34 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 11, 1S72. 



the theories I have founded upon them, did time admit of my 

 going farther into detail. I would observe that I have purposely 

 quoted the results of crossings which produced varieties that 

 have been sent out by Mr. W. Paul, that they might, if desired, 

 he referred to, and compared with their parents. 



A close analogy seems to me to exist between the vegetable 

 and the animal kingdoms as regards the ill effects produced by 

 breeding in-and-in, and the good resulting from crossing oppo- 

 sites, for I find it to be necessary for the maintenance of im- 

 provement in the flower and the constitution of my seedlings, 

 to introduce fresh varieties to breed from annually ; and I find 

 that crossing two flowers of the finest qualities does not produce 

 such satisfactory results as where one of much inferior quality 

 is employed. Of course it will be inferred from my previous 

 observations that I use the superior-quality flower as pollen 

 parent. 



I am of opinion that the decadence in many of our old florists' 

 flowers is owing to their having been bred in-and-in, and from 

 the repeated crossing of flowers of a precisely similar strain and 

 qualities, with the object (and probably supposed only means) of 

 reproducing flowers possessing certain peculiarities in markings, 

 or form, in accordance with the rigid rules prescribed for these 

 flowers. 



As regards the condition of the atmosphere that favours the 

 effecting of difficult crosses, it would be no easy matter to note 

 with any degree of certainty the precise period of each suc- 

 cessful attempt, nor the precise condition of the atmosphere at 

 the time ; we read of special crosses having been effected under 

 certain conditions of it, but I have never seen it specified what 

 these conditions were. My experience indicates that bright 

 clear weather, and the hours of sunshine, are conducive to 

 fecundation. 



I have alluded to the antipathies and affinities we find to exist, 

 without any explicable cause ; for instance, I have found it im- 

 possible to fertilise three or four varieties of the scarlet Pelar- 

 gonium — viz., the Duke of Cornwall, Dr. Muret, Beaute de 

 Suresnes, and all that section of the doubles which sprang from 

 Beaute de Suresnes, which to all appearance are mere varieties 

 of the Zonal section, save with one another ; and, showing the 

 existence of affinity between what are supposed to be distinct 

 species, I have fertilised without much difficulty a variety 

 (peltatum elegans) of the Ivy-leaved section by the pollen of the 

 Zonal. 



I have also alluded to the possible difference in the respective 

 influence of the parents in true hybridisation. Upon this point 

 I have not sufficient evidence to form a fair opinion ; but cer- 

 tainly in the seedlings I have raised between the Ivy -leaved and 

 the Zonal sections, their foliage (with the exception of some dis- 

 tinctive evidence of their being hybrids) resembles almost 

 entirely that of their mother, which you will observe is the 

 reverse of my experience of the results produced between 

 varieties. 



Much has been written and said upon the difference in the 

 quality and powers of the pollen of the short stamens ; and if the 

 supposed difference really does exist, it is a matter of consider- 

 able practical importance, and one worthy of further scientific 

 investigation; but my experiments have hitherto failed to 

 satisfy me of their possessing any difference. 



In an admirable article upon hybridisation, written by Isaac 

 Anderson-Henry, Esq. (and which at different periods has 

 appeared in nearly all the horticultural journals), he says, " that, 

 owing to the granules of the short stamens being smaller than 

 those of the long ones, they can the more easily descend the 

 tubules leading from the stigma to the ovaries, and consequently 

 facilitate the crossing of a large-flowered variety, or species, upon 

 a smaller one." 



I have not been able to detect this difference in size, although 

 I have many times placed the granules of the long and short 

 stamens side by side under a powerful microscope ; nor, I 

 believe, is it the opinion of physiologists of the present day that 

 they do descend these tubules at all — in fact it has been shown 

 that they send down filaments through them to the ovules. 



The arrangement of the anthers upon filaments of different 

 lengths looks to me like a provision to ensure all parts of the 

 body and legs of the insect coming into contact with the pollen 

 as it passes down the flower to obtain the nectar, thereby render- 

 ing the fertilisation of the next flower it visits the more certain. 



The visible effects of impregnation are frequently manifested 

 with a rapidity almost equalling that of an electrical pheno- 

 menon. I have observed the petals of the Pelargonium which, 

 before impregnation, were quite firm, to fall within a few seconds 

 of the application of the pollen to the stigma — a result due, I 

 conclude, either to the immediate diversion of nourishment from 

 the then superfluous part of the flower to the organs of genera- 

 tion, or to the existence in the vegetable kingdom of a power 

 analogous to the nervous in the animal, but of which we are as 

 yet in total ignorance. 



Lastly, I would remark that, to enable reliable conclusions to 

 be drawn upon any of these points, we require an accumulation 

 of data derived from the careful observation of very many un- 



biassed workers, whose results have been obtained from experi- 

 ments conducted with scientific precision upon all our flowers 

 and fruits. 



Such an accumulation of recorded facts, if they could be 

 obtained, would prove a source of the greatest interest to the 

 philosopher, by then: tendency to throw some light upon the 

 working of Nature's laws, and could not but afford most valuable 

 information for the guidance of the practical horticulturist; and 

 moreover, by freeing horticulture from all empiricism, place it hi 

 its true and legitimate position among the modern sciences. 



GKAFTING.— No. 9. 

 Grafting in a Single Cleft. — We have here a stock [fig. 1, a) 

 of medium size, which we cut obliquely at e, the top, c, of 



the cut being smoothed horizontally ; then with the point of 

 the knife make a vertical split, D, to correspond in length 

 with the cut on the scion, and in such a manner that it will 

 not extend to the opposite side of the stock. When the cleft 

 is made with the instrument in one hand, take the scion e in 

 the other, and there insert it by the upper opening, pushing it 

 down according as the cleft opens (Jig. 2), and withdrawing: 

 the knife as soon as the scion has attained its proper position. 

 The cut of the scion f, when inserted at g, must have its bark 

 coinciding with that of the stock, without any unevenness. If 

 the stem has a thick bark the scion is to be slightly inclined 

 in the cleft, the top being a little inwards and the base out- 

 wards, so as to secure some point of contact between the liber 

 and alburnum of the two parts, for the union is formed by 

 these, and not by the external layers of the bark. 



Grafting in a Double Cleft. — The stock (a, fig. 3) being: 

 larger will receive two grafts. The cut e is horizontal, and 

 we cut the stock diagonally at c either by 

 pressing down the knife with both hands 

 perpendicularly, or, if the wood is too hard, 

 striking it with a small mallet. The grafts 

 are placed one by one in the mouth, or in a 

 vessel containing fresh moss. When the 

 cleft is two-thirds made, draw out the 

 knife on one side, so that the cleft shall 

 be kept open, place a scion, d, at the other 

 side, and using the blade of the knife as a. 

 lever, the scion will be easily inserted in its 

 place. The insertion of the other scion is 

 not more difficult ; perhaps it may be again 

 necessary to place the blade of the knife in 

 the centre of the cleft c, in order to force 

 it open a little, so as the more easily to ad- 

 rig ' 8- mit the second scion. If there is any 



danger of breaking the knife by using it in this way, a small 

 boxwood wedge may be put into the centre of the cleft instead. 

 The two scions can then be put in without making the cleft 

 larger. Tying and the application of grafting-wax are likewise 

 necessary. — Baltet, L'Art de Grejfer. 



Opium. — The cultivation of the Poppy in France is steadily 

 increasing, and it now occupies about 50,000 acres, of the value 

 of 4,500,000 francs, yielding opium to the value of 2,000,000 



