August 24,1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
173 
enough either into 60 or 48-size according to their size. Increas¬ 
ing the stock by cuttings or division of the plants is best attended 
to in spring, the first-named being inserted in light sandy soil, and 
the divisions need merely to be transplanted and well supplied 
with water.—L. C. 
COLLECTIONS OF SEEDS. 
Mr. Bartrum on page 114 has, it appears to me, no substan¬ 
tial cause of complaint. He admits the seeds he obtained in 
“ collections ” were good, and does not deny the collections were 
cheap. This being so, why should he object to the names of the 
firms which supplied the seeds being prefixed to the varieties ? 
If any seedsman introduces a new and distinct “ Pea, Lettuce, or 
any other vegetable,” he has a perfect right to have his name 
attached to it, and it is obviously the same as regards a firm. If 
the vegetable is not new but in general cultivation the name 
of any particular firm prefixed to it is of no moment, and Mr. 
Bartrum will do no one an injustice by not naming the firm, for 
the variety will be the same by whomsoever supplied ; and in 
such a case how can a purchaser properly regard himself as a 
“ creature ” of the firm who supplied the seeds ? 
Mr. Bartrum also complains of “ paying too dearly for exer¬ 
cising his right of private judgment” in one sentence, and in 
another he states the additional cost was incurred “ because more 
seeds were sent in each packet than he required.” No doubt 
the quantities ordered were sent, and a seedsman can hardly be 
blamed for executing an order correctly. The “ judgment ” of the 
purchaser appears to have been at fault. In seeking a remedy 
your correspondent asks if he should “order by the ounce.” 
Order what ? An ounce of Celery seed, for instance, might be too 
much, and an ounce of Onion seed not sufficient for his garden 
and for raising produce for his family. It appears to me as a 
gardener that Mr. Bartrum has either said too much or not enough 
on the question which perplexes him. There are many, no doubt, 
willing to help him, but it is not easy for them to do so effectively 
as the matter now stands. 
For many years I have had to supply a family of twenty 
persons with vegetables, and it has been incumbent on me to do 
so as economically as possible. I have twice purchased collections 
of seeds, but good as they were they did not satisfy me. There 
were too much of some and not enough of other seeds. I have 
found the best results from making my own selection ; and by 
having regard to the price of the different varieties, and knowing 
exactly what were required of each, the aggregate cost has not 
been appreciably greater, while the returns have been decidedly 
better than by relying on “collections,” and being troubled with 
the consequent waste of surplus seeds on the one hand and short¬ 
comings on the other. It would have been perfectly easy for me 
to have spent four guineas instead of two and have no more seeds 
nor useful crops, but exercising my right of “private judgment ” 
nothing of this kind occurred, or most certainly the rector would 
have deemed my judgment faulty. 
No one can well select seeds for another, at least it would be 
impossible for anyone to select them in my case, for the simple 
reason that some things are scarcely wanted to which others 
attach importance ; but on knowing the extent of ground and 
number of persons to supply with vegetables, an approximate 
idea can be formed of the quantity of seeds that will be needed. 
My vegetable seed bill has never exceeded £3. When I tried 
a two-guinea “ collection ” it was quite insufficient, and a three- 
guinea one did not greatly improve matters, as there was so much 
seed that could not be utilised, and the varieties of Peas, for instance, 
were not satisfactory. I now leave the “collections ” for amateurs 
who are not acquainted with the varieties that are sent, or are 
not particular about them so long as they can get as much as 
possible for their money. For such persons the ready-made 
packages are both cheap and useful. 
The question of Peas, as submitted by Mr. Bartrum, is very 
much a question of soil. In the soil at my disposal Yeitch’s 
Perfection does not flourish, nor are any dwarf Peas profitable. 
With three varieties—William I., Champion of England, and Ne 
Plus Ultra—I can have Peas as long as they are procurable, and 
I think as good in quality as is producible. It is quite certain 
I could not obtain an equally satisfactory supply from the varie¬ 
ties Mr. Bartrum has submitted. Hundredfold is very productive 
and good in colour, but so inferior in quality that I have long 
since discarded it. I fail also to see the exercise of sound 
judgment in having three varieties of early Peas if a supply of 
the best quality is the only object. 
