144 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 14, 1903. 
west of England and Scotland are similarly affected by the 
genial waters of the stream; and even further north, after 
being subjected to the blustering gales and wild sweep of the 
North Atlantic Ocean, the mild waters pass round Cape Wrath 
and through the Pent-land Firth, passing down the east coast 
of Scotland and affecting its shores in much the same way as 
on the north-east coast of Ireland, where Castlewellan is 
situated. The latter place is well sheltered likewise with old 
forest trees, which might well be imitated in many parts of 
this country to the great advantage of the districts concerned. 
Lord Annesley relates more than one strange experience with 
the Poison Oak or Ivy, which might well serve as an additional 
warning to those already recorded, including that which we 
made about two years ago concerning the baneful effect of 
this climber on the walls of a rural residence in Surrey. It 
was not sufficient to disseminate this climber under its true 
name of Rhus Toxicodendron, but planters and cultivators must 
needs distribute it under the erroneous name of Ampelopsis 
Hoggii, thus disarming suspicion by utilising a name which 
would indicate a relationship with the Grape Vine and its con¬ 
geners. 
Not all people suffer alike from the effects of this climber, 
any more than in the case of Primula obco-nica and others 
that have been blamed ; but the risk of grievous injury is too 
great to trifle with the experiment of finding out the truth of 
it from personal experience. A curious instance was that in 
which a number of people, allured by the beauty of the autumn 
tints, used the shoots for church decoration, and one after 
another became seriously unwell. Another lady, convinced of 
the unhealthy character of her country dwelling, left it for 
another, but was so enamoured with the beauty of the 
climber that she had it taken to the neAv place, repeating the 
evil. Truly, the botanist, schoolmaster, and horticultural in¬ 
structor have yet much to do to- educate the people as to the 
poisonous nature of certain plants and the harmless character 
of others. 
Amongst the rarer plants that succeed at Castlewellan we 
might mention the hardy Japanese Banana (Musa Basjoo), 
rarely found outside the houses- of botanical gardens in this 
country. Other notable things are- Pourtliiaea villosa, Hovenia 
dulcis, Ardisia japo-nica, Daphniphyllum glaucescens, D. jezoen- 
sis, D. macropodium variegatum, Enkianthus japonicus, Pitto- 
sporum Tobira, Olea fragrans, Acanthopanax ricinifolium, 
Pittosporum eugenioide-s-, and many others, of which the names 
only are here mentioned. The best of all the latter is con¬ 
sidered to be P. Colenso-i, owing to its colour and graceful 
habit. One must needs go to Devon and other parts of the 
south-west to see the species of Leptospermum grown in the 
open air as ordinary shrubs- Fine things also are Acacia 
Melanoxylon, Grevillea rosmarinifolia, Drimys aromatica, 
Sollya lieterophylla, Teco-ma australis-, and many other Austra¬ 
lian shrubs. The- author considers Japan as the most- fertile 
source from which to- obtain beautiful trees and shrubs that 
would prove hardy in this country. Many gardens are familiar 
with a large proportion of them, though they are as often grown 
in the greenhouse or conservatory as in the open air, and then 
only in the more favoured localities or maritime districts of 
the south and west-. 
One can only imagine the advantage to Kew if it had been 
situate-d on the littoral of some southern country where some 
hundreds of trees and shrubs might ha-ve been added to the 
list of hardy subjects. Ole-aria Haas-tii, the New Zealand 
Daisy Bush, has recently become popular and been widely dis¬ 
tributed in gardens in Britain. Would not- other subjects, both 
e-vergreen and deciduous, prove equally hardy if properly tried 
in various parts of Britain. We have seen the Olearia in 
question suffer considerably in severe winters before it- became 
sufficiently established, though after that event- it has eve-ry 
appearance of being thoroughly hardy. It- would seem that- a 
fair extension of the root system and the hardening of the wood 
add much to the actual hardiness of certain subjects. 
