bade THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE AND AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. [Jer 16, 1954 
the contr: rary, because things which h pointe late P 
confounded are not s0 easily sepan Te as hoe that Jd tepe] of "Botany i is Bs mos 
—— 
Hxxsrow | which it is calculated to impress, and the facilities ities 
Wiille e and | which it offers for Dr diagnosis, we shoulg 
nited e means of training the mind to those habits of | wish to see in the ery of every student an 
Such an opinion however rests on a vas "limited | | accurate observation, 1 methodical 
view of the proper scope a science. But, apart | classification ich are essential to 
whi a 
ome and | master gardener.* M. 
e medioal 
ag 
order rd demonstrat the impossibility of 
thing which w w forget tae 
as well Pile i see Pius ra a 
o 
from this, every opportunity of increased know- | man, an he ets in. no other be ay during 
ledge of plants in 1 the "different conditions under | his agens curri: ictlum," EN i at porary, in 
which they occur during a wide Pese pe are the advantages confined to any one 
range, and every experiment which is undertaken | Visiunawe but are alike important finie may | na 
with a view to ascertain the limits of species under | be the line which we may take; and in none we 
cultivation, tend to sho are far more ieve more importa to a ne 
ikely to err in the direction of hair-splitting than | ambition enough t e as a scientific 
of ill-advised union of i The interesting | cul or, in contradistinction e mere 
experiments which Monsieur DECATSNE—formerly| man of routine, or t e ion. Practice alone} 
it should be observed, a decided advocate for|will enable him to rec gnise in a 
se 
minute distinetions—lately undertook respecting | promising indi viduals, while he at once eun ie 
ies of h 
the species of the genus Pyrus, led to extreme up those which will yield only commo 
results, so extreme indeed that the angels | forms; practice will enable him to point out 
of science would almost fear to tread in| varieties which no botanist’s eye could readily 
his footsteps. ip eti Yirg: of "ons appreciate, but it will not lead him to see the teas | 
nurseryman, ap rom hybridising, show how| beatings of difficulties which meet him in the 
easily races, or, as ae are often called by fl ir course of his practice, and which can vey 
peculiar s pea d will arise under his albait, | and | con uered by powers of reasoning, which must 
we can scarcely deny that as great powers of|have previously received a fitting education, No 
elimin: tio * exist in Nature as red art. ads rule of thumb or light of Nature will avail him in| 
sal, haw and Rubus, is so Sia ite |eommon roa r: he Ny aen P^ kal to take the| 
reason, not to say common sense, that it musti wrong as the A person who cannot mus 
y 
indispose students, who should chanee to begin|see the drift ofi he attat by which it appears 
with them, to believe in botany as a science at all.jthat the Cedars of Lebanon, Atlas, and the 
r i i| 
Himala 
impossible for him to hit upon an i age species, is not likely to understand such "iura 
ayas, are really forms of one and the same | °™ 
characters stich as shall at once indicate 
species or even the section with anything mih: 
ing to certainty. The 36 species of Beinn sh Rubi} o 
are in our opinion quite enoug make most 
Tam etd botany to the dogs, anh in seek dud a Me e umber- 
more difficult departments of horticulture; and i in 
nsequence, since he must of wags A do some- 
3 o8 Y- 
of it. RIES, with all his acuteness, has gone, as|less cases ore the course of 
come 
we believe, too far in this direction, and we were correspondence, no Jess eat al for the error 
much a ergy in finding almost a confession to | the ey involve, than with which 
this effect in the part of his Monograph of|the examiner meets, as picea: in the article just 
medish aui just published. mentioned, under the prevalent system of botanical | 
the limits of species amongst the gi — 
bearing ong as as Mr. BERKELE 
etly d 
ay perhaps 
e an in almost any great a propensity = miting apria The only 
iu pite are so unstable amongst the | instance, however, i n which we should have any 
rittle Rnssule fragilan), that in ay doubt is the maion not Sedum MS hes bs 
few, and 
the 
sometimes TS =e perately mam to ati all have fave to Suit Y that he has mp groun inda fo for its 
Seeing that this path is merely subjective, and | opinion. Wi ou rec extensive tious pha it | 
s 
that man b les are reà alm 1 
obscured by intermediate forms, I have thought|through which e same A ee may pass, and in 
i e 
e forms as|S50 
specific which are most DM m recognised | been justified in guing sind ; i 
by most, while many ere nes have been| Without having recourse pee 
any amount of change ma 
ng ay pass 
abundant any species may be, and = pees rg "Or to take a British aee in its (ers 
otrabit. | 
The m 
— widely distributed, as a rule, the more nume- | soil, as, for pi Galeopsis T ave | finer than the Kew plant, owing, no doubt, 
s will be se eaution may bo sem a bed of it in Aberdeen ire, which a might! more favourable nature of the climate of 
taken from another passage of FRIES in the same | have afforded at least half a dozen quite as good | of 
work, at p. 183, ** Russula integra is extremely | species as are made out of Rosa canina or Rubus ane history, of this Palm is as follows. Travellers | 
variable, surpassing in the number of individuals xiu when the 1 
rs, On w. nt i ive ri Mr. dico "m hesitation | 7. 
