430 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



but I will take one representative variety and endeavour to show you 

 the eccentricities, if I may so speak, of the same variety under different 

 forms of treatment. The variety I select is ' Madame M. Masse. ' 



Taking the earliest set — that of which cuttings were inserted in 

 October, and which were subsequently potted into 5-inch pots, I find 

 that the plants as a general rule made one natural break, and were in 

 good bloom on the terminals by September 7, and the plants of the 

 same batch which were retained in 3-inch pots and grown naturally 

 have made one break and were blooming on terminals on the same 

 date. 



The succeeding lot, propagated on November 27, made one natural 

 break, and came into flower about September 1. Plants raised from 

 cuttings taken on December 31 are varied in the number of breaks, 

 some making one and others two, those making one break being in fine 

 bloom on September 10, others two weeks later. The January lot 

 made no breaks and were in good flower by September 1 ; the February 

 set made no breaks and flowered on terminals by August 1. Cuttings 

 taken at the end of March produced flowers on terminals about 

 September 7. 



'Improved Masse,' 'Mrs. W. Sydenham,' 'Polly,' and 'Wells' 

 Scarlet ' gave very similar results, but in the case of the last two new 

 side-growths appeared on the earliest-flowering plants, and at the end 

 of September they were in full bloom again. In a few cases where the 

 plants naturally made one break, pinching seemed to anticipate this 

 event, and the new shoots flowered somewhat earlier. ' Bronze 

 Goacher, ' however, did not respond in the same way. This variety 

 made two breaks on the earlier-struck plants, and one break in the case 

 of the latest, the earliest set to flower being those propagated in 

 December. ' Framfield Early White ' makes three breaks in the 

 earlier stages, two in the others, and even in the last propagated set 

 one and two breaks are recorded, the result being that most of the 

 plants under very varying treatment will flower about the same time — 

 the middle of October. 



It will be observed that the earlier the propagation the greater 

 the number of natural breaks, and within certain limits the plants 

 are later in coming into bloom. Why plants produced from cuttings 

 of the same variety should behave thus is a matter for scientific men, 

 but so far no explanation that I know of has been given. 



One-year-old plants of ' Madame M. Masse, ' growing in my own 

 garden, had strong shoots about a foot in length when my experimental 

 ones were planted out. These have made two natural breaks, one 

 more than the trial set, and will not flower until the beginning of 

 October. Why this should be I know not. 



It may be interesting to note at this point that in the case of the 

 earlier varieties cuttings taken in December, or old stools pulled to 

 pieces in the same month and grown on in slight heat, will bloom on 

 terminals in April and May without making a single natural break. 

 Flowers produced in this way have been shown by my firm in Edin- 



