VOL. LV.— No. 3,064. 



SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1912. 



THE 



GARDENERS 



9 



MAGAZINE 



NOTE OF THE WEEK. 



4- 



Double Flowers. 



To the peculiar faculty fwhicli many, if 

 not all, flowers possess of departing from 

 their normal single and perfect character 

 and assuming double forms, we certainly 

 owe the majority of our chief horticultural 



and every 



ed 



gems, 



hitherto single floAver to became double is 

 immediately encouraged 'by (selective breed- 

 in o- to. in the cultivator's 



t5 



opuiion, improve it by deve- 

 loping the peculiarities. Such 

 a tendency may he >evintoed 

 at the outset by a simple 

 deformation of the petals, and, 

 in innumerable cases, this has 

 been found to he inherited, 

 with the resxilt that, in a 

 few generations, the whole of 

 the petals have been trans- 

 formed, and not only that, 

 but the seed-forming appara- 



which these 



tus, to 



petals 

 attrac- 



are normally merely 

 tive adjuncts for reproductive 



purposes, have assumed the 

 petal form as well, the flowers 

 thus becoming entirely or par- 

 tially barren. This, however, 

 does not trouble the isidective 

 cultivator so long as the plant 

 concerned can be multiplied 

 by other means than seeds, 

 such as by cuttings, grafting, 

 or other methods, hut entire 

 barrenness handicaps him to 

 the extent that, without seed, 

 he is, as a rule, barring bud 

 sports, deterred from improve- 

 ment of the strain bv selection 

 from the progeny. From the 

 point of view of Nature, how- 

 ever, a double flower is a 

 mistake, a ste^p in the 

 wrong direction entirely, since 

 a d ep a r t u re , on the 

 flower, from 



and perfe^-iting as large a 

 number of seeds as possible. Nature, to 

 that end, has, in the course of seons of 

 evolution, transformed the originally green 

 foliage partially into the very different 

 organs which bear the pollen and contain 

 the embryo seed, and, in most cases, has 

 courted the mediation of the insect world 

 as matrimonial agents, by providing nec- 

 taries for its delectation and brilliantly- 

 coloured petals, plus nutritious pollen, 

 to indicate their w^hereabouts, and form an 

 adequate reward for the services rendered. 

 Hence, from the insect point of view, any 

 extra attraction in the way of conspicuous 



ber, and improved in colour, with no sacri- 

 fice to the natural charm of the single 



colour associated with multiplied but na- 

 turall}' useless petals, probably devoid of 

 such rewards, is nothing less than a fraud, flower. Compare, for instance, our finest 

 and, in any case, the flower cannot pos- single clematis of to-day with the compara- 

 sihly profit by their visits. In the case of 

 those beautiful doiiblenflowereil members of 

 the plum, cherry, and other normally 

 fruit-bearing trees, which nowadays are so 

 resplendent, though transiently so, in the 



tively few doable ones, lliere are in fact, 

 manj^ flowers whose normal beauty is such 

 that any structural departure is resented 



' of taste. 



a spring, the impossibility of mere seed pro- 

 duction is aggravated by the natural con- 



by severyone with a '*soup9on" 

 The lily, par excellence, presents a vivid 

 contrast to her rival queen the rose by 

 her strict adherence to her natural sim- 



sequence that they bear no fruits, i.e., no pHcity, all the more natural as she has 



oduced 



bloo 



as 



against. 



I' 



ME. J. C. NEWSHAM, F.L.S. 



sophisticated native habitats, 

 eclipsing far and away the se- 

 lective cultivator's highest 

 aspirations by the production 

 of natural perfection under en- 

 tirely natural conditions. That 

 ideally perfect flower, the 

 Madonna lily, has indeed 

 produced a double (?) for: 

 but of such a wretched type 

 to constitute a warning 



rathor than encour- 

 agement to, any attempt to 



follow it up. Tastes, however, 

 even good tastes, differ, and 

 in championing the single 

 forms, as we have done, it 

 would ill hecome us not to re- 

 cognise the beauty and charm 

 of the host of double ones to 

 which we have alluded, since, 

 after all, barren or not barren, 

 is, in human hands, largely im- 

 material, though Nature re- 

 gards the point as of supreme 

 importance, and takes an in- 

 finity of trouble to secure fer- 

 tility in her creations. 



r. J. C. Newsham, 



F.L.S. 9 head master and 



of the Agricultural 

 and Horticultural »S:'hool, 



manager 



it means 



adjuncts 



Old Basing, Basingstoke. Ava? 



brought 



form i up; 



on tine part 

 its f un da menta 1 

 perfe^-iting as 



of the fruit growers for the all too brief enjoy- 

 duty of ment of their previous inflorescence. Na- 

 large a ture, in point of fact, refuses to counten- 

 ance such outrages to her laws, which are 

 involved in selection of the barren an<l 

 beautiful instead of her fertile and less pre- 

 tentious creations. To the true lover of 



gave 



some 

 At a later 



date he 



u p to fa rm i n g , and the n 

 attention to arboriculture. 



underwent a training In 

 landscape gardening with a Continen- 

 tal firm having oflSces in London. 

 After this he entere<l Kew, and took full 

 advantage of the opportunities this institu- 



Nature indeed despite the splendour of tion affords during his two years stay, 

 our double roses, chrysanthemums, dahlias, Like many other young men, he had to 



- encounter some fadures, and tor many years 



etc. which form the popular attractions of 

 our horticultural shows, the great host of 

 simple or single flowers must always ap- 

 peal to his sympathies with the greater 

 force. Happily, selection and improve- 

 ment, so called, is by no means confined 

 to -mere multiplication of petal. The small 

 flower can be increased in size and num- 



he greatly regrette<l his inability to ob- 

 tain the post of draughtsman and surveyor 

 in the Parks and Open Spaces Department 

 of the London County Council ; he was one 

 of the two candidates selected for the ap- 

 pointment, his successful rival being a cap- 

 able foreigner who had the advantage of 



