.February 3, 18G3. ] 



JOURN'AL OF HORTICULTURE ASD COTTAGE GARDENER. 



03 



'bedding plants in tolerable order ; but annuals were the most 

 gay at the beginning of October. It ought also to be mentioned, 

 that a bronze statue, said to be of great merit, of General Have- 

 lock, whom Sunderland claimed as a townsman, occupies the 

 highest part of the ground ; near this is also one of those 

 trophies so often met with in towns of less note — viz., a Russian 

 gun. The Havelock monument is, however, well placed, and is 

 said to be a good likeness of the hero, and the view from its base 

 is very fine. A forest of masts is seen over the tops of the houses 

 in the foreground — further off the glittering ocean, dotted here 

 and there with specks of human handicraft slowly making their 

 way to their destined port ; and the town itself, though less 

 ornamented with church-spires and monuments than some of 

 more ancient date, is seen to possess few of the dirty narrow 

 lanes and slums which disgrace so many cities of more renown. 

 A peep at another public work will show that mere utility need 

 not necessarily banish the beautiful, for in this both are combined. 



Sitxdeklaud Watebwobks. — It is not usual that this class 

 of undertakings is in any way connected with gardening matters, 

 but the managers in this ease have given their works such an 

 ornamental character in the gardening way as to entitle them to 

 notice — in fact, the floral beauties and good-keeping of the place 

 make it a fashionable resort for those who do not object to a 

 walk of a mile and a half from the town, and that mostly up-hill, 

 for the waterworks are on very elevated ground, commanding the 

 highest buildings in it. The salubrity of the air is great as well 

 as the excellence of the water, to obtain which a steam-engine 

 is at work lifting one hundred gallons each'stroke, and that 

 twelve times a-minute, and yet the noise is little, and of dirt there 

 seems none. Yery large basins of the'erystal fluid, in which very 

 small objects may be seen 12 feet deep, are surrounded with 

 terraced walks, and these are bordered with turf edging kept scru- 

 pulously r.eat, while the vacant ground is carved out into slopes, 

 ffower-beds, and borders, with groups of trees near the entrance. 



Near one of the boundary-walls, which was covered with 

 Roses and some Ivy, were groups of the most fashionable bed- 

 ding plants of the day. Petunias seemed to do better than 

 near London ; Lobelia speciosa was flowering very well ; while 

 Geraniums, Verbenas, Ageratums, and Calceolarias were pretty 

 good ; and Gazanias remarkably so. Amongst annuals were 

 Saponaria, Asters, Stocks, Phlox Drummondi, Mignonette, and 

 Erench and African Marigolds, with some few patches of Gladio- 

 lus, all in good keeping ; and in an out-of-the-way corner I 

 noticed soma common Primroses bedded-in under trees, doubt- 

 less to be brought forth for winter decoration. Amongst shrubs 

 were some rather promising Yews and Ilexes, and the excellent 

 keeping of the whole reflected great credit on all concerned. 

 To my mind the raising of 1200 gallons of the purest water 

 per minute from the bowels of the earth was not the least 

 imposing feature, and the machinery seemed neither bulky nor 

 noisy. The Directors in making their grounds so ornamental 

 deserve the thanks of all, and it is to be hoped they will derive 

 other and more substantial advantages as well. J. Robson. 



YINDICATTON OF GARTNEE— EFFECT OF 

 CROSSING PEAS. 



Ix my last communication I said that Gartner had proved 

 that the colour of the Pea in one variety of the garden Pea may 

 be changed by the direct action of the pollen of another dif- 

 ferently-coloured variety. Mr. Beaton authoritatively remarks 

 on this: " Gartner never found that— he only asserted it ; and 

 when he was pushed to the proof he lowered his sails, made a 

 second edition of his great work, and confessed many of his 

 errors." He adds, " No cross-breeder of any practice in England 

 at the present day would like to have his name associated with 

 that of Gartner for or against any exploit in crossing." 



I should have taken no notice of this, although I should be 

 sorry to lie under the imputation of having made an entirely 

 incorrect statement, and although it is not pleasant to be flatly 

 contradicted ; but I wish much to be allowed to endeavour to 

 vindicate the memory of one of the most laborious lovers of 

 truth who ever lived. It is painful to see a long life of honest 

 labour repaid by contumely from a fellow-experimentahst, who, 

 I suppose — anyhow I hope — never read one page of the great 

 original work — namely, the " Bastarderzeugung," published in 

 1849, a mine of wealth to all who will explore it. 



