grafting; its consequences and effects. 153 
tSorbus nepalensis . The buds which were subsequently pro- 
duced were found to be different from those of the scion and 
of the stock (unfortunately it is not stated what plant fur- 
nished the latter) in hardiness, period of leafing', form, &c. ; 
indeed, so different were the new productions, that they were, 
says M. Carriere, unlike any plant he knew in cultivation. 
This also may possibly have been a case of variation not neces- 
sarily connected with grafting, but it is too singular to be 
passed over in this place. 
Of doubtful origin, also, are the oft-mentioned “trifacial 
oranges ” — oranges in which the fruits presented, blended to- 
gether in all possible proportions, the characteristics of two 
or three distinct varieties of orange. As the true nature of 
these singular fruits is shrouded in mystery, and we can add 
nothing to their history beyond what is detailed in readily 
accessible books, such as Lindley’s “ Theory of Horticulture,” 
or Darwin’s “ Variations of Animals and Plants,” we pass them 
by here with the mere mention. 
The latest development of the graft-hybridisation theory is 
that according to which certain new or strange variations of 
the potato have been attributed to this process. The “ eyes,” or 
buds, of one kind of potato have been inserted into the tuber of 
another kind, carefully deprived of its own buds ; adhesion has 
taken place, and new tubers have been formed, differing from 
those of the parent variety, and producing leaves and haulm 
also different in character, and to some extent intermediate. 
It is only right to add, in reference to this point, that the 
majority of experimenters have failed even in getting adhesion 
under such circumstances. Others deny the possibility of the 
•occurrence in toto , and attribute any changes that may have 
occurred to the known variability and tendency to “sport” 
exhibited by the potato. So far as our own personal experience 
goes, we have seen several cases of adhesion in potatoes grafted 
by others ; and have ourselves succeeded in obtaining union 
in one instance. Moreover, there has been abundant evidence 
to show that some change of an extraordinary character does 
take place in the new tubers that originate after grafting. 
Whether or no these changes are due to a commingling of 
characteristics derived from the stock and the scion is a 
matter still open to question. 
It must not, however, be supposed that all cases of bud- 
variation are due to graft-hybridisation. The evidence in 
favour of the latter process is as yet by no means free from 
doubt. Nevertheless, confirmatory facts, or what, so far as we 
know at present, we have good reason to believe to be such, are 
gradually accumulating. At any rate, it seems clear that the 
old notion that graft and scion, scion and graft, have no re- 
ciprocal effect, must be given up as untenable. 
