JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
375 
O otober 29, 1885. ] 
or roasted. This is descriptive of S. Maglia, and Heriot 
was in the expedition of Raleigh when tubers were collected 
and brought to Ireland. 
It has been observed that the figures of Clusius and 
Gerard (1633) are identical, the former work being published 
in 1601. Twenty yeard afterwards Bauhin’s “Prodromus” 
appeared, with an original figure of a Potato plant. This 
perhaps still more closely resembles S. Maglia, and has 
scarcely anything in common with the figure of S. tuberosum 
as prepared at Kew and published in the Linnean Society’s 
Journal. It is true there are a few incipient leaflets between 
those of full size, but these are not nearly so marked as in 
Baker s figure ; while the whole character of the plant, and 
especially the large cordate terminal leaflet, is almost iden¬ 
tical with Baker’s figure of S. Maglia. This broad terminal 
leaflet is seen in late strong-growing varieties of English 
Potatoes, but is less prominent in the early Ash-leaved 
varieties, and these, too, have as a rule a greater number of 
leaflets, and of more uniform size than is common with the 
stronger and later section. 
Mr. Baker’s figure of S. tuberosum has a general resem¬ 
blance to the Early Ashleaf type, and that species may have 
been the progenitor of this race, which, from a cultivator’s 
view at any rate, is distinct from the other. This is a ques¬ 
tion for the consideration of botanists, and it may be men¬ 
tioned that Dr. Hogg has failed in his attempts to cross 8. 
Maglia with an Ashleaf; but Mr. Sutton has succeeded in 
crossing it with another variety. The question is, Is the 
Ashleaf a true descendant of S. tuberosum, and with little 
or no mixture of Maglia in its constitution ? 
Mr. Sutton grew thirty-six plants of the wild S. tuberosum 
from seed sent him by Mr. Thiselton Dyer of Kew sown last 
April, and treated exactly in the same manner as the hybrid 
seedlings. The total result from these thirty-six plants was 
sixty-eight tubers, weighing in all oz., which bears but a 
poor comparison with some of the single hybrid plants. He 
also grew the wild S. tuberosum from a tuber obtained from 
the College of Pharmacy at Philadelphia, which was dis¬ 
covered by Professor Lemmon on the Xuachuca Mountains 
at an elevation of 9000 feet. The result of this plant was 
several small and apparently worthless tubers. In neither 
case would the plants of S. tuberosum cross with any of the 
cultivated forms of the Potato that were tried at Beading. 
_ There is no increase in size in the case of the Philadel¬ 
phian tubers, and those raised from seed are now about the 
size of the one tuber received from Philadelphia last winter. 
Many attempts were made to cross S. tuberosum with the 
cultivated Potato, but in no single case was any result 
obtained. On the other hand it was found comparatively 
easy to cross S. tuberosum with S. dulcamara (Wild Night¬ 
shade) and S. nigrum. 
The true Ashleaf Potato seldom flowers, but if flowers 
of the smallest form, called on the Continent the Marjolin, 
can be produced as Knight produced them by preventing the 
development of tubers, and pollen obtained, it will be worth 
while trying its effect on S. tuberosum. 
Under any circumstances, Mr. Arthur W. Sutton is to be 
warmly congratulated on what he has so far accomplished in 
the important work with which he was entrusted, and we 
look forward with interest to the result of the experiments 
that will be conducted next year, other important crosses 
having been effected with 8. Maglia. 
THE COMING BACE OF £R03ES. 
If “ A. C. will refer to page 82 I think he will hardly consider 
the report of Etendard de Jeanne d’Arc a very favourable one, and 
in fact this Rose seems likely to turn out “ quality No. 2,” for the 
whole appearance of the plant indicates a recurrence to the Bourbon 
side of the family, and quality is not the Bourbon’s strong point. 
Deducing a hybrid’s origin from its outward characteristics or 
habit may perhaps be objected to as only presumptive, and there¬ 
fore inadmissible ; but as there are so few records of the origin of 
Roses (and even those preserved generally give only the seed 
parent), until the hybridisation of these plants be much more 
exactly effected and noted, no other method of classifying the bulk 
of the florists’ varieties exists. That the origin of a hybrid may be 
fairly accurately deduced from the evidence of its exterior is indi¬ 
cated by cases where the exact cross has been recorded. Moreover, 
it is well known that seedlings raised from a hybrid frequently 
show a tendency to revert to the form of one of that hybrid’s 
parents. Now it has long been held that Gloire de Dijon originated 
from the crossing of some Tea-scented Rose by a Bourbon variety. 
