284 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 31, 1898. 
cellent plants, but which only flower a year after 
grafting, the bud remaining in the latent state all the 
winter; thus a Rose received in November, 1898, 
would be budded about July, 1899, and only 
flower in 1900. 
The Cleft-graft on the Sweet-brier root collar, 
which we recommend, enables the amateur to 
multiply novelties as soon as received ; the plants 
are excellent as regards hardiness, and no special 
material is needed. This is no new discovery, for 
our great-grandfather employed it in 1795. when he 
was gardener to Admiral Bougainville. This graft, 
much employed in some horticultural centres, is quite 
unknown in others; it is made from October to 
February, but that made in autumn always gives 
much the better results. 
Take some young Sweet-brier seedlings about the 
size of a pencil with a very straight collar ; cleave this 
collar lengthwise on J of its diameter and introduce 
a scion, with two buds, of the variety to be multi¬ 
plied. Great care must be given to make the inner 
sides of the bark (that of root and scion) coincide 
perfectly ; bind with coarse sack thread and coat the 
joinings with grafting wax. The wood of the scions 
must be well lignified and not shrivelled by dryness. 
When finished place the grafts under a garden bell- 
glass, in damp sand, an inch or two apart, only the 
last bud being outside the sand, which must not be 
too damp, but sufficiently so to dispense with water¬ 
ing the grafts under the bellglass before the first 
spring. 
During frost dead leaves are placed around the 
bellglass, and a straw mat on the top. As much 
light as possible is given, but much sunshine avoided ; 
a little air is only given when the grafts are well 
joined, that is, in March or April, for November 
grafts. The young Rose trees are then gradually 
accustomed to the air, so that during the beginning of 
May, in the Paris climate, the bellglass may be 
removed entirely. 
The roots of the R. polyantha type (read R. multi¬ 
flora, Thunberg, 1781), can also be employed. This 
interesting Asiatic species gives excellent results. It 
grows very easily and emits roots with wonderful 
readiness, which can be cut into pieces of 3 in. or 
4 in. in length, and a cleft graft made on each.— 
Agriculture Moderne, October 30th, 1898. 
SOME INTERESTING PLANTS. 
At the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 
on the 13th inst., the Rev. Professor Henslow gave 
the fifth and last of his series of lectures for the 
year on some of the most interesting of the plants 
exhibited. The audience, although not so large as 
usual, was fully as appreciative. 
Bigeneric hybrids formed the Professor's first 
theme. We boasted, he said, that in classifying our 
plants we followed the natural system, and yet, now 
and again, certain events would show how arbitrary 
were some of the distinctions made by botanists. 
Darwin, in discussing the origin of species and the 
formation of new ones, had shown that new species 
were probably often formed by the destruction of the 
links or forms connecting two varieties. A species 
was only to be recognised by its possession of certain 
characters which were believed to be constant. 
Taking Laelia and Cattleya as instances of groups of 
plants that had been placed in different genera, he 
said that in the Genera Plantarum about balf-a-dozen 
other genera separated them. In Cattleya there 
were four pollen masses, in Laelia, eight, and there 
were three other genera connecting these two, in 
which the dwarfing of four pollen masses might be 
seen in as many stages. The lecturer was of opinion 
that these five genera ought not to be separated, as 
their members would all inter-cross with the greatest 
ease. Excepting the Laelia group the number of 
bigeneric hybrids could be counted on the fingers of 
the hand. 
Speaking of that handsome class of plants, the 
hybrid Javan Rhododendrons, he said that they had 
originated from five or six species introduced by Mr. 
Veitch, Senior, of Exeter, from Java and Sumatra, 
These species had been since crossed and re-crossed 
many times, so that in the beautiful modern forms 
five or six species were embedded. 
Asparagus Sprengeri was next passed under re¬ 
view. In the case of the common garden Asparagus 
the bunch of needle-like processes borne on minute 
scales had puzzled botanists to decide whether they 
were leaves or branches. In Asparagus Sprengeri, 
however, they were at once seen to be leaves. 
