Foreign Notices : — Germany, India. 569 



varieties often reproduce themselves from seed and from new races. Thus' 

 the cabbage of M. Billandeau, being a variety of extraordinary height and size, 

 can, according to the course of things, reproduce seeds, perpetuate itself, and, 

 by the means of successive selections, constitute at last a permanent race. 

 (Rapport, fyc, p. 7.) 



These remarks are worthy the attention of the thinking gardener. It appears 

 to us, that it may be laid down as a general principle, that all varieties which 

 originate in seed will propagate themselves by seed to a certain extent, 

 whether they be annuals, perennials, or ligneous plants. Formerly it was 

 generally believed that the seeds of an apple would produce nothing but a 

 crab ; but now every one knows that the seeds of any particular variety of 

 apple will produce that variety ; perhaps with some slight variations, or, 

 perhaps, with one plant among many so far different as to constitute a new 

 variety or subvariety; for all varieties originate in sports. Thus, among 

 timber and ornamental trees, the seeds of the purple beech will produce 

 plants with leaves all more or less purple ; the cut-leaved common oak, and 

 the cut-leaved or eagle claw maple, reproduce themselves ; and we have no 

 doubt, if the weeping ash, which is a female plant, could be fecundated by a male 

 weeping ash, the produce would be chiefly weeping plants ; but there being no 

 weeping male, and the plants of the weeping ash, when they produce seeds, 

 having been of necessity fecundated by an upright-growing male, the produce is 

 partly weeping and partly upright. We found a proof of what we have stated 

 respecting the oak, in a nursery at Dumfries, in 1831, as mentioned in a former 

 volume ; and other instances will also be found recorded in this Magazine, 

 though we have not time at present to search for the references. These will be 

 found in the general index which we are now preparing for the fifteen volumes 

 of this work now nearly completed. — Cond. 



Varieties of the Vine. — For several years past the Linnean Society of 

 Bordeaux have been in possession of a field on the beautiful estate of Car- 

 bonnieux, belonging to two of its members, the Messrs. Bouchereau, for trying 

 experiments on the vine. The numerous varieties of the vine which are to be 

 found in this field proceeded at first from those which had been collected at 

 the Luxembourg at Paris, by the naturalist Bosc. They have since been con- 

 siderably increased by transmissions from all parts of the world where the vine 

 is cultivated. At the present moment, the Duke Decazes, who reestablished 

 the collection made by Bosc at the Luxembourg, has just ordered to be sent 

 to him by the French consul at Malaga, M. Denion, a package containing 16 

 cuttings, with pieces of the old wood attached (croissettes) of the most cele- 

 brated varieties of the vine in that country. (UE'cho, p. 23., Feb. 7. 1838.) 



GERMANY. 



Protea Mund'ii Klotzsch, in Garten Zeitung, 1838, p. 113., has flowered in 

 the Berlin Garden ; and a very beautiful figure of it, accompanied by a 

 description in German and English, has been distributed by M. Otto. Protect 

 MundM was raised from seeds received from the Cape of Good Hope in 1835; 

 but dried specimens had been sent many years previous to the Royal Prussian 

 Herbarium by the late Mr. Mund of the Cape, after whom the plant is 

 named. This species belongs to those proteas which frequently flower freely 

 the next year after sowing ; such as P. longiflora, compacta, mellifera, &c, 

 and therefore M. Otto strongly recommends it as an ornamental green-house 

 shrub. It grows to the height of 5 or 6 feet, but bears pruning well, and 

 may be kept as low as can be desired. It thrives in sandy peat, and may be 

 propagated by cuttings of the young wood in sand under a bell in the shade. 

 If not already introduced into England, it doubtless soon will be. — Cond. 



INDIA. 



The Botanic Garden at Calcutta, according to a writer in the Magazine o, 

 Natural History, vol. iii., new series, p. 304., is sunk into a state of rapid 

 decline. " While the home and local governments evince the greatest anxiety 

 to promote science and spread the light of knowledge over India, while 



Vol. XV. — No. 115. qq 



