February 17. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
377 
them closely with a soft woollen thread, leaving only 
ahoiit a quarter-of-an inch bare at tho bottom. After 
drying for an hour or so they will be ready for insertion 
as one cutting; the two leaves otiglit to look face to face, 
and be so placed in the cutting-pot that one side of the 
s]3liced parts may rest against the side of the pot for 
safety, as that side is less likely to damp than the other 
which is covered in sand. The sand should be higher 
in that side of tho pot -where this doubled cutting is 
planted, and the water to be applied in the lowest side, 
so that no water may touch the spliced part. At the 
end of twelve or fourteen days after this, tho ball of 
sand, or very sandy peat, being damp throughout, will 
bear to be gently turned out of the pot and the progress of 
the bulb or bulbs below ascertained; then, if two separate 
bulbs appear, the edges of them next each other should 
bo dried a little, so as to cause them to unite and form, 
ultimately, but oue bulb. We believe, that the bud on 
a single bulb thus produced is always formed on that 
side of it which is immediately beneath tlie front part of 
the leaf; hence, our reason for slicing off that part from 
each of the two leaves to be united. As soon as the 
union bulb is full grown, and before the decay of the 
two leaves, it should be stimulated by increased heat 
and moisture to cause it to form a bud, or buds, and to 
grow, ere the force of the vegetable action is over for 
the season. 
Upon the same plan and principle, other experiments 
with different kinds of plants might be instituted, such 
as cuttings of two kinds of Dahlias, Pteonies, or, indeed, 
of such other plants as form tuberous or fleshy roots, 
from which the annual growth proceeds. Should it 
turn out, as we may reasonably suppose, that two united 
leaves will, each of them, form an independent bulb for 
itself, might we not endeavour to get the two to unite 
into one mass, and confine the future growth to one side 
only, and still be able to procure some share of the 
quality of the other side into this growth ? If that is 
practicable, how dexterously the beautiful shades and 
variations of the Oesriera zebrina might be inoculated 
into any of the allied kinds. 
Whatever may be tho event, the question, as it 
stands at present, is full of promise and very inviting. 
Let us now turn our attention to trees and shrubs, 
fruit bearers, or merely ornamental by their gaudy 
flowers, and bear in mind the experiment on the 
Willows (page 107), which goes to prove that a-year-old 
shoot, if once divested of its buds, is for ever afterwards 
incapable of reproducing adventitious buds, and conse¬ 
quently, that two such shoots cannot assist in the forma¬ 
tion of buds, from cellular matter formed by one or both 
of them, even were the two growths made to run into 
each other. But take two-year-old shoots, or, for greater 
certainty, say tliree-year-old wood, and inarch them 
together, keeping the buds on each as nearly opposite 
one another as can be; then, when the union is firmly 
made, let the buds on each shoot be destroyed, and all 
otlier buds also that may start from the same parts; 
now tho two shoots must be cut back to within one or 
two joints of the inarched part, and no more upward 
growth allowed to them, in order, if possible, to force a 
bud from the new matter between the two united 
shoots. D. B. 
FORSYTH MSS, 
(^Continued from page .“309.) 
Mr. Wedgewood having suggested the foundation of 
the London Horticultural Society, as mentioned in our 
last number, we find that he proceeded sedulously to 
strengthen the list of those who wonld aid it in its 
infancy; and that among those were the ^Tarquis of 
Lansdowne, Mr. Angerstein, and others of similar influ¬ 
ence, and similarly attached to gardening. On the 8th 
of hlarch, 1802, ho wrote as follows to Mr. Forsyth:— 
“ On the other side, you have a kind of preface to the rules 
of our intended Society, which I have drawn up at my leisure. 
I must trouble you to fix some hour that I can spend with 
you to talk this matter over, and put things in a train that 
we may put om- intentions in execution. Since I saw you, 
I have written to Dr. Smith,* explaining om’ intention, and 
hoping to have his concurrence in the scheme. He has 
given me a very obliging answer, and desired me to use his 
name as I thought proper. I hope we shall thus steer clear 
of all jealousies and animosities with other societies.” 
“ UOETICULTURAI. SOCIETY. 
“ Tn almost all the counties of Great Britain are now es¬ 
tablished societies for the improvement of agriculture, which 
have been attended with more or less success, by the intro¬ 
duction of new breeds of cattle, or new implements of hus¬ 
bandry, ttc. Some of these societies have considered 
orchards as a branch of agnculture which deserved peculiar 
attention, and have given premiums accordingly :—For ex¬ 
ample, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., in 
the Adelphi, and the Bath Agricultural Society. This last 
society has given a premium for raising new sorts of apples 
from the pippin. These appear to bo the only instances 
where any branch of gardening has been encouraged by the 
agricultural societies, and they only so far as they are consi¬ 
dered in an agricultural point of view. It is now proposed 
to form a society for the sole purpose of encouraging horti¬ 
culture in its dilferont branches, to form a repository for all 
the knowledge which can bo collected on this subject, and 
to give a stimulus to the exertions of individuals for its 
farther improvement. It is well known to all persons who 
have made inquiiies on this subject, that there are various 
facts relative to gardening confined to small districts, which 
would be of general service if communicated. These facts 
will be collected by the society, and the knowledge of them 
generally dispersed over the country. The following rules 
and regulations have been drawn up as the basis of the 
society, by which it will be clearly seen that there is no 
intention of interfering with any other society whatsoever, 
but, on the contrary, a wish to concur in the general im¬ 
provement of tho country.” 
Mr. Wedgewood was timid as to tho reception the 
proposed association would meet with from other socie¬ 
ties, but this nervousness was misplaced. The Liu- 
nsean did not object to the formation of a society having 
for its object the culture, and not the scientific arrange¬ 
ment, of some of its own subjects; and the Society of 
Arts had never made gardening one of its pet proteges. 
All, therefore, was to proceed over a smooth road and 
beneath a cloudless sky. It was not, however, until the 
appropriate spring time of 1804, that a sufficient num¬ 
ber of supporters had been obtained, and the plan was 
sufficiently matured for even a preliminary meeting. 
On the 7th of March, 1804, this meeting was held at 
* Sir J. E. Smith, President of the Linnman Society. 
