292 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Discussion. 



Mr. Long, of Wisbech, said that one of the first and most 

 important considerations of the seed-grower lies in his choice of 

 soils, which of necessity must be varied from light to rich loam 

 and strong heavy soil, in order that he may be successful with 

 the great variety of plants he will have under cultivation. 



Another most important matter is the careful selection of 

 roots and plants from which the " stock seeds " are to be raised. 

 This is the foundation upon which he is to work, and precision 

 as to form, colour, weight, and foliage are very essential points, 

 in order to obtain stocks of the highest and most desirable type. 

 All the roots and plants selected must be most carefully trans- 

 planted at suitable distances, and when the seed produce has 

 been gathered it is necessary to put it to the test with other 

 stocks of high repute, by growing fully-developed roots and 

 plants for comparison. 



The several varieties of Swede turnip should be grown 

 well apart ; particular attention must be paid to green and purple 

 topped varieties to maintain pure stocks. 



Mr. Long said that in some seasons he had seen very peculiar 

 freaks among the crops of growing Swede turnips. In some 

 parts of the field may be seen peculiar malformed roots, with a 

 strong bushy growth of stem and leaves. On examination many 

 of these plants have a purely purple neck, but for some reason 

 fail to form a bulb, while on another part of the same field the 

 whole crop is faultless. Another singular fact is that seed from 

 the same parcel has been sown the following year, and no mal- 

 formed roots have appeared, but a crop of handsome-shaped 

 bulbs, thus showing that it cannot in any way be attributed to 

 the fault of the seed-grower. This suggests that the soil, atmo- 

 spheric influence, or some other cause increases the tendency of 

 the Swede turnip to revert back to the original parent plant, 

 Brassica campcstris, or the wild rape, which in its wild state 

 may be considered a worthless weed. 



The many kinds of garden and cattle cabbages are most 

 important items in the mind and care of the seed-grower. 

 Darwin tells us that from an experiment made by planting green 

 and purple kohl-rabi, borecole, Savoy, and sugar-loaf cabbage 

 in close proximity, the seeds from them produced mongrel plants 



