January 21, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
89 
many cases. But this is merely leading to that part of the subject 
that I am anxious should be discussed, and that is the system 
known as double grafting. 
I have said that the general opinion is that clean healthy trees 
of unsuitable varieties cut over and regrafted would in a few years 
yield profitable crops of fine fruit. But I should hesitate before 
carrying out this plan, not merely because my experience in the 
matter is limited, but mainly because we have not sufficient reliable 
data upon which to work in order to carry an operation of this 
nature on a large scale to a successful issue. We know that early 
varieties worked upon naturally late varieties have a great influence 
on the fruit and its time of ripening. The length of time required 
to bring the variety to perfection would be greater than if the same 
kind was worked upon an early ripening variety. This might, and 
probably would, be reversed if the very opposite was practised. 
Shy setting and shy fruiting varieties used as stocks also impart 
these bad qualities to the varieties worked upon them. These 
difficulties are not so readily overcome when we take into consider¬ 
ation the carelessness that has been exercised in the past in rearing 
stocks on which to work various kinds of both Apples and Pears. 
The stock has been called the Crab, when it has originated probably 
from some worthless late variety of Apple, and who can tell the 
influence these stocks may have had on the size of the fruit and its 
quality ? But when trees are cut over and regrafted there is an 
intermediate variety, between the stock and the variety worked on 
the top. This intermediate portion, and its influence on the tree 
and fruit is, to my mind, a matter of considerable importance ; but 
one that is generally, I am sorry to say, passed over in silence by 
those who strongly advise heading down large trees and regrafting 
them. We do know that this intermediate portion influences both 
the tree and the fruit. If Beurr4 d’Amanlis is worked on the 
Quince and then cut over and worked with Marie Louise, this 
variety has more vigour than it would have worked on the Quince. 
The fruit grows larger, and is more thickly covered with russet, 
with me, at any rate, than on either the Pear or the Quince. The 
most remarkable feature is the tendency of the fruit to ripen 
earlier. It is clear that double grafting, and any benefits that may 
result by its adoption, are only really known in a very few cases. 
Practice extending over years, with careful observation, noting 
results, failures, and successes, are needed before it is safe to advise 
regrafting on an extensive scale. Before I should adopt, or even 
advise regrafting, I should strongly urge planting young trees. 
The difference between the development of the head on the old 
stock and the attainment of a fruiting size in the case of the young 
tree would not be great. With our present state of knowledge, 
young trees on stocks that induce fruitfulness, and which we know 
are capable of yielding fine fruit under favourable circumstances, 
are the most reliable, and the only ones by which fruit growing can 
be rendered a profitable concern, or the land made to yield creditable 
returns as early as possible after planting.— Wm. Bakdney. 
(To be continued.) 
HAKDY FLOWER NOTES. 
Genial is the atmosphere of the greenhouse, and bright and 
gay the prospect within ; even when without piercing winds assail us, 
and the earth is hard as iron. Despite the contrast, as the opening 
days of the New Year move on, the lover of hardy flowers turns with 
unwavering fidelity to his borders and rockeries, where the blossoms 
of the timid shrinking flowers of the early days begin to show. 
Goethe somewhere tells us that “ Flowers are the beautiful hiero¬ 
glyphics of Nature, with which she indicates how much she loves 
us ” and to the hardy plantsman these outdoor flowers speak with 
softer, sweeter tongues than do their more brilliant sisters which, 
in our climate, need the protectiori of glass and the aid of artificial 
heat. And now these hieroglyphics, blurred and obscured as they 
may be—not with the relentless hand of time, but with cold 
wintry winds—speak of the days when we may say as Mary Howitt 
said ;— 
“ See the yellow catkins cover 
All the slender Willows over ; 
And on banks of mossy green 
Star-like Primroses are seen ; 
And, their clustering leaves below, 
White and purple Violets blow,” 
Though the glorious days of spring with their many flowers are 
still afar off even January adds to our pleasures, although rain 
alternates with frost and snow, and as I write the flowers are 
snugly wrapped in the pure white coverlet with which Dame 
Nature protects her‘tiny children from the biting frost. Some 
call the snow a shroud, and while it is such to the plants whose day 
is done, to the hardy flowers it is a warm covering, shielding them 
from the cold. Year by year we look eagerly to observe which of 
the flowers will open first to claim the honour of being the herald 
of the approach of Flora’s retinue. With a good collection there 
seems no gap in the procession. In 1890 Iris Bakeriana was in bud 
as the year began, and in close succession flower after flower ap¬ 
peared until Colchicum Decaisnei brought up what seemed to be the 
rear ; but first tripping on the heels of this pretty Meadow Saffron, 
and then side by side with it, came Crocus hyemalis. These to¬ 
gether with a puzzled Merendera which, being newly imported, had 
not yet adapted herself to our insular ways, ushered in the year ; 
and the pretty trio seemed to claim that, having seen the old year 
out and the new year in, they were justly entitled to the honours of 
rearguards and heralds of Flora’s pageant. And if the goddess has 
more stalwart supporters she has few with more beauty of their 
own. 
