July i, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



11 



day, were Monsieur Noman (especially fine), Baroness de Roths- 

 child, Marie Bauniann, which "was shown good in nearly every 

 stand ; John Hopper and Charles Lefebvre as "usual very good, 

 and Alfred Colomb, good hut not quite up to the mark of last year; 

 Henri Ledechaux in some instances very fine and greatly im- 

 proving ; Dupuy Jamain, as shown by Mr. Cant, splendid ; 

 Xavier Olibo, Francois Louvat, Pitord, and Pierre Notting all 

 better than usual, and we may say the same of Prince Camille 

 de Rohan. Weather without much sun suits all dark Roses 

 with shades of purple. Louis Van Houtte, Countess of Oxford, 

 Mdlle. Eugenie Verdier, La France, Madame Caillat, Marquise 

 <de Mortemart, a beautiful colour but rather too flat ; Beauty of 

 Walthani, Duke of Edinburgh, Marguerite de St. Amand, 

 Princess Mary of Cambridge, Berthe Baron, Abel Grand, the last 

 four shading into each other with very slight though appre- 

 ciable differences. On the whole we may congratulate the donors 

 of the 4105 on the very interesting boxes of Roses brought 

 together for competition, and hope that a supplementary Rose 

 Show for the shilling days may always form part of the pro- 

 gEamimie of the Royal Horticultural Society's provincial shows. 



HOETICULTUBAi CONGEE SS.— June 26th and 27th. 



At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 26th ult., a Congress 

 Tvas held in the large luncheon tent near the entrance, at 

 , <which there was a fair attendance. Mr. A. Murray presided. 



Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyeb, B.A., B.Sc, F.L.S., Professor 

 of Botany to the Royal Horticultural Society, read a paper " On 

 Some Points connected with the Scientific Side of Horticul- 

 ture." He said practical horticulturists might do immense 

 service to science by carefully recording facts which came 

 to their notice. As examples, he would call attention to Dr. 

 Denny's paper on the relative influence of parentage in flower- 

 ing plants. He alluded to the direct influence of the pollen 

 upon the female plant fertilised, which had been apparently 

 established in some rare cases by the results of Maximowicz 

 and Anderson-Henry, and devoted some attention to the inquiry 

 of Von Welwitsch. With regard to plant-nomenclature, he 

 was of opinion that it required some common understanding 

 between botanists and horticulturists. It would be very desir- 

 able to observe De Candolle's law as to species and varieties 

 which occurred spontaneously in nature. Meteorology was a 

 science far from yielding the practical results that could be de- 

 sired from it. He must hope for improved methods for predict- 

 ing weather, and for obviating its effects. As a practical point, 

 a dry state of the atmosphere in spring was likely to be followed 

 by frost. General Pleasanton's paper on " The Influence of Blue 

 Light " was adverted to, and the conclusion arrived at was that 

 4he character of the views discussed in his memoir were alto- 

 gether out of accord with the results at present observed in vege- 

 table physiology. 



Dr. Hinds, Professor of Botany at Queen's CoUege next read 

 an able and interesting paper on '.' The Botany of the Neigh- 

 bourhood of Birmingham." He said he proposed to endeavour 

 to convey some general idea of the flora of the district around 

 Birmingham, and to make a few remarks on certain conditions 

 of the atmosphere of this large town and district, and on the in- 

 fluence of that atmosphere on surrounding vegetation. There 

 was close to the town the park of Edgbaston, where many of the 

 forest trees are noble specimens of their class. In and near the 

 park there were specimens of the two Chestnuts, Oak, Sycamore, 

 and others, truly noble and magnificent, and a successful gene- 

 ral vegetation. The park at Perry Barr, or rather the ancient 

 domain of the Scott family, presents specimens also of noble 

 trees, and a most luxuriant general flora. About Barr and Perry 

 Barr, and on the road between here and the western boundary of 

 Sutton Park, are some of the noblest Beeches which the eye 

 would wish to rest on. In the north-western' neighbourhood are 

 a series of associated localities, excited, busy, and prolific beyond 

 conception, and known by the delightful cognomen of the Black 

 Country. Black, indeed, was the locality, and its blackness 

 consisted not entirely in its smoky atmosphere, though there 

 was a fair supply of that ingredient. The ground was covered 

 in every direction, though not with grass, and buttercups, and 

 daisies, and trees and hedges, but with clay and cinders, and 

 refuse coal dust. Hills and mounds of sometimes incandescent 

 residues of iron furnaces, and yawning chasms and mouths 

 leading down to villages and communities, and miles of space 

 buried almost hundreds and hundreds of feet beneath the sur- 

 face, met the visitor on every hand. Close in the vicinity, how- 

 ever^ of much of this there were now and then to be seen fields 

 of Wheat, which, though a little grimj-, seemed to enjoy almost 

 as sturdy a life as some of the rough-and-ready denizens of the 

 district. How was it that plants could live at all in such locali- 

 ties as this ? The reply was that the country around was simply 

 denuded of its normal surface by the mining operations. One 

 of the finest and most productive of the botanical stations of 

 this district is, unquestionably, Sutton Park. It is composed of 

 a mixture of woodland, heathy upland, bog, and lake. It is wild 

 enough in some parts, and has an area of more than 3QQ0 acres. 

