70 Transactions of the Horticultural Society. 



The account of new varieties of nectarines, mentioned in 

 the title to the paper, merely refers to a remark, that good 

 varieties may be raised from seed, and that the president sent 

 to the secretary in the last autumn, " many new varieties of 

 nectarines, raised from seeds of the Elruge, and the pollen of 

 the early violet nectarine. They were the produce of buds, 

 inserted into the bearing branches of old peach and nectarine 

 trees, growing upon my walls, the original seedling trees 

 not having been retained' in my garden." The practical gar- 

 dener may observe the ingenuity of this mode, and the room 

 and trouble saved, by it: the first season of the growth of the 

 seedling, a bud is taken from it, and inserted in the branch of 

 any old tree, while the seedling itself is thrown away, and all 

 the labour that would have been required to raise it to a bear- 

 ing tree, wholly avoided. (SeeEncyc. of Gar d. $12014.) 



61. On a Hybrid Amaryllis produced between Amaryllis vittata, and 

 Amaryllis Regina-vittata. In a letter to the Secretary. By James 

 Robert Gowen, Esq. F.H.S. Read May 1. 1823. 



The production alluded to, is a splendid hybrid, which is 

 all we can say about it. Mr. Gowen thinks that the term 

 hybrid should be limited to such productions from cross 

 breeding as are sterile. When by the artificial union of two 

 distinct species of the same genus,, a progeny :. is raised capa- 

 ble of propagating itself by seed, he thinks the parent plants 

 have not been originally distinct species, but the offspring of 

 one species, which, being disseminated over extensive regions, 

 differing in elevation, temperature, soil, and humidity, have 

 assumed, in the course of ages, varied forms and colours of 

 leaves and corolla, constituting distinctions so striking as to be 

 rendered specific. He acknowledges however his doubt, as 

 to the law which governs these artifical productions. 



62. On the Cultivation of the Pine-Apple. In a letter to the Secre- 

 tary. By Mr. Alexander Stewart, Gardener to Sir Robert 

 Preston, Bart, at Valleyfield, near Gulross, Perthshire. Read 

 Dec. 2. 1823. 



The culture of the pine-apple, is by no means so well un- 

 derstood in Scotland as in England ; the plants are kept in too 

 dry an atmosphere generally, and not allowed sufficient heat 

 and moisture in the summer season. Early in 1820, Mr. 

 Stewart felt very desirous to grow pines without the aid of 

 tan, and with more steam than he had hitherto been able 