to the proposition of many species. Students about dividing, where Nature really seems to 
à howover, e e very cautious, not only in the | suggest distinction. While Barbarea vulgaris, | Struck 
of ies in this direction, but | præcox, and stricta appear as one 
they pred its ts forms to those really definite, | europous is kept 
à e fér kinds,’ vespertina L. diurna. 
; strateg | experiment, has shown the 
la E British | SPecies known as = 
i se already V o: ed, has | While the sagacity ; 
nies hese remarks, io us to E agt tadivitonl pidan 
aban: reryitng eie diee E TH “Our FI Se nae i 
n avoids the most dangerous quicksands. The eapecially 
pc ea we 
boni? of voy a ings ap species efi 
spec 4 e ; the dissections, ER ME limited tremo wend Dod s Serin Physospermum 
i Lo 
thing, he is ee as cog ias take the wrong as the | si 
ber 
Y has well obsery Mr. B THAM Mm be charged with too of 
hroug 
But a visit to the Royal Gardens at Kew wil 
solve another problem—it will enable any onet 
se for hima elf th n Wer 
ee, may be made to 'grow owt of doors “on 
banks of the Thames.” Just inside the i 
ich 
winter months, and that 
all; 
| alight i protection is given more qe object of 
le Pes ad pee ves from being torn by tho 
ind, wa by the sov than as a 
safeguard against hii And we may add that : 
e most favourable ks in 
M 7 the Fr of 2 ms in the "a: air, so 
such a thing n: be done there, it can be dones - 
T | well, a n l 1 
ted the Chusan A yb eg 
eitia port ons of the coast of China were op% — 
to foreign sommer in 1842 and 1843, w » 
with t sual a hs dean arance of 
q| tees were not of that tropical kind which wee — 
to itt tropieal character to some portions of the sce 
— sufficient for the accurate determination of| has et many interestin ite as presenting the the yam. wrote? BdSbosxd 
unu : : 
actin of the country. The ordinary indigen™™ 
ma 
'oups of - 
Mod "Mim, which tended to give a kind 
sce! 
number, are admirable, an ot fail | ° Sotnubiense,  Ünidü ‘tuberd lia "erem, mop Fon E ead mw. an idea of the 
of great assistance in the eorrect appreciation Phyteuma spicatum, rur apak; L AEE ya ould Mea pa 
of the natural sto which the plants belong ; Renée Bupleurum falcat = | winter re i ES $^ rn 
and not to mention some peculiarly striking parts EA which affect only ^5 broad ofa Palm We i 
s the remarks on peli besides an spots, but are e {he plage for u 5 
valuable scattered rema divisions and} Plora which ‘existed when. island. and. contin 
diagnoses are so wall defined that they not | ere iie. instances where the limit exitii 
the ready determination o: 2» as 
ible to use them carefully | teres ee ken by Mr. 
Yp without cvalising something | society euch mations, whiohy, together with 
now s dpa as accurate definition of and fatailios, forms & 
us 
Rl 
Mr. DaRwtN speaks of thumb-eyed indi viduals. It should 
y nile. Cireng, dadia Stil 
used in that sense by weavers, 
work, { 
nua ing whieh for the gonndness of the views put 
of the 
Columbine Sine the Cader wond is cut 