Turning to the consideration of the winter-flowering 
Begonias Winter Cheer and Gloire de Lorraine, the 
reverend gentleman spoke of the peculiarity of the 
latter variety in that it had up to the present pro¬ 
duced only male flowers. One of the plants ex¬ 
hibited by Mr. May that day was carrying two or 
three female flowers for the first time on record. The 
popular tuberous Begonias had been brought into 
existence during the last thirty-five years,having been 
all obtained by the inter-crossing of three species in¬ 
troduced from the Southern Pacific regions. A few 
years ago Professor Balfour explored the Island of 
Socotra, and found there a new Begonia, which had 
been named B. socotrana. By crossing this species 
and some of the tuberous rooted varieties some fine 
winter-flowering forms, of which Winter Cheer was 
one, had been obtained. 
Dracaena sanderiana and D. godseffiana were 
employed by the lecturer to illustrate the dissimi¬ 
larity of the plants placed by botanists in the same 
genus. The close resemblance of A. godseffiana to 
Aucuba japonica was remarked. The peculiar de¬ 
vice in Aristolochia whereby the cross-fertilisation 
of the flowers was insured by a ring of spine-like 
hairs pointing downwards in the tube was next com¬ 
mented upon, a flower of A. gigas ornithocephala 
being shown, and its structure explained. 
Oxalis crenata gave rise to a detailed description 
of some of the members of the genus, particularly 
O. ceraua. This species, said the lecturer, was sent 
to Malta by Father Jacinto in the year 1806, and 
was by him planted in the botanic gardens in the 
island. Although the plant, being dimorphic, did 
not set its seed naturally at Malta, it multiplied 
itself very rapidly by means of tubers. So freely 
and persistently did the plant form these tubers that 
it would develop them after it had been pulled up 
and laid to wither in the sun. From Malta it had 
been taken to the Orange gardens at Cairo, and it 
had spread as rapidly in Egypt as in Malta, so that 
at the present time it was very abundant on both 
sides of the Mediterranean. 
The last subject to be considered was the Cardoon, 
which the lecturer remarked was not so much grown 
in this country as it was on the Continent. It was 
practically the same, however, as the Globe Arti¬ 
choke, which had been cultivated from very ancient 
times for the sake of its globular, succulent heads. 
When Pliny said, in abusing the luxurious tastes of 
the rich Romans of his day that " not even the 
Thistles were allowed to the slaves to eat,” he was 
alluding to the Globe Artichoke, which was not 
unlike a Thistle in appearance. 
A vote of thanks to the lecturer brought the 
meeting to a close. 
RHUBARB FORCING. 
It is difficult to understand why means are taken to 
blanch Rhubarb during the winter months. Often 
this old practice is followed persistently where it 
might be avoided. Where there are no glasshouses 
or warm outhouses manure and other fermenting 
material have to be used, but the quality of the 
Rhubarb is all the same, watery, and deficient in 
flavour. The early Rhubarb sent to market by 
those who are engaged in the trade is of much ex¬ 
cellence, being crisp and solid. Those who have 
space inside vineries or heated pits to spare have 
little trouble in raising good stalks. In an extensive 
market establishment where we were employed in 
our early gardening days, they carted large quanti¬ 
ties of roots from the grounds, and packed them 
under the stages of plant houses. The drip from 
the plants was all the moisture the roots received, 
and capital stuff was sent in loads to market from 
early in December till outdoor produce was ready. 
We know a market man who grows many acres for 
market purposes, and the roots are packed closely 
in what was once a cattle house. It is heated, and 
when the stalks are large enough they get supplies 
of fresh air, which renders them crisp, and the 
attractive crimson colour induces purchasers to give 
the highest price. This friend (who grows fruit and 
plants extensively under glass) finds Rhubarb most 
profitable, and failure is never thought of. A good 
hit was made by a farmer in Rhubarb forcing many 
years ago. His extensive cattle sheds were cleared 
of the whole stock by rinderpest, but not to lose all 
the use of his buildings he purchased from market 
gardeners large quantities of roots of Rhubarb, 
packed his buildings full, and, I think, used warm 
manure to start growth. The speculation was a 
profitable one. In provincial towns early Rhubarb 
is purchased readily for retailing from shops. Even 
in villages one may see fine stalks in shop windows. 
