Retrospective Criticism. 323 



with 9 petals. — 2. " Crocus pleno aureo flore striate," witli 10 petals. And 

 in Hill's Garden of Eden, pi. 23., is a figure of the " double golden crocus," 

 with 10 petals. It must be remai'ked, however, that the above crocuses figured 

 by Pass and Hill appear to be nothing more than common crocuses, with an 

 accidental increase in the number of petals, and can scarcely be called double 

 flowers. In Holland, I understand, it is not at all uncommon for the crocus 

 to throw out a greater number than 6 petals ; but I cannot learn that really 

 double crocuses are known there. This increase in the number of petals fre- 

 quently occurs in tulips ; and, in the instances which have come under mj' own 

 observation, the flowers have invariably returned to their natural state the 

 following season. — Oileus abscissus. March, 31. 1835. 



Flower'mg Tropical Plants, (p. 19.) — E. B. seems convinced that the 

 success he had in flowering these plants arises from the main stem of the 

 plant being elongated by the repeated cutting of the extreme shoot, and by 

 striking the same until it arrives about the height or length that it flov/ers at 

 in its native country. I have no doubt that E. B. has been successful in 

 flowering the plants mentioned, but I should be inclined to attribute it to a 

 different cause : indeed, I am quite convinced that it does not arise from the 

 cause to which E. B. attributes it, though he may feel quite satisfied with the 

 accuracy of his statement. If it is so, I think it will be something new started 

 in vegetable physiology, and that it is well worth the trouble of those that are 

 fond of the study to investigate it. 



It is well known to horticulturists, that wholesome checks, as I may term 

 them, are often necessary towards the flowering and fruiting of plants; and I 

 should attribute the flowering of the plants under E. B's care to the repeated 

 checks they must have had from striking. It is well known that cuttings or 

 layers flower much sooner than plants reared from seed ; and other causes may 

 produce the same effect, such as stopping the supplies, by reducing the quality 

 and quantity of food, or by changing the temperature, and cutting the roots. 

 Hence both practices have, in many instances, been adopted with great suc- 

 cess; for, as the spongioles, which take up the food of pfants in a liquid state, 

 are fed more sparingly, the sap flows less rapidlj^ through the woody fibre ; the 

 young shoot by degrees ceases to lengthen, and the sap, which is considerably 

 reduced, is employed in swelling and ripening the young shoots and buds, 

 and converting them into flower buds in place of shoots and leaves. The 

 extreme of every thing is bad, and poor stunted plants, if checked too severely, 

 produce no perfect, or at least only sicklj', flowers ; but strong luxuriant plants, 

 if not checked, generally produce only shoots and leaves. 



All plants and trees may be propagated either naturally or artificially : the 

 natural way is by seeds, suckers, runners, tubers, or bulbs ; the artificial, by 

 cuttings, layers, &c. ; plants raised by the latter systems produce flowers sooner, 

 and they vary not from the mother plant : in fact, they continue the same, 

 though without deriving any longer any advantage whatever from it. When 

 the connexion between a sucker or layer and the mother plant has ceased ; 

 the former throws out its fibres in search of food, and grows more or less 

 vigorously, and flowers more or less freely, according to the nourishment 

 it receives. 



Plants, says E. B., " struck from cuttings taken from the flowering branches, 

 generally flowered at a small size." By the hypothesis which E. B. advances, 

 we may expect to see, at no very distant period, the giant trees of America, of 

 India, and New Holland, converted into mere dwarfs. — A. C. Staffordshire, 

 Ajiril 9. 1835. 



Destroying the Scale on Pines, (p. 186.) — If I. B. W. will refer to V. 430, 

 431., he will find that the same ingredients and method of application which 

 he recommends for the destruction of the scale was practised by me, with 

 complete success, eighteen years ago, and without the trouble of brushing the 

 leaves to remove the insects (so much insisted on by him) ; neither had I 

 occasion to repeat the process. — James DalL Wimpole Gardens, April 

 6. 1835. 



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