Gartner, when young, and at the very commencement of 

 his long work, committed a very foolish action ; he crossed a 



number of plants belonging to distinct genera without having 

 taken due precaution to exclude insects, and when he found 

 their capsules full of seed, he thought that he had succeeded in 

 crossing them. With the enthusiasm of a beginner he most 

 unwisely published the result, and to this first paper Dr. Herbert 

 has alluded witli proper blame. When Gartner found his seed- 

 lings came up pure, he, like an honest and excellent man (as all 

 who knew anything of his life will admit that he was), publicly 

 confessed his error. 



Gartner's great and last work, entitled " Yersuche fiber die 

 Bastarderzeugung," contains in 790 closely-printed pages the 

 detailed results of nine thousand distinct experiments in cross- 

 ing, together with admirable observations on the whole subject 

 of hybridisation. This is a greater number of experiments than, 

 as I believe, have ever been published by any other man, even 

 by Kolreuter, and a far greater number than those published by 

 Dr. Herbert, One great superiority in Gartner's work over 

 those of Kolreuter, Herbert, and others consists in his having 

 actually taken the trouble to count the seeds in the capsules of 

 every cross and hybrid which he made. He kept an exact 

 record at the time of making each experiment ; and this I have 

 reason to believe was not done by Herbert, and certainly has 

 been very far from the case with other English experimentalists. 



I cannot resist here mentioning — as some who honour, as I 

 do, the memory of Dr. Herbert, might like to hear the fact — that 

 I have reason to believe that the last words ever uttered by 

 Herbert were on his favourite subject of crossing. I called on 

 him in London, and saw that he was very feeble. I wished to 

 leave him, but he stopped me, and talked with much interest on 

 this subject. An hour or two afterwards, as far as I could judge 

 by the published account, he was found dead in the chair in 

 which I left him. 



But to return to the Pea-question. An account of the various 

 crosses made by Gartner (he selected the most constant varie- 

 ties) between differently coloured Peaa, with the results given in 

 detail, will be found at page 81 to 85 in his " Bastarderzeugung." 

 Gartner was led to try these experiments from doubting the 

 accuracy of Wiegmann's statements, and he found many of them 

 incorrect ; but he was compelled to believe in the Pea case ; not 

 that Peas can be crossed with Yetches, to which other state- 

 ment of Wiegmann Mr. Beaton alludes. I may add that Gartner 

 knew of the account, published in vol. v., pages 234, 237 of the 

 " Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London," on the 

 influence of pollen on Peas. In an old volume of the " Philo- 

 sophical Transactions," vol. xliii., page 525, there is a full ac- 

 count, with every appearance of truth, of Peas in adjoining 

 rows affecting each other. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley has, as I 

 have been informed, subsequently to the publication of Gart- 

 ner's book, tried again the Pea-experiment with the same result. 

 — Chaeles Dabw"I]s', Down, Bromley, Kent. 



GOOD-GEACIOUS PANSY. 



We observed in your issue of 20th inst., a letter of protest 

 againBt the name given to the Double Pansy now offered for sale 

 by us, and we shall feel greatly obliged if you will insert the 

 following in reply. 



The plant was submitted to the notice of Mr. Beaton, and 

 spoken of by him in No. 66 of your Journal, page 248, under 

 the name of " Good-Gracious " as follows : — 



"The 'Good-Gracious' Double Bedding Pansy was sent in 

 the name of Messrs. Carter & Co., and had a first-class certificate 

 from a flying quorum of the Floral Committee, for they all 

 seemed on the wing ; but besides the Sub-Committee, who were 

 appointed to do the honours of the Summer Shows, there were 

 the Chairman, J. J. Blandy, Esq., and the Rev. J. Dix, who take 

 the Chair in turns ; the Secretary, Mr. Moore, and a lot of us ; 

 and we were unanimous in the award. Many ladies also seconded 

 our resolve ; and you may expect it next spring as cheap as it is 

 good. But I have not yet had its genealogy, further than that 

 it is a Devonian. — D. Beaton." 



When we gave the plant the name of "Princess Alexandra," 

 we had forgotten that Mr. Beaton had already introduced it to 

 the notice of the public in the pages of your Journal under the 

 name " Good-Gracious j" and not wishing to confuse the public 

 by offering the same plant under different names, we of course 

 reverted to its originally-published cognomen. We do not, 

 however, wish it to be inferred from the foregoing observations 

 that we agree with your correspondent's opinion, and desire to 



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