 The lake and the woodlands are variously disposed, divided, 



and distributed. It must have been visited by wanderers 

 amongst its scenery to the extent of hundreds of thousands, 

 and yet there are many nooks and spots where nature seems to 

 revel in all the luxuriance of the supremest solitude. Some of 

 these solitary nooks seem indeed hardly to have been visited 

 or trod by man or woman, and yet Sutton Park was accessible 

 to every man, woman, and child whose moderate resources en- 

 abled him or her to arrive at the confines with the residue of 

 one penny to pay for admission. With all this, then, it might 

 be that even here in some spot, 



" Full many a flower is bom to blush unseen," 

 Sutton Park was now in tears — not tears of joy, nor even tears 

 of sorrow for great misfortune, but tears of apprehension. Its 

 sacred precincts had been threatened with invasion by the rest- 

 less and energetic instincts of railway speculation. It is yet 

 intact absolutely, though our worst fears for its safety and pre- 

 servation are excited. Had he more time at his disposal, he 

 might possibly have been able to say something of the low-lying 

 district to the east of Birmingham — a watery district, and 

 afflicted, too, by something in excess far less agreeable— he 

 meant the sewage of this great town. He left all that to the 

 work and wisdom of the aldermen and the socialist, and to those 

 in the vicinity, who must be made unhappy by the very con- 

 templation of it. Within a radius of ten miles there was a 

 varied flora numbering 729 species. 



With regard to the relation a city atmosphere holds with 

 respect to vegetable life in its immediate vicinity, the speaker 

 said : One of the first facts we have to meet is that we supply 

 plants and trees with a positively enormous amount of food — 

 that class of food from which nearly all the solid parts of plants 

 and tree ; are derived. He did not refer, of course, to the water 

 or to the ammonia, but to the carbonic acid which must be 

 furnished in the water. Let us see what the amount is likely 

 to be. Professor Herepath estimated that about 12-7 ounces of 

 carbon were daily converted by an adult into carbonic acid. 

 Professor Helmholtz, who appeared at the Royal Institution, 

 estimated the amount as on an average about 16 ozs. Now, 

 12-7 ozs. produce, when oxidised into carbonic acid, about 25 

 cubic feet, and 16 ozs. would give more than 30 cubic feet. How 

 many human beings, besides other animals, are living in this 

 large town ? It must far exceed four hundred thousand. Breath- 

 ing an impure atmosphere is followed, in some cases, by rapid 

 death, or, if not, by a sickly decadence. This is as effectually 

 done as if animals were prevented from exhaling the carbonic 

 acid from the lungs— either altogether, or else partially pre- 

 vented, as human beings are when they breathe an atmosphere 

 primarily contaminated with 5, 10, or 20 per cent, of this deadly 

 excrementitious substance, or when the larynx or bronchial 

 tubes are physically obstructed. 



J. Denny, Esq., M.D. (Stoke Newington), then read a paper 

 on " The Relative Influence of Parentage in Flowering Plants." 

 He said if they could, by the observation of results, acquire 

 any valuable evidence indicative of the relative influence the 

 male (or pollen) and the female (or seed) parents hear in the 

 production of their progeny, it would assist immensely in the 

 carrying-out of designs for the improvement in form and colour 

 of flowers, and in the quality of fruits and vegetables. If, for 

 instance, they could discover if either parent were prepotent 

 in carrying to its offspring certain qualities, say of flavour and 

 aroma, or of size and form, or of quality as regards the texture 

 of fruits; of colour, perfume, form, substance, and the various 

 qualities they might wish to perpetuate or modify in flowers, 

 they would be able to form some approximate idea of the result 

 which would follow their fertilisation. With the object of 

 obtaining, if possible, some information regarding the relative 

 powers the respective parents might exercise upon their 

 progeny, he commenced a series of experiments upon the 

 Scarlet section of the Pelargonium, and from the informa- 

 tion thus derived he was of opinion that by careful and 

 persistent fertilisation under the guidance of the observa- 

 tion of results, it was possible to produce almost any modi- 

 fication in the habit and character of plants, and variety 

 of colour and form in flower. He believed it was possible 

 to mould the character of flowers in accordance with precon- 

 ceived design to a much greater extent than was generally sup- 

 posed ; and, moreover, he thought it possible that ultimately 

 some insight might be obtained by these means into the laws 

 which govern procreation in the vegetable kingdom, and which 

 produce variegation in our fruits and flowers. The recorded in- 

 fluence of his crossings indicated an immense preponderance of 

 influence over the progeny on the part of the father in all re- 

 spects ; in the colour, form, quality, size, and substance of the 

 flower as well as in the production of variegation in the foliage, 

 and hi the habit and constitution of the plant also, provided 

 always that the plants employed were of equal strength — a most 

 important point. A close analogy seemed to him to exist be- 

 tween the vegetable and animal kingdoms with respect to the 

 ill-effects produced by breeding in-and-in, and the good result- 

 ing from crossing opposites, and he traced the decadence of 

 many of their- old florists' flowers to the first-named practice. 