True, there was no yellow Bourbon that could have assisted in the 
production, but then Gloire de Dijon is only a yellow Rose by 
courtesy on a north aspect, and the opaque colour (as in Bourbon 
Queen) that seemed to overlie the yellow in the petals, the flat 
expanded flowers with the stamens all hidden by the doubled-over 
petals (as in Souvenir de la Malmaison), and the broad leathery 
leaves, were deemed sufficiently conclusive evidence. Myriads of 
seedlings have been raised from Gloire de Dijon, many inclining 
more to the Tea-scented type, as Belle Lyonnaise, &c., until now 
comes the white Etendard de Jeanne d’Arc, which at a little dis¬ 
tance looks like the ghost of a Souvenir de la Malmaison. This 
seedling therefore affords an additional indication by reverting to a 
Bourbon type that the supposition, founded on its external charac¬ 
teristics, of Gloire de Dijon having been a hybrid between a Tea 
and a Bourbon was well grounded, and this may serve as an argu¬ 
ment in favour of reasonable deductions of a similar kind in other 
cases. 
To cite two other well-known varieties from the list of Hybrid 
Perpetuals in the National Rose Society’s illustrated catalogue. 
La France is a Rose which, with its smooth dark glossy foliage, 
extreme freedom of flowering, and manner of growth, together 
with the delicate form and texture of its slightly pendulous blooms, 
at once recalls the general habit of the Tea-scented varieties, and 
we have M. Guillot's word for it that its seed parent was a Tea. 
While M. Lacharme’s statement that Captain Christy resulted from 
a cross between Victor Verdier and Safrano may be readily credited 
from the outward appearance of this beautiful and worthily named 
Hybrid Tea—a term, by the way, that seems greatly to exercise 
some people’s minds ; for at a certain Rose show this year a medal 
for the best Hybrid Perpetual in the exhibition was awarded to a 
bloom of Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, a Rose in many ways resembling 
Captain Christy, and especially so in being of similar origin, for its 
raiser (Mr. Bennett) states that it resulted from a cross between 
Victor Verdier and Devoniensis. The judgment, however, was 
subsequently reversed, on the alleged ground that Lady Mary 
Fitzwilliam was not a Hybrid Perpetual. The question immedi¬ 
ately arose, What is a Hybrid Perpetual ? Is it a hybrid that 
flowers a second time in autumn ? Clearly not, if Lady Mary be 
not one, for the second flowering of that Rose is as free as its first. 
Is it a hybrid in which there is no Tea blood ? Certainly not; for 
in the National Rose Society’s catalogue the best known Hybrid 
Teas, La France and Captain Christy, are classed as Hybrid Per¬ 
petuals, as they always have been since the date of their introduc¬ 
tion. It would seem, therefore, that Lady Mary Fitzwilliam has 
been held to be not a Hybrid Perpetual, either because it flowers 
freely again during the autumn, or else because it is of similar race 
and origin to several other well-known Hybrid Perpetuals. Canon 
Hole might apparently have added another abstruse appellation to 
the amusing list on page 183 of his “ Book about Roses.” The 
National Rose Society did their best to uphold the cause of common 
sense by awarding the silver medal for the best Hybrid Perpetual 
in them Northern Show at Manchester to a bloom of Lady Mary 
Fitzwilliam, and no doubt the required definition will soon be forth¬ 
coming to remove the possibility of future heartburnings over such 
confusion as to the meaning of terms. 
Now if the parents of a hybrid may be fairly accurately judged 
from its outward appearance, so it may also be surmised, though 
not with nearly so much certainty, what would be the result of any 
given cross. We already have varieties with perfect flowers in 
almost every shade of colour, and the demand that raisers in future 
will have to supply before Rose-growing will become as universal 
as it ought to be will be for varieties of equal beauty and much 
more vigorous habit of growth and more certain perpetuity of 
flowering—a quality which in a Rose of mixed race may be con¬ 
sidered for the moment while “ awaiting further instructions ’’ to 
constitute a Hybrid Perpetual. Thus Louis Van Houtte and Marie 
Baumann, two perfect Roses when doing well, are in many locali¬ 
ties but poor growers, and often die out after two or three years. 
Why should not some vigorous utumnals be fertilised by these 
more beautiful Roses, with a view to obtaining seedlings that shall 
unite in their strength and beauty the best points of their parents ? 
It is with this view that rosarians should not be in haste to condemn 
such varieties as Madame Isaac Pereire to whom, even though ex¬ 
pressions of contempt may sometimes cause her to glare green- 
eyed with jealousy upon her more beautiful sisters, a rough 