The little Merendera caucasica with its starry purple flowers 
prettily tinged with white towards the base of its petals, the 
Colchicum with its more Tulip-shaped purple blooms, and the 
Crocus with its long-tubed white blossoms, appear to vie with each 
other in dovotion to their deity. 
While this trio of Graces thus claim precedence, what has 
become of the Snowdrop, which by virtue of her early birth (if we 
are to believe the pretty legend that she was created to comfort 
our first parents when driven from Eden) has hitherto been, as the 
poet says, “ the early herald of the infant year ? ” Alas ! in my 
garden at least, she has had to give place to modern upstarts 
without the early associations which endear her to us, and without 
the merit—for merit it is—of having long been familiar in this isle 
of ours. The Snowdrops are later this season than for a few years 
past. G. Elwesi is again the furthest forward, beating in point of 
time Galanthus prsecox of Maw and G. nivalis var. umbricus. The 
common G. nivalis is peeping up all around, and soon we shall see 
the flowers nodding to the wind, as Wordsworth so beautifully 
expresses it, as he speaks of the 
“ Frail Snowdrops that together cling, 
And nod their helmets, smitten by the wing 
Of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by.” 
Delighted as we are to have early flowers, one is almost disappointed 
to think that this chaste flower, so dear to all of us, is no longer 
entitled to the distinctions applied to it by the poets. She was the 
“urstborn of the year’s delight,” “harbinger of spring,” and 
“ pretty firstling of the year,” and now these newer flowers conspire 
to sweep away this halo of honour. 
But the time to speak at length of the Snowdrop has not yet 
come, and Crocus hyemalis claims a little more attention than it 
has hitherto received. Beautiful as are these Crocus species, it is 
well to warn the reader against thinking that they can vie in 
splendour with the products of the skill of the Dutch florist, and 
thus this species with its white flowers is not equal in some points 
to the fine white Crocuses Reine Blanche and Mont Blanc. 
C. hyemalis is not a showy species, but its period of flowering and 
hardiness will commend it to many. As I have previously 
indicated, the flowers are white, the inside of the petals being free 
from colour with the exception of a marking of yellow at the base ; 
the outside of the outer petals is speckled with a deep black-purple 
—I am not sure that I should not say grained instead of speckled 
with long narrow spots, if this description is admissible. The 
tube is long, the anthers are black, and the stignaa is, as an able 
writer remarks, like fine cut gold wire. Boissier is, I believe, the 
authority for the specific title. I have previously given a brief 
description of Colchicum Decaisnei, but so far as I can recollect 
have not spoken of Merendera caucasicum. This little plant, with 
its flower rising only about an inch above the ground, seems to 
have been introduced from the Caucasus about 1823, and clairns no 
fewer than three names—viz., Merendera caucasica, Colchicum 
caucasicum, and Bulbocodium trigynum, the latter name given by 
Adams being, I understand, later in point of time ; the specific name 
trigynum being given either on account of the three-cornered 
looking keeled leaves, or the triangular manner in which they are 
arranged. The flowers are star-like in form, pale purple in colour, 
and prettily tinged with white towards the base of the petals. 
The keeled leaves are pointed and assume a partially twisted form. 
All these three bulbous plants require no particular care, growing 
freely in any good soil, but to prolong the period of bloom a snmll 
handlitfht, or a piece of glass put over the flowers, will be desirable 
in order to protect them from the storms of winter. February is 
the usual flowering period for the Mereridera. 
Evergreen plants add much to the interest of the rock garden 
in ■winter, and few are better adapted for the purpose of furnishing 
its slopes and terraces than the hardy Heaths. These are a^lways 
acceptable, and doubly welcome at the present time is 
carnea and its white variety E. carnea alba. In this neighbourhood 
they flower more or less through December and onward, and t e 
