THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 
February 17. 
; 376 
Bide of the wen, as it may be called; but we hare never 
: observed, neither have we heard from others, that they 
ever knew an instance in which a shoot-like growth 
j issued from the wart or wen on a Pelargonium. There- 
' fore, without altogether asserting the impossibility of 
I such origin to a shoot of this plant, we may conclude 
that its appearance is of extremely rare occurrence. 
! Here, then, is the first departure from normal growth, 
• where the new growth is, or seems to be, incapable of 
extension. By artificial means, we all know that a vast 
number of plants can be forced to form a warty growth 
i —the callosity, first formed on the bottom of a cutting 
I before roots are to be seen is of the nature we mean ; 
and such growths, in many instances, are capable of 
forming buds, wliich buds expand into plants that are 
even more true to their origin than if they had been 
raised from seeds. 
The simplest means by which this may be proved, 
and the most excitable plant for the purpose of doing 
so, is the Fuchsia, for at this season, and for the next 
two months, it may be increased by tbe footstalks of 
the leaf. In a few days after the application of heat 
the bottom of the leaf-stalk makes a callosity, or warty 
growth; and in a few more days, a bud issues from the 
new matter, which grows as fast and freely as a seedling. 
Compare this rapidity, from the most slender footstalk 
of a leaf, in the Fuchsia, with the case of the Willows 
mentioned at page 107, which, at the end of seven 
year’s growth, were utterly incapable of forming a single 
bud, even from a large surface of bark and wood; and 
yet we account the Willow to be fully, if not more, ex¬ 
citable in growth than the Fuchsia. We instance them, 
however—that is, the footstalk of a leaf of a Fuchsia 
and the Willow stems—as the extreme points of the 
question. The comparison must, therefore, lead to this 
conclusion—that we are totally in the dark with respect 
to the cause, or force, or principle, with which the origin 
of buds is involved; and that, in the absence of direct 
exporiment, no one can foretell whether this or that 
part of a plant or leaf is, or is not, capable of originating 
an adventitious bud from an accumulation of growth 
forced on the plant, as it were, by any process familiar 
to the gardener. If that be so, there can be no solid 
foundation on which to raise an objection against anv 
experiments which we may propose with the view of 
testing the possibility of an amalgamation of the growths 
of two allied plants, in the first instance, and then to see 
if such united growth is, of itself, capable of forming a 
bud ; and if it is, whether that bud is likely to combine 
in itself some of the properties peculiar to the two plants 
whose united growth and force caused this bud to spring 
into life. If it could be easily proved that this is really 
within the compass of possibilities, the principle, though 
hitherto it was hidden from our eyes, is of the utmost 
value in the improvement of races, either of fruits, vege¬ 
tables, or flowers. 
The easiest and most speedy method that we can sug¬ 
gest for arriving at this knowledge is the following, and 
we appeal urgently to our amateur friends to put the 
ex[>eriment to the test this very spring:—Practical gar¬ 
deners have so many calls on their time at this season, 
and, indeed, at all times, that no one can exj)ect them 
to be able to give the requisite attention to any experi¬ 
ment which does not directly bear on the requirements 
of the day. Wo all know that the Fuchsia will root 
from the footstalk of the leaf, and that the new bud 
comes from the upper part of the warty substance which 
is first formed, or from the very end of the stalk, which 
is now much swollen with the force of growth. The 
Orange Tree, and a hundred other trees and ])lants, will 
make increase after the same manner; indeed, there 
are a large number of plants, whose very leaves, if cut 
across the middle, and the top part inserted like a cut¬ 
ting, will thus form roots, buds, and shoots, with less or 
more difficulty, according to the kind, and the complete¬ 
ness of the arrangements in the propagating department. 
There is one tribe of plants, however, which, for the 
ease and rajiidity with which this experiment may be 
decided by them, we recommend to begin with, and 
they are the different species and varieties of Gloxinia. 
lisss than a square inch from the blade of the leaf of 
many of the kinds will make roots, buds, and plants, if 
a })ortion of the rib or vein is taken with it, and the 
whole is placed under favourable conditions. A leaf of 
this kind, taken with the whole stalk to it, and the stalk 
inserted as a cutting, will soon form a regular, solid 
bulb from the warty matter sent down by the leaf and 
stalk, and this bulb will produce a bud and shoot in 
five or six weeks. 
Now, does it not seem very feasible that, if two such 
leaves were first united together by inarching their foot¬ 
stalks, and then planting them as one cutting, that in¬ 
stead of two little bulbs they would expend their juices 
in the formation of only one bulb ; or even if a disposi¬ 
tion to form two bulbs showed itself, could it not be sub¬ 
dued, and so the union of the two leaves be forced to 
form only one bulb ? 
The next question is, would one such bulb form two 
buds, or two sets of buds, each of which sustaining the 
character of one of the leaves only ? and if so, would it 
be possible, in the next trial, so to manage the issue of 
two combined leaves, as that it would produce but one 
set of buds only? We see no dilliculty in arriving at 
conclusive answers to these questions. We shall, there¬ 
fore, show how the experiment is to be handled, so as 
to insure, as much as possible, the exact degree we our¬ 
selves would aim at. 
First, make choice of any two kinds of Gloxinia; we 
say kinds, because there is now no limit between species 
and varieties in the genus, and kind includes both spe¬ 
cies and varieties; let the two be of dill'ereut colours, 
force them into strong growth, full in the sun—the 
back of a cucumber bed would be the best place, on 
account of the air being admitted over them. When 
the leaves are fully ripe, or say, when the flower-buds 
rise prominently, take one leaf from each plant, cutting 
the footstalk as low as is safe to do so; then cut oil’a slice 
from the front part of each of the stalks, about an inch- 
aud-n-half long, forming the bottom of each into a sharp 
wedge; after that, splice the two together, and bind 