For first supply we prefer Prince Albert, then follows 
Victoria .—An Old Grower. 
- 
AUSTRALIAN PASTURE GRASSES. 
The marvellous abundance of beef and mutton in 
Australia is largely due not only to the enormous 
extent of the area devoted to pastoral purposes, but 
also to the rich luxuriance of the native grasses, of 
which, so far as is at present known, there are 198 
species and thirty-three well-defined varieties in¬ 
digenous to New South Wales. Out of this number 
are sixteen species which, when old, are somewhat 
dreaded by pastoralists in the interior districts, on 
account of their long seed awns, or sharp-pointed 
seeds or leaves. Most of these undesirable grasses 
are really good pasture plants whilst young, and it is 
only at the season of ripening their seeds that they 
become troublesome to sheep. 
Among the more valuable of the native grasses is 
the " bent grass,” a slender, tufted grass, growing 
from six inches to one and a-half feet high, which, 
together with two other species of the same genus, 
forms a considerable percentage of the herbage in 
some pastures on the high tablelands, more particu¬ 
larly in the southern portion of the colony. During 
the summer months these grasses yield a fair amount 
of rich herbage, which sheep eat with avidity. The 
•' blue grass ” is generally found growing, from one 
to two feet high, in the coastal districts and in the 
colder parts of the colony. It grows on various 
soils, but it appears to succeed best and yield more 
herbage on those of a moderately strong loamy 
nature. In sheltered situations it makes consider¬ 
able growth during the winter months ; therefore, it 
is doubly valuable to the grazier. 
Kangaroo grass and Mitchell grass also enjoy a 
good repute for their fattening qualities. The seeds 
of the latter at one time constituted an important 
food of the aborigines. Oat grass is found on the 
southern mountains, where it forms a considerable 
proportion of the alpine herbage. It generally 
attains a height of from four to five feet. The Wal¬ 
laby grass is common throughout the colony. The 
Love grass, of which there are several varieties, 
grows from one to four feet in height, both on good 
and on poor soils. When growing on good land 
these grasses yield a great amount of rich, succulent 
herbage, of which all herbivora are remarkably fond, 
and fatten on. The seeds usually ripen during the 
summer months. 
Twelve other species of the grass are found in the 
pastures in varying proportions over nearly the whole 
of the colony. Stockmen call certain of them “ never 
fail," on account of their drought-enduring qualities. 
Many will withstand a phenomenal amount of dry 
weather, and most are excellent pasture grasses. 
The Australian Millet is found over nearly the whole 
of the colony, from the coastal districts to the far 
interior, and in some places is very plentiful. In 
moist places, and by the side of watercourses, this 
grass grows four feet high, but on the plains it rarely 
exceeds a couple of feet in height. In all its varied 
forms-it yields a valuable herbage. At one time the 
aborigines used to collect the seeds in great quanti¬ 
ties, grind them between stones, make the meal into 
cakes, and use them as an article of food. 
The yellow flowered Panic-grass, growing from 
one to three feet in height, is generally found on the 
western plains. On good soils it gives a great 
quantity of rich, succulent herbage, and is said to be 
one of the best fattening grasses in the interior. It 
produces an enormous amount of seed ; in fact, the 
panicles are often so full and heavy with grain that 
they are weighed down to the ground. Twenty-eight 
other species of the grass are found in the colony, 
and they form a large percentage of the herbage in the 
pastures in the coastal districts, on the high table¬ 
lands, and in the interior. The Sugar grass is most 
common in the interior districts, and, when in flower, 
is easily recognised amongst other grasses by its 
rich, brown, silky spikes. It is generally found 
growing'on the richest of soils, and often on deep 
alluvial flats bordering rivers and creeks. During 
the summer months, in an ordinary season, it 
produces a great bulk of rich, succulent, sweet 
herbage, much relished by all herbivora. It attains 
a height of about four feet. 
