608 
May 18, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
IS GARDENING A SCIENCE? 
(Continued from p. 592 .) 
Therefore, make your garden interesting ; no 
matter how small it is, let Nature guide you in all 
your undertakings— 
" For Nature ne’er deserts the wiss and pure ; 
No plot so barren be, but Nature there ; 
No waste so vacant but may well employ 
Each faculty of sense and keep the heait 
Awake to love and beauty." 
So wrote the poet. Therefore, garden naturally, 
and you will garden finely ; then will your garden be 
to you an endless source of delight. 
Now we must pass on to notice some of the most 
important operations in connection with the garden, 
and where art accompanied science. 
The first is the propagation of plants by grafting 
and budding. Would you apply the same definition 
to this operation as you would to work doDe by a 
carpenter, or any other artisan, and call it art ? I 
say, most emphatically no. 
Before this operation can be performed by the 
gardener, what has he to consider ? What is the 
first great natural law which guides him ? Why, the 
law of affinity, because where there is no affinity, 
there can be no reciprocity, and if no reciprocity then 
is your labour in vain, in attempting to propagate by 
grafting. Is this science or is this art ? Can art 
solve these problems for you ? No ; then I say that 
gardening is a science,because nature is the gardener’s 
guide. 
Then there is another very important point which 
confronts the propagator by grafting, and it is this. 
If reciprocity is effected will there be that mutual 
agreement between scion and stock, to ensure that 
the union is beneficial to both, so that the strong 
might help to carry the infirmity of the weak, and 
the weak mitigate as it were the barrenness of the 
strong, so that both become productive ? Will art 
answer this question for us, or to whom are we to 
appeal ? Why, to Nature ! she can solve the difficulty 
for us. Then is gardening a science or is it an art ? 
Again, I will say that this operation has to be per¬ 
formed with a great amount of dexterity and skill on 
the part of the operator. 
Can art teach you anything concerning this 
mysterious phenomenon ? I trow not. Here you are 
trying to effect a change and inter-change of blood ; 
this is gralting, this is science. 
The poet speaking of grafting says : 
The engrafted Apple blending kindly growth, 
Transforms the kindred Pear tree nothing loth, 
Leaves barren habits in the native woods 
And joys to yield a fruitage apt for food, 
Makes smooth the spring Plums and prickly thorns, 
And with gay foliage every bojgh adorns." 
Here is a field for labour. Much has been 
accomplised in the past and without a doubt much 
more might be attained. Undoubtedly there are 
many plants yet, which have a blood relationship 
with one another, and which would be improved if a 
reciprocal union could be brought about. And I 
think there are few places which lend themselves 
more kindly to experiments than a private garden. 
Now we come to another very important operation 
in connection with the garden, and one too, which is 
all the better for a little scientific skill displayed, and 
that is hybridising and cross-breeding. I shall 
allude to hybridising and cross-breeding done only 
by human agency, and that very briefly. 
Darwin said: “ One more species added to the 
infinitude of already existing species by human 
means, is more important and interesting than a host 
added by natural means. ' 
Dr. Lindley said: "Hybridising is a game of 
chance played between man and plant, it is in some 
respects a matter of hazard, and we all know how 
much more excitement is produced by uncertain than 
by certain results. What increases the charm of the 
game is, that although the end of it may be doubtful, 
yet a good player can judge of the issue with toler¬ 
able confidence ; and that skill and judgment have in 
this case also, all their customary value." To all 
this I say " Amen 1 It is sound argument. Here as 
elsewhere skill has its value. 
Well, then, if a gocd player can tell pretty nearly 
what the results are to be, I maintain a good player 
should start with these results in view. 
It might be to increase the vigour of a plant, to 
improve its flower, or its fruit, or its habit, but what¬ 
ever the end in view, he must adopt the means best 
calculated to attain that end. 
Then where is he to apply for information upon 
this most important question ? 
If he wishes to improve the habit of his plant, the 
colour of his flower, or the quality of the fruit, can 
art teach him ? Which shall be the male and which 
the female? I say no. Then where is the knowledge 
to be sought after and the information gained ? From 
Nature. Then I say gardening is a science. 
Moreover there is again in this case the question 
of affinity, or relationship. Will art help him here 
in this difficult task ? Not a bit of it. Here, too, 
Nature must be his guide, he has to learn what her 
laws have revealed in the past relative to the 
question of affinity, then he will have guidance for 
the future. 
Another point in connection with this question, in 
which scientific skill is required, is in the selection 
of pollen grains. 
According to expert experience, which, of course, 
is the most reliable of all, a hybrid cross can be 
effected far more successfully by the selection of the 
pollen grains, than by using it haphazardly, as taken 
from another plant in the ordinary way. 
Darwin says (and I believe it to be correct) " that 
the grains which are the most irregular in outline, 
and those with the greatest abnormal developments, 
are the grains which are the best to effect a 
hybrid.” 
Again Darwin asserts that dimorphism plays an 
important part in the development of pollen, in 
those species of plants where dimorphism prevails. 
According to his experience, he invariably found 
that the stamens with the shortest filaments or stalks 
carry the largest pollen grains. Then, of course, 
this would be the pollen to be selected if you 
wanted to effect a cross between two dimorphic 
species. 
The selection of the pollen by dimorphism is 
simple, indeed, but to select the pollen from ordinary 
anther lobes, and where both filaments and anthers 
resemble each other, to select the largest grains 
from these is an operation which requires very 
careful manipulation on the part of the operator. 
There is one thing I am conclusively convinced of, 
and it is this : in all the operations of crossing plants, 
whether it be a hybrid cross or merely the crossing 
of varieties, do away with the brush altogether, and 
instead take the stamen clean away from the flower, 
which forms the male, and strike the anther lobe 
carefully across the stigma of the female. By this 
means you save the largest pollen grains, and these 
invariably give the best results. 