Further experiment in acclimatising many shrubs, or 
thoroughly testing them is much needed, and we should like 
to see many landed proprietors in this country following the 
example of the Earl of Annesley. Lord Ilchester, of Holland 
House, Kensington, and Abbotsbury, Dorset, has been particu¬ 
larly active in this respect ; but the London clay on which 
Holland House is situated places him under great inconve¬ 
niences ; ye-t lie has been able to accomplish much. Moreover, 
he is, we believe, the only one within the metropolitan area 
who has been at all enterprising in this respect. In the matter 
of trees and shrubs, independently of non-woody subjects, 
Castlewellan and Holland House might be considered as no 
mean rivals of Kew. 
Sweet Peas and Bees. 
In reference to what “ T. N. C.” says about the above subject, 
I must caution him against taking a statement too specifically 
when it is meant to be general. Mr. Percy Groom, in saying 
that the flowers of the Papilonaceae are specially constructed 
for pollination by bees, did not mean that all plants of that 
group were actually pollinated by bees, as lie states other facts 
on the contrary. 
It is a fact that the pollen of Sweet Peas is shed before the 
stigma comes to maturity, and not only so, but before the 
flowers themselves, have reached their full size. The pollen, 
although shed, is neither lost to the flower nor destroyed by 
rain, nor carried away by insects, as it is safely stored in the 
kee-l of the flower until the latter reaches full size, which may 
be in the course of twenty-four or forty-eight hours after the 
pollen is she-d ; so that there is neither time for the pollen to 
lose its fertility nor to get lost. When bees visit newly-opened 
flowers- they alight upon the wings, and the latter being 
slightly adherent to the keel, this action has the effect of press¬ 
ing the latter down, and thus exposing both the stigma and the 
pollen. From this point of view, the pollen is safely housed 
until the visit of the bee causes the stigma to be pushed through 
the pollen, and the stigma, being bearded on the face, becomes 
covered with the pollen o-f the same flower. Thus the whole 
story is that although the Sweet Pea is self-fertilising, it is 
effected by bees or other large insects which may be large or 
heavy enough to depress the wings of the flower. 
In the space at my disposal it is not possible to discuss the 
whole matter, or even the questions that have been practically 
set by ‘‘ T. N. C.” for me to define or answer, but a return 
could be made to the subject if my answer is not sufficiently 
clear. 
With reference to degenerate flowers, it would be well for all 
concerned to have a clear idea on the point of view from 
which each one regards the subject. Small flowers need not 
be degenerate, from the plant’s point of view, seeing they not 
only produce perfect- seeds, but- do so freely. Distinction must- 
be made between degenerate flo-wers- and imperfect flowers. 
From man’s point of view, a degenerate flower would be one 
that has fallen away in point of size and colour. We can 
hardly regard the Sweet- Pe-a as a retrogressive flower from this 
point of view, even although self-fertilising, because the flowers 
are often larger and a deeper colour than they were before 
being taken in hand by man. But “ T. N. C.” must remember 
that neither the Sweet Pea nor the Garden Pea is a British 
plant, so that possibly the proper insects are not natives of 
this country. 
Sweet Peas and Garden Peas may have become self-fertilis¬ 
ing since- they were cultivated by man. The- fact that Sweet 
Peas and Garden Peas can be and are grown in proximity and 
ye-t come- true should be sufficient to demonstrate that the 
flowers are not dependent upon foreign pollen for the produc¬ 
tion of seed. A variety of one colour could not possibly fer¬ 
tilise one of a different colour without leaving their marks in¬ 
delibly on the flowers of the- progeny. In my letter of Decem¬ 
ber 13th last I gave a short account of how a variety may be 
cross-fertilised by bees by the removal of the anthers before 
the natural expansion of the flowers. There was no doubt 
about the results. The- white- flowered Queen of England was 
the variety operated upon, and the resulting progeny were any¬ 
thing but white. J. Fraser. 