Another word. Mr. Bartrum speaks about his gardeners. If I 
were in the fortunate position of a gentleman keeping gardeners, 
1 should expect one of them at least to be competent to select 
seeds to the best advantage both in an economical and alimentary 
point of view for stocking my garden. My rector once, with the 
object of reducing expenditure, made his own selection of seeds, 
but it only ended in reducing the supply of good vegetables. He 
has since left the selection to myself, reserving to himself his 
undoubted right, with which I most cheerfully comply, of dis¬ 
cussing the list with me before the order is transmitted. It is 
thus, we think, we get the best return at the lowest possible cost. 
I have always felt it my duty to strive as earnestly as my em¬ 
ployer to “keep the bills down,” and this has proved sound policy, 
for since adopting it I have been encouraged by a “double rise” 
in wages without the payer of them, I trust, being a penny the 
poorer.— A Parson’s Gardener. 
ON BUDDING AND GRAFTING: or THE INFLUENCE 
OF THE STOCK UPON THE SCION AND VICE VERSA. 
[Read at a meeting of the North of Scotland Horticultural Association 
at Aberdeen on August 18th, 1882.] 
In presenting this paper to the members of the North of Scotland 
Horticultural Association, I would observe that I do so with some 
diffidence. It must not be considered by any means to be original 
or even exhaustive; the subject is so vast, so full of interest, and so 
imperfectly understood, that I can only skim over the surface by a 
recitation of some facts that have come under my own observation 
and that of others from time to time, leaving it with you for general 
discussion. I have selected this subject mainly with a desire to 
direct the attention, especially of the younger members of your 
Association, to the great importance of correct observation and 
research, with a careful noting of facts as they may occur. It is in 
this way, and in this way only, that the great truths of Nature can 
be elucidated, and in our search after the why and the wherefore 
some rays of light may appear. This subject is one—if ever it will be 
thoroughly understood, will only be so by the careful accumulation 
of facts, and in this way everyone may aid. It is a subject in 
which I have not been altogether idle, and one in which I have for 
many years taken a great amount of interest. 
The art of grafting seems to have been known from the very 
earliest times. We read in Scripture, in the eleventh chapter of 
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, twenty-fourth verse, “For if thou 
wert cut out of the Olive tree which is wild by nature, and were 
graffed contrary to nature into a good Olive tree, how much more 
shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafftd into their 
own Olive tree.” Pliny, Aristotle, and others of the ancient philo¬ 
sophers also speak of grafting; but as far as can be gleaned the 
principles appear to have been very imperfectlv understood. The 
practice seems to have been to engraft the wild into the garden 
tree to promote fruitfulness, &c. We also read in old books absurd 
stories of Roses becoming black by being grafted on the Black Cur¬ 
rant (this is even vouched for by some to the present time), and 
that the blood-red Oranges derive their colour through being 
grafted on the Pomegranate ; and Virgil it is that speaks of Plum 
trees bearing Cornels, and Apples, Pears, &c., and in Columella it is 
asserted that the Vine may be grafted on the Fig—a declaration the 
impossibility of which had to be formally proved in the Jardin des 
Plantes, Paris, by the Director, M. Thouin, not a great many 
years ago. 
It is a universal law of Nature that no plants will engraft on each 
other which do not belong to the same natural order. Even species 
which are distantly related cannot be united to each o her. We 
cannot graft an Apple on a Plum or a Rose upon a Thorn. For any 
organic union to take place there must be a great similarity in the 
organisation and secretions of the plants to be united. That similarity 
exists between the Apple and the Crab and between the Peach 
and Plum, consequently they take on each other. It does not exist 
between the Apple and Plum. If, then, there is this physiological 
impossibility of uniting plants of the same natural order, the belong¬ 
ing to which necessarily implies a great similarity of structure and 
constitution, how can it be possible in the case of plants of different 
natural orders, which necessarily implies a great dissimilarity of 
structure, &c. ? Mistletoe, being a parasite, is an exception. Animals 
of different species mix not together, and what is true of animals is 
true of plants. 
The merely mechanical operations of budding and grafting need 
not be here discussed—the physiological principles to be studied are 
the same. The cutting, or portion cut off, forms the bud or scion, 
as the case may be, and the rooted plant on which it is worked the 
stock. The operations in both budding and grafting are performed 
whilst the sap is in motion, or, in other words, when the tissues are 
in a forming state. It is these tissues which are formed by the cells 
of the cambium, which lies between the surface of the alburnum 
and the inner bark coming in contact that effect the union. In 
grafting, be it noted that wood will not join to wood however care¬ 
fully fitted, neither will bark to bark, the bark being a part already 
