ by the water companies. So 

 « ^tter^nil r ^ ar T ^ no Commissioners at all in 



' UnIesa Dr - Hassall be taken to consist of 



several gentlemen rolled into one, and that the title 

 given to his investigations in the Lancet was not alto- 

 gether free from the imputation of misrepresentation ; 

 rather an awkward beginning for an inquiry into sup- 

 posed frauds, for the detection of which great skill and 

 knowledge were required, as well as a reputation upon 

 which even uncharitable persons would not dare to 

 breathe. 



For about four years this ft Analytical Sanitary Com- 

 mission " has been terrifying the public, and bullying 

 shopkeepers ; the latter, we have no doubt, in many 

 cases with very sufficient reason. The result is the 

 bulky volume before us, consisting of 659 pages of 

 closely-printed matter, and 159 woodcuts. Of their true 

 value as a whole it is beyond our power to make any- 

 thing like a complete report ; we can only say that 

 although there is no doubt about their general truth, 

 yet that where we have followed them, as in the case of 

 Coffee and Tobacco, they indicate but a slender know- 

 ledge of the subject ; and that in other instances, that 

 of water for example, they are extravagant exagge- 

 rations, not written in the spirit of fair inquiry, to say 

 nothing of science, but for the purpose ot astonishing 

 those readers of the Lancet who do not know how to 

 use a microscope, or who do not possess one. 



Undoubtedly there is an enormous amount of fraud 

 practised by the shopkeepers of this country, especially 

 upon^ the poor, and it is a good work to expose their 

 iniquity. Mr. Wakley, we will add, deserves our 

 thanks for boldly publishing the names of the delin- 

 quents, always supposing they were so, and holding them 

 up to reprobation ; for it is practically useless in this 

 country to charge any body of men with offences. 

 General allegations are inoperative, and besides there is 

 something cowardly in them ; it is only when 

 delinquents are personally exposed that the power of 

 criticism is felt and recognised. But the power thus 

 wielded is a terrible one ; and it is doubtful whether it 

 ought to be in the hands of unknown irresponsible per- 

 sons, screened by such high-sounding names as that of the 

 " Analytical Sanitary Commission of the Lancet J 9 which 

 turns out to be what our learned and gallant friends 

 across the Channel would call a mystification ; we shall 

 not translate the word into English. Such power is 

 very apt to be abused, accidentally if not intentionally, 

 and, unless we are much misinformed, it actually has 

 been by Dr. Hassall himself. But let that pass— all 

 men are liable to error. 



One would have imagined that the publication of these 

 papers in the columns of a weekly paper would have 

 been sufficient to give them publicity, especially when 

 that paper is the Lancet, having a very large profes- 

 sional circulation. And we should have been at a 

 loss to know what could have led to such crude 

 memoranda being collected, with little or no abridg- 

 ment, into a volume of between 600 and 700 pages, 

 more than one-half of which is irrelevant matter, 

 had we not read the preface and the dedication of the 

 work to Sir Benjamin Hall, the new President of the 

 newly constituted Board of Health. We now see that 

 Dr. Hassall is of opinion that a standing " Analytical 

 Sanitary Commission " ought to be appointed by Act of 

 Parliament, and that that part of the duties of the 

 Excise, which consists in prosecuting fraudulent dealers, 

 should be transferred to the new " Analytical Sanitary 

 Commission," which we suppose is to be again com- 

 posed of several gentlemen rolled into one, who is (are) 

 to relieve the most able and active Chairman of Inland 

 Revenue of one of the most important and delicate parts 

 of his administrative functions. In pronouncing upon 

 the necessity of this great reform in our institu- 

 tions, Dr. Hassall does not mince his words. On the 

 contrary, he calls the Excise a clumsy and inefficient as 

 well as expensive machine ; describes the methods at 

 present adopted by the Excise for detecting adultera- 

 tions as unworthy of the scientific character of the 

 times in which we live ; and unhesitatingly asserts that 

 it does not w sufficiently employ the resources of science 

 for the discovery of adulteration. They rely too 

 much," he adds, "upon the information of Excise 

 inspectors, and too little upon science, upon the 

 resources of chemistry, more particularly of organic 

 chemistry, and especially upon a knowledge of vegetable 

 structure as revealed to the competent observer by 

 means of the microscope." 



If the statements of the " Analytical Sanitary Com- 

 mission " are not more consistent with fact than this, 

 we can only say that a monstrous wrong has been done 

 to the dealers gibbeted in the Lancet. So far from 

 Dr. Hassall's reckless assertions being true, they are the 

 very reverse of the truth. Not to mention the well- 

 known very elaborate experiments upon malt, conducted 

 for the Board of Excise by the late lamented Dr. 

 Thomson, of Glasgow, or of the numerous cases 

 which have been carried to so successful an issue by 

 scientific witnesses that fraudulent dealers now rarely 

 venture to resist Excise prosecution, we have at this 

 moment before us an elaborate report upon a most im- 

 portant subject deeply affecting the public revenue, 



any one of the reports of the " Analytical Sanitary 

 Commission." 



But our learned and very disinterested author com- 

 plains that the Excise rely too much upon their inspec- 

 tors. Does he know who those inspectors are ? or 

 what their attainments ? If not, we can inform him that 

 they are able, active, and acute public officers; that 

 they understand their duties ; and that it is because of 

 their intelligence and acuteness that scientific witnesses, 

 —sometimes, we regret to say, untrustworthy witnesses — 

 have been so little employed of late. We should like 

 to see one of these most respectable officers placed in a 

 witness box, and immediately succeeded there by the 

 agent of the Lancet, if it were not that we should 

 regret to see any man exposed to so humiliating a 

 comparison. 



