140 
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. 2 Ay Aa a ia which it is 
mates. Editor will ame receive and select 
hotographs or drawings, switable for in these 
— of gardens, or of remarkable plants, flowers, trees, 
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Jor publication, as well as specimens and oe for naming, 
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APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK, 
MEETINGS. 
THURSDAY, FEB, 7—Linnean Soc ety. 
Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. 
FRIDAY, Fun. 8} General Meeting. $ y 
SALES. 
Hardy Perennials, Carnations, Iris, 
MONDAY, FEB, f Ko., at Protheroe & Morris’ 
Rooms. 
Lin, Palm Sie 8 
WEDNESDAY, ven, 01 Ren a „ at Protheroe & Morris’ 
Great Sale of Orchids, from Messrs, 
FRIDAY, ra F. Sander & Co., at Protheroe 
& Morris’ Rooms. 
CORR D 1 
ING WEEK, DEDUCED FROM THE OBSERVATIONS 
OF FORTY- YEARS, AT CHISWICK.—39°.2, 
Tax proposal to form a Cactus 
1 Society, mooted in July last at the 
Royal Horticultural Society, is 
taking sha Tis promoters say that C 
growers ae as much right to a society of their 
own as the growers and fanciers of Roses, 
Dahlias, Chrysanthemums, Tulips, or Carnations, 
k 
tained a superb collection of these, and the 
Sucoulent-house has, for the real lover of plants, 
an interest not inferior to, and, in some respects, 
considerably superior to, that of any other 
ent y our famous garden. As C 
and like plants are of necessity Poorly repre- 
sented in the herbarium, it is the more eg 
to grow as many tative specimens 
Possible in order that something may be 3 
THE GARDENERS’ 
ot only to show which are the most worthy of 
oultivation for their beauty or interest, but also 
in order that some clue may be fur nished for 
the disentanglement of the appallingly confused 
nomenclature, The difficulty, and, in some cases, 
the impossibility; of securing specimens for pre- 
servation and reference, is at the root of this 
2 confusion that may in part, 
as have said, be removed the 
sa of these plants under cultivation. 
Specialisation, decentralisation, and division of 
labour are characteristic of the age in which we 
are living and working, and of course there is 
much to be said in favour of these procedures. 
But we think it will be universally admitted that 
a man should be a gardener or a botanist first, 
ia a specialist When he has 
obtained a ge grasp of the principles of his 
art or of his science, then, and not till then, 
can he specialise with advantage. It is this feeling 
that makes us lament the undue multiplication 
of special societies, and the frittering away of 
energy and the waste of money that they entail. 
If the object is purely a mercantile one, or if it 
is one only to gratify individual tastes and fancies, 
to provide recreation, and satisfy the love of sport 
and the interest in a fair fight, which are said 
to be innate in Englishmen, then there is 
nothing more to be said. If people like to com- 
bine the more effectually to carry out their 
desires in these directions, by all means Jet them 
do so. But most if not all these societies at least 
profess higher, more useful, and less selfish 
aims—-aims akin to those that actuate the 
leading society of the nation. We would, there- 
fore, suggest to the promoters of the Cactus 
Society, if they have really the higher aims they 
profess, that they should avail themselves of the 
organisation of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
rather than form one more society, 
The relation of the special societies to the 
Royal Horticultural Society should be like that 
of the colonies tothe home country. Each would 
benefit — association with the other, but each 
would be independent in its own sphere. The 
Royal Horticultural = taught by former 
experience, would n it did in former days, 
ignore these minor permen and thereby “ lose 
its America,” but put itself at their head, admit 
their representatives to its Council, 2 5 weld 
them into an imperial organisation, in rade each 
department would have full independence con- 
sistent with the security of the central organisa- 
tion. Surely the results would be better than 
those obtained by splitting the horticultural 
community into a dozen or more sections, 
Ot the Royal Horticultural Society should fail 
in its duty in this matter, then the Cactus Society 
sal no doubt, go on its own way, and, in view 
of the absorbing interest ae to — 3 
we should wish it every success, s 
presume, would be taken in a Sevag 
include succulent ae in — 
of the proposed Societ 
To increase the bake e of t 
and beautiful family of the air uba. i 
a a its culture, 1 
o bring collectors together, and afford facili- 
bie sega and serene: of the more rare 
x a meetings and lectures, 
vind Argel Pend and exhibition, when 
By the pli, 1 cates would be awarded, 
possible, of articles and 
in a a to be issued 
8,” 
sense w 
The objects 
experie 
Periodically by eap Soo 
interested in pik matte 
to Enxner B. r should apply 
28, Port way, Frome aa PMAN, Esq., F. R. H. S., 
CHRONICLE. 
[Feprvary 2, 1895, 
On obtaini Tus subject, to which we have 
Hybrids w already referred, but which 
afting. worthy of more extended notice, 
was among the last communications presented to 
the French Académie des Sciences, by Professor 
DucHARTRE, whose death Horticulture has re- 
cently had to deplore; and one M. Lucey 
DANIEL relating to the creation of new varieties 
by means of the graft 
Is it possible, asks M. DANIEL, to obtain ney 
grafted 
plants? he answers that, although the 
subject is an old one, no precise or satisfactory 
explanation has yet been given, owing perhaps 
to the fact that it has been investigated mainly 
in connection with trees, the growth of whos 
eeds into mature plants takes so long that 
human life is almost too short to permit the 
deduction of conclusive results, 
making experiments on annuals and 
biennials, and grafting various alimentary plants, 
M. Dante has shown that the period neces- 
sary for the due observation of the effect of 
grafting may be so shortened that it is possible 
to obtain results, as well from a practical as 
from a theoretical point of view, which are of 
the highest importance to Horticulture, 
A detailed account of his investigations are 
contained in the Comptes Rendus, where it is 
stated that the problem presents three solt- 
tions :—(1) The young plant grown from sed 
produced by grafted individuals may tend to 
revert to the wild type, in which case no useful 
practical results would follow ; or (2), the young, 
plant may retain the anoostral characters of the 
E 
by other means; or (3), the scion—alte 
form and Savour by a more or less leng t 
those which wo 
normal concise ties endow its se 
new qualities which will themselves bo trant 
mitted to the offspring. 7 
A new field of research would in this anid 
open to horticulturists, viz. ” the possi of 
creating varied types eee qualities derived 
both from the scion and from the stock. be 
n 
n 
names of 
* 
M. DANIEL grafted the — on Sisymbrin 
Alliaria, a wild cruciferous plant common 1 
hedgerows throughout temperate Europe 
England it is known under the various names %- 
Mustard, Sauce alone, and bee, 
edge—he obtained plants which 
marked reversion to the wild type. 
of S. Alliaria and seeds produced by 8. 
grafted on the Cab 
beds, the former naturally 
with a less marked smell of Garlic, bu “a * i 
bining with it something of the ode . 
Modifications from the wild be oe „ . 
lignified, their soft medullary tissue as aul 
thickened, their vasoular cylinder was i 
dimensions, and their liber was much m 
loped, The stems had also less fib 
consequently wers more tender} 