Whereas by turmoiling and turning the pollen 
over and over, and trying to carry it from one flower 
to another, by means of a brush, it stands to 
reason that the best and largest and plumpest of 
the grains fall to the ground, and the chances for 
the best results are lost. Is this science or is it art ? 
Another point in connection with hybridising, and 
it is this, that the seedlings obtained from these 
crosses usually bear the characteristics of both 
parents. But in what way ? How does the male parent 
and in what way does the female parent stamp their 
likeness upon the offspring ? Is there a law which 
Nature usually follows with these hybrids? Yes; 
and it is this. In almost every instance the female 
parent stamps its form upon the offspring in its habit. 
With the male it is the torm of the flower or some 
characteristics of the essential organs which gener¬ 
ally marks its successois. 
•’Well," you say, "is this always the case with 
seedlings ? ” There are exceptions, and it is brought 
about in this way through vigour of one of the 
parents over the other. If a vigorous plant is used as 
the male, and the female is delicate in constitution, 
this vigorousness of the male will in most cases 
stamp itself indelibly upon the progeny. Therefore 
with these facts before us, if we set about this work 
of hybridising under Nature’s own light, we shall, 
depend upon it, play at this game with a great deal 
of certainty about it. 
Now one word upon crossing double flowers. As 
you all know there are double flowers, where the 
whole of the stamens unfold into petal form ; take 
the Begonia as an instance. 
Well, how are we to proceed with these in order 
to get the pollen necessary to effect the cross ? 
If you take the pollen from a single variety and 
put it upon a female double, will that bring the 
desired resuks ? No. Then what is necessary ? 
You must get the pollen from a double variety also. 
The plant which is to ba the male must be starved 
.down until these petals which have unfolded to make 
up the double flower come down again into staminal 
form; then you can obtain the pollen necessary for 
a progeny of doubles. 
Of course there are double flowers where the 
stamens do not all assume petal form, then, of 
course, nothing abnormal in the way of treatment 
has to be done to get pollen. Is the system of hy¬ 
bridising science or not, or how do you define it ? 
Another very important operation in connection 
with gardening is pruning, and, practised upon 
scientific principles, is one of inestimable value to 
horticulture. 
If well done, its effects upon plants are enormously 
beneficial; but if on the other hand it is prosecuted 
with anything like recklessness, then its mischievous 
consequences are about the wors that can be per¬ 
formed upon a plant ; for not only are its conse¬ 
quences felt at once, but they may spread over 
years. 
Why does it become a necessity that the branches 
of our trees and plants must be pruned ? Well, 
perhaps, the first consideration is to increase and 
improve the crops ; secondly, we desire a well pro¬ 
portioned tree, because where trees are grown ex¬ 
clusively for their beauty, they do not if left to them¬ 
selves always assume the outline most advantageous 
to attain the beauty which they are capable of 
attaining. Then if it is timber a tree is grown for, 
there are ofien branches which shoot out, and would, 
if left, have a very detrimental effect upon the quality 
of the timber. 
Well, then, we come to the most important of all 
pruning, and that is pruning for fruit production. 
In this branch of the profession also, has not science 
almost everything to teach us, or can art advance 
single handed, as it were, and bring Nature to 
adopt its line of action ? No ; Nature never forgets 
and never forgives, and if you violate one of her 
laws, so surely you will have to pay the penalty. 
But on the other hand, if the art of pruning is tem¬ 
pered with science, then, indeed, it does mend 
Nature or help her rather. 
Then comes the question. Which season of the year 
does Nature say is the most appropriate for the 
pruning of fruit trees? Why, she says the winter, 
during rest, when there can be no unnecessary waste 
of blood. 
JOHN CLAUDIUS LOUDON. 
(Continued prom p. 590.) 
After his marriage Loudon commenced to rewrite 
the Encyclopaedia of Gardening, which appeared in the 
course of 1831, so that he must have been very 
diligent. Previous to this, in October, 1830, he 
published the first part of Illustrations of Landscape 
Gardening and Garden Architecture, in atlas folio ; and 
being a work of considerable pretensions, and 
expensive, it found only a limited number of 
subscribers, so that he felt obliged to discontinue it 
after the issue of the third partin 1833. 
Previous to this, in the early part of 1831, he had 
an application to lay out a botanic garden at 
Birmingham, his wife’s native town. He agreed to 
do the work on payment of his expenses, and pro¬ 
ceeded to Birmingham, where he stayed about six 
weeks, accompanied by his wife. After this they 
made a tour through the north of England, visiting 
the lakes in Cumberland and Westmoreland. At 
Chester they first saw a copy of Paxton's Horticul¬ 
tural Register, the first rival to The Gardeners' 
Magazine, which at that time brought in £750 a year, 
but which gradually decreased in value from that 
date, tilt it was given up immediately after the death 
of Loudon 
After witnessing the beautiful scenery of the Lake 
District, they passed through Carlisle on their way 
to Scotland, which they entered by way of Longtown 
and Langbolme. At the latter place a fair was in 
progress, so that no resting place could be procured 
for the travellers, not even to sit down. Though 
they had travelled from Carlisle that day they had 
only one horse to draw the phaeton, and the animal 
was very much done up. The prospect of having to 
retrace their journey to Longtown, the only place 
they were assured of getting a bed for the night, was 
not very cheering, as the distance was twenty miles. 
Fortunately for the travellers, Loudon heard that 
Mr. Bell, of Woadhouselee, only a few miles from 
Langholme, had a fine collection of American plants, 
so he resolved to call and ask permission tosjetbem. 
