March 0. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
435 
but never produces anything worth keeping.) I have 
also a largo crop of the Qraveolens breed, to flower this 
year. I want to work at improvement by successive 
generations without crossing. ( Qraveolens , without cross¬ 
ing, varies as much in leaf as Fair Helen, and is 
capricious about strange pollen.) I think much is to 
be done in this way with some plants. I got ono seed 
from Diadematum rubescens, but my gardenor says it 
did not germinate; it was a healthy, good one, however, 
and t have told him to keep the pot and look out for its 
coming up now. (You will never see more of it.) The 
absence of the master is certainly not propitious in 
these matters, however good the man may be, and 
mine is a capital one, assisting me in all my vagaries, 
which, save the mark, arc Legion. 
Spleenii and Diadematum bicolor are surely the same 
plant in a different sporting state. (Very likely.) We 
want systematic crossing between the fancies and the 
big sorts; much is to be done without going beyond this. 
1 only obtained one truss of bloom from your Fulgidum, 
and did not get a cross from its pollen. (Fulgidum re¬ 
fused the pollen of all the new sorts we tried.) I saw the 
plant called Scarlet Unique, at Northampton; but it is 
of the Ignescens strain, and no relation to the dark real 
Unique. Henderson has the old Incomparable, which is 
a free seeder of that race. I have never seen the true 
More's Victory. The plant now known by that namo is 
the Nutans of Sweet. They are very much alike, but the 
Victory does not nod. The said Nutans ripened me one 
seed, and I have a plant from it not yet flowered. It 
will go hard with me if I do not get Crassicaule before 
the season is over. ( Crassicaule is at Kew, but it might 
as well be at Sebastopol as far as these experiments are 
concerned.) Slirubland Pet absolutely refuses to breed. 
(The more’s the pity; but there are other varieties of that 
breed.) In hybridizing, I always use a magnifying-glass 
of sufficient power to define pollen grains, and to tell me 
if there is any hostile pollen at work before I take a bloom 
in band. After the anthers are romoved from a flower, 
it is comparatively safe, as bees and other pollen-seeking 
insects then pass it by invariably, as far as I have 
observed. I am still of opinion that Geraniums for¬ 
warded or forced in the stove are much inclined to 
seed; and, of course, the early ripening and sowing of 
the seed is of permanent importance. 
I have raised some new crossed Begonias. Gordon 
has them all at Chiswick. (He had somo of them at the 
meeting on the 6th of February.) Acuminata by 
Fuschioides is pretty and coral-like. The others are 
amongst Insignis, Manicata, and Crassicaulis. Their 
foliage is good, but they flowered while I was in Italy. 
My gardener reported them good. I have three times 
failed to raise Diseolor-Cinnaharina. This would bo the 
cross of crosses; nearly hardy, certainly in Devon¬ 
shire. I sowed seeds of it just before I left England. 
A seedling from common yellow Hirsutum, crossed with 
the Woodbine, flowered last summer; Hirsutum the 
mother. Habit of Woodbine, leaf hairy; flowers small, 
because cramped in a pot; very sweet. Thus the father 
communicates fragrance. 
Cherianthus Marshallii gave me, last year, a blossom 
sporting half yellow, of the colour of Alpinus —I mean, 
with a yellow stripe. Mr. Appleby has taken up with 
the Primrose fancy, I see. I have been at it four years, 
and told him so. I have only got one rise out of 
them—a lovely paper-white, constantly peduucled, of 
great size and consistency, and fringed; the whites 
came out in the third generation ; only one or two 
coloured plants appeared. The Cowslip crossed with 
the Primrose produced gelatinous amorphous seeds with¬ 
out germ, as distant crosses are said to do. I believe 
they will cross the other way; but my evidence is not 
quite perfect. 
The plant which puzzled your correspondent, with j 
yellow egg-like fruit, on a balcony, would be Passijlora 
carulea, if in Ireland or Devon. This must be crossed 
by the purple Oranadilla. The produce might be hardy, 
and, according to Knight’s experiments, the fruit would 
be good, perhaps improved. Cairulea should be the 
male. (I have failed with this experiment, over and over 
again.) 
1 have not yet had time to try any bottom-beat expe¬ 
riments in the open air; but! havo done this much : 
I covered my furnace-holes, which are close together 
and in a large’ excavation with brick archwork, and 
made rockwork on it. Everything did admirably iu the 
summer, and I expect the delicate things will stand the 
winter; for the cavern below is tolerably warm. The 
double Income-tax, and war in prospect, modifies one’s 
extravagance in these matters. 
I fear your Carrot and Parsnip experiment will fail, 
the roots being biennial, at least, of the class that seed 
and die the second year, tho seed being manufactured 
out of the root produced for that purpose iu the first 
year. What would a Carrot do if all the flowers were 
picked off? 
I have this moment received the last Cottage 
Gardener, and see your description of hybrid Begonias 
at the Horticultural Society’s rooms ; the last three are 
mine. I suppose the pretty Acuminata one was not in 
flower. 1 must do Incarnata and Fuschioides this year; 
the produce would leave, I think, scarcely anything to 
be desired. 
I have paid one visit to the Glasnevin Gardens 
here, and was kindly received by Mr. Moore. When 
the weather breaks up I shall improve my acquaint¬ 
ance with him, and the gardens, which are good. I 
got from him an old desideratum of mine— Mantisia 
saltatoria, which appears to be as little known as it is 
curious and beautiful. (It is at Kcw, or was lately.) I 
fancy it is miffy while dry in the winter, and apt to 
shrivel and disappear; perhaps such things may be kept 
too dry. (Exactly so.) The Oynerium does well here. 
Apropos of this plant; both Mr. Moore and myself 
suspect that male and female plants may come from the 
same plant by slips, as in the Hautbois Strawberry by 
runners. (We should not wonder at all if it did—an 
excellent idea.)— Gladiator. 
THE LAST OF HIS LINE. 
(Concluded from page 380.) 
By the Authoress of “My Flowers.'' 
It is striking and wonderful to perceive, in the histories of 
mankind, how many opportunities 'arc given to them of re¬ 
pentance and amendment of life; how many calls and 
providences they meet with ; and how plainly their wild or 
disastrous career is their own following out, and not the 
hard decree of Him who “ wouldeth not that any should 
perish,” but that all should come unto everlasting life. 
Matilda B-became the wife of Mr. Watson. He had 
a handsome house in a country town through which his 
coach ran; it was well furnished and appointed. Mrs. W atson 
had plenty of money, a husband who admired and delighted 
in her, and every requisite for outward happiness. Sir 
Charles, as might he supposed, was rejoiced at the unex¬ 
pected good fortune of his daughter. From vice, poverty, 
and desperation, she was placed in comfort and respectability 
beyond all expectation, or, indeed, probability. Far beneath 
her own rank she certainly stood ; but after her past conduct, 
pride must be set aside, and he must be joyiul to leel that 
she was snatched from ruin, and placed above want and care. 
Respectable mediocrity far outstrips vicious, unworthy aris¬ 
tocracy, and Sir Charles B-, with all his proud sense of 
birth and title, was thankful and contented to see his 
daughter the wife of a coach-proprietor. He paid his first 
visit to her house doubtless with mingled feelings; blithe 
sat at a plentiful table, drove out in a handsome carriage, 