Instead of thinking it wrong to employ the Excise 

 inspectors in detecting fraud, we must take the liberty 

 of saying that they are in every way preferable to such 

 an irresponsible anonymous " Analytical Sanitary Com- 

 mission " as the Lancet got up. We think, moreover, 

 that the rule should be to rely upon their evidence, 

 calling in such an expensive machinery as scientific 

 assistance being the exception, to be applied only in 

 difficult cases. Everybody who knows anything knows 

 perfectly well that the Inland Revenue, of which the 

 Excise is a branch, if not the best of all our public 

 offices is at least second to none for honesty, activity, 

 knowledge, and thoroughly good organisation. Its 

 chairman is a man of perfect knowledge of the intricate 

 duties of his department, and of a firmness in the 

 administration of them only equalled by the courtesy 

 which attends it — most important qualifications in an 

 officer of Government called upon daily to enforce a 

 very unpopular though necessary branch of law ; and 

 we presume to add, at the risk of hurting the suscepti- 

 bilities of the "Analytical Sanitary Commission," that 

 to publish a huge 8vo, with no other apparent aim than 

 to persuade people to the contrary, is alike discreditable 

 to the good sense and good feeling of the author. 



which report is signed : 

 Dugald Campbell, 

 Wm. B. Carpenter, 

 Thomas Graham, 

 Does Dr. Hassall 



Jos. Dalton Hooker, 



John Lindley, 

 John Stenhouse. 





—we beg his pardon, does "The 

 Analytical Sanitary Commission " — mean to say that 

 these are names unknown in science ? or does he proclaim 

 that they do not move in the same orbit as himself ? If 

 that is the meaning of the ignorant cakimny just quoted, 

 we are ready to admit its truth ; for we w'ili undertake 

 to say that not one of these gentlemen would endorse 



Garden Memoranda. 



Horticultural Society's Garden, Turnham Green. 

 — The large Lcelia superbiens in the curvilinear stove 

 is now in full bloom, and an extremely striking object 

 it is, seven glorious flower-spikes with which it is 

 furnished being all at one time in the greatest possible 

 perfection. This fine plant has blossomed every winter 

 for these last seven years, and therefore its flowering 

 annually may henceforth be looked forward to with cer- 

 tainty. Those who wish to see it on this occasion should, 

 however, lose no time in doing so, as it will goon begin to 

 fade. It has already been in flower a fortnight The 

 noble specimen of Dendrobium speciosum which bloomed 

 so magnificently along with the above some two or 

 three years ago, is again showing flower ; but not near 

 so finely as on that occasion. Angnecum virens, Bar- 

 keria Skinneri, and a few other Orchids, are also at 

 present in blossom. 



Inside Ewing's glass walls, Chinese Primroses planted 

 out are now flowering as beautifully as they do in pots 

 in ordinary greenhouses. The only protection they 

 have had from the severity of the weather is the glass, 

 which makes their situation 2° warmer than the open 

 garden. It will thus be seen how hardy such plants are 

 when they can be kept comparatively dry. 



In the Rose house the plants have all been pruned ; 

 and, with a view to keep off mildew, they have been 

 liberally dusted with sulphur, first damping the shoots 

 and leaves to make it stick. The borders have also 

 been forked up and put in order for the winter. 



In the orchard house the raised beds on which the 

 Roses grew before they were transferred to the Rose 

 house, are now being levelled down and forked up 

 preparatory to setting fruit trees in pots on them. Of 

 the latter the Society has now a good collection, which 

 this year is to have a fair trial in this house. Even 

 Raspberries have been potted for the purpose of sharing 

 in the experiment. 



In the great conservatory the different Brugmansias 

 are again covered, as they nearly always are, with their 

 long, red, trumpet-shaped flowers ; but of all the plants 

 in this house, by far the greatest favourite, and justly 

 so, is the Luculia gratissima, which is at present finely 

 in blossom ; and even in this cool-house the large clus- 

 ters of delicate rose-coloured flowers which terminate 

 nearly every shoot emit a fragrance which quite loads 

 the air in their neighbourhood with sweetness. This is 

 a plant which no conservatory bed should be without. 

 All the care that it requires is merely to keep it clean, 

 and every year to remove as much of the exhausted 

 soil from the roots as possible without injuring or dis- 

 turbing them, and to replace it with fresh material ; but 

 even this attention is only needed after the plant has 

 stood for some years in the same place, and has begun 

 to show symptoms of want of vigour. Its flowers 

 being much prized for bouquets, subjects the plant to a 

 regular annual pruning, which, however, seems rather 

 to improve than injure it. 



Chimonanthus fragrans and grandiflorus are at present 

 in blossom on the conservative wall, where they are 

 matted up to keep the flow r ers from being spoiled by 

 exposure to the severity of the weather. The well 

 known fragrance of the blossoms of this plant we n$ed 

 not say renders it quite worthy of this attention. On 

 the same wall Jasminum nudiflorum is pushing forth a 

 few of its round yellow flowers, but it is only under 

 ! glass at this inclement season that they are developed in 

 perfection ; when this is afforded them they open in 



