YOL. LV.— No. 3,052. 



-m <4 



SAnJRDAY, APEIL 27, 1912. 



THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE 



NOTE OF THE WEEK. 



4^ 



Selective Culture. 



goan is represented by a host of luscioTis 

 plums or cherries ; the leathei-coate<l al- 

 mond has hidden itself, as it were, beh'nd 

 the blushing, blooming cheeks of peach or 



to be utterly bej'ond man's powers to in- 

 duce or determine, we have now a pi'acti- 

 cally infinite variety of fruits, vegetables, 

 and flowei's to choose from as our exhi- 



Selective culture, which implies the in- family, such as dot the wild bushes in oui 

 fluence of man's needs and taste as distinct hedges, are transformer! into cataracts of 



nectarine; the simple petals of the rose bitions demonstrate. To some extent, also, 



we are l>eginning to Komjorehend the laws 

 which underlie the iiilieritance of those 



from the purely natural selection, which has brilliantly-coloured blossoms or huge indi- characters which form the selective culti- 

 led to such infinite diversity of type in vidual ones of queenly beauty and unima- vator's opportunities, and are consequently 



both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 

 must have been commenced at a period 

 long antecedent to any human records. At 

 the outset, no doubt, the unsophisticated 

 root«, foliage, and fruits were devoured 

 with but little discrimination by 

 savage nomad races, as they came 

 across them in their hunt'ng expedi- 

 tions, or were forced in times of 

 stress to seek for anything which 

 appeared to be edible. Experience 

 would in time teach them what to 



choose and what must be avoided. 

 It may, then, be assumed that, when 

 circumstances permitted the forma- 

 tion of a settlement, such forms of 

 vegetation which had proved to be 



nutritious would be encouraged to 

 grow in the locality by the scatter- 

 ing of seed or by transplanting ; so 

 that, in this way, the foundation of 

 agricultural methods would be laid. 

 Here, alread}^, selection would have 

 begun by choosing the fittest wild 

 types, and obviously the next step 

 would be the seleet'on of any of these 

 which showed improvement under 

 the rude culture afforded them. The 

 result of these oj>erations was that in 

 the earliest botanical records extant 

 we find a number of fruits, vege- 

 tables, and cereals w^hich had already 

 been so transformed by long-c-on- 

 t-nued selection that it is difficult, 

 and sometimes even impossible, now 

 to indicate which was the originally 

 wdd species whence these varieties 

 sprung. It may even be possible 

 that in the process of evolution the 

 ongmal wild species has disappeared, 

 Its varietal descendants only surviv- 

 J^ig by virtue of the protection afforded 

 constant cultivation. The wonder in 

 this connection, is that so many wild spe- 

 cies have been gifted with such powers of 

 anation and responsiveness to culture as 

 ^ yield the marvellous results which we 

 around us nowadays. If we v sit our 

 ^ower fruit, and vegetable shows, we see 

 a practical infinity of forms of vegetation, 

 in Which size, shape, flavour, ^cent, habit, 

 j in short, every vegetative character 

 selen?^'' transformed bv man's 



iraf ^'''^ ^^^d seeds of the 



^ ass tribe are multiplied and swollen into 



ginable delicacy; the tough, fibrous root^ 

 of the wild carrot, turn'p, etc.. liavc been 

 transformed into great masses of tender 

 nutritious material ; small, hard tubers 



becoming able to determine with greater 

 certainty the lines of progress to he pur- 

 sued ; wlnlc simultaneously scientific re- 

 seanli is revealing day by day fresh 



into huge edible ones; and even the foli- methods of increasing the fertility of the 



land, and thus expanding its prc- 

 ductivene^ss. 



MR. EDWARD BULL. 



Proprietor of Messrs. William iBiilI and Sons, 



Chelsea. 



age, as in the cabbage, has been expanded 

 and varied in many ways to foim Aalu- 

 able food for man, and iso much of the 

 animal kingdom a^ he, in like selective 

 fashion, has brought under his sway. In 

 considering all this series of tiaii^forma- 

 tions, it is folly not to recognise tlie dei>t 

 we owe to that beneficent creative powei' 

 which has endowed all these plants not 

 merely with the capacity of responding to 

 cultural conditions by increased growth, 

 but of varying every now and again on 

 different lines, and thus lea<ling up to d f- 

 ferent forms, which do awav with that 

 nionotonv which a mere accretion of 



Wrle?"Pf^"'T^^' ^'^'■S^ °f ^'f^eat, 



the ' "i^^ze, and all their kin ; growth would have involved. Thanks to 



•-"e SOUr n»* "^«;,l 1 n , . ' R ... 



Mr. Edward Bull, proprietor 



of the firm of Messrs. William Bull 

 and Sons, King's I?oad. Chelsea, is 

 widely known among horticulturists^ 

 as business duties take him to many 

 parts of the British Isles. .He was 

 educated at Ravensnowie Anerlev, 

 and the City of London School and, 

 after receiving private tuition, en- 

 tered his father's business at an 

 early age. After the death of h s 

 father and the illness of his elder 

 brother^ the responsibility of the 

 business fell upon his shoulders. 

 About 1901 he con: eived the idea of 

 raising seedling orchids in large 

 quantities, to sec if it were not pos- 

 s.ble to j)la(c leally good \arictics 

 before the juililic at a nu.'df st out- 

 liiy as conij).ii'c(l with the high prices 

 paid for tho finest forms of imported 

 species. With Mr. Lakins help he 

 has carried out this idea witli great 

 success, and, incidontall v. hn,^ jnain- 

 ta'ned the reputation of his firm for 

 new arnl larc plants. In retent 

 years lu^ has taken up tlic woik of 

 improving hipjieastnims. and with 

 ha]>])v results. Indeed, Mi'. Kdwnrd 

 Hull ivS Us k(eu on introduciuii hv- 

 brid and (■r<;ss-l)i ed novelties, as b s 

 father was in intr(Klucing new phints 

 from all the ends of the earth. 



To (Micourage plant br(.^ders. he is 

 giving three silver cu])s at the Koval 

 International Hort i* ult ural Exhil)it :on for 

 the best hvlirid odtuito'ilossuni . the 



■ o 



hvhrid ca tt h'va, and the best ochuitimla 

 respe<'tively . 



Rcyal international Horticul- 

 tural Exhibition. In cnnne: tinn with 

 this great gathering two conteri n^ es will 

 !)e held in the Recreation Hall, C hrlsea 

 Hoyal Hospital, at which subjects <ft an 

 international character will be (!> us-<hI. 

 'I he Hight Hon. A. H. Dvke A; land, the 

 chairm 111 of the Scienci^ ajul Education 

 Committee, will preside at both confer- 

 ences. The iir>t will be he!d cn Mav 23, 



i)est 



or ^crid berry of wild plum or this capacity for sporting, whit h appears commencing punctually at two p.m., and 



