October 29, 1904. 
The Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Farewell ye vanishing flowers, that shone in my fairy wreath so bright and brief.”— Moore. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles. 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World 
will give a cash, prize of Ten Shillings for 
THE BEST PARAGRAPH, Or SHORT ARTICLE, Sent 1 
by readers during the week. The Editor’s 
judgment must be considered final, and he will s 
be at liberty to use any of the contributions j 
sent in. The paragraph, or article, must not s 
EXCEED ONE COLUMN IN LENGTH, but the Value, 
rather than the length, of the article will be 
considered in making the award. Competitors 
may send in items of new^ or comments on 
news; hints of practical interest to gar- ; 
deners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; > 
successful methods of propagating plants ! 
usually considered difficult; or contributions ’ 
ON ANY SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE ) 
OF gardening proper. Letters should be s 
addressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi- / 
tion,’’ ana posted not later than Friday night > 
to ensure insertion in the issue of next week. ;> 
The following Coloured : 
Plates have appeared in 
recent numbers:— 
July 4 — APHELANDRA AURANTIACA > 
ROEZLII. 
August 1.—BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA. i 
September 12.—SIX NEW DAFFODILS. 
October 3— LILIUM AURATUM PLA- 
TYPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. X 
Novembei 14.—ROSE MME. N. LEVA- > 
VASSEUR 
January ’ 2 —HYBRID TEA-SCENTED < 
ROSE IRENE. \ 
January 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA 
COUNTESS OF WARWICK. > 
February 27.— A FINE STRAIN OF < 
GLOXINIAS. 
April 2. — WISTARIA MULTIJUGA 
RUSSELLIANA. 
May 7 — CACTUS DAHLIA DAINTY. 
June 4.— CACTUS DAHLIA SPITFIRE. 
July 16.— ROSE LADY BATTERSEA. 
October 1. — GEUM HELDREICHI j 
SUPERBUM. 
October 15 — ROSE HUGH DICKSON. > 
Back numbers may be obtained from the ; 
publishers, price 2Jd. post free. > 
This week we present a Half-tone 
Plate of 
VATER SCENE AT ALDENHAM HOUSE.; 
Next week we shall give a Half-tone ; 
Plate of ; 
NEW SWEET PEAS. 
The prize last week in the Readers’ ) 
Competition was awarded to “ Con,” for ? 
his article on “Euphorbia jacquiniae- ; 
flora in pots and planted out,” p. 845. > 
Views and Reviews. 
Plant Breeding. 
In certain classes; of garden plants it will 
be the opinion of many British gardeners 
that plant, breeding in such oaises has been 
brought almost to its limits. In this: respect 
some will think of Chrysanthemums, while 
others, will think of Carnations, Sweet Peas, 
Primulas, or it, might be Orchids. Accord¬ 
ing to Mr. Luther Burbank, of Santa, Rosa, 
California,, plant breeding is only yet in its 
infancy, and when one considers what lie has 
to' say on the' subject, one would feel inclined 
to agree with him. 
Much has been done in the matter of plant 
breeding in, this: country, more or less, during 
the last three centuries, but, in most cases, 
especially the early cues, thei crossing must 
have been effected by natural means, or, os 
we should say, by chance. In referring the 
reader back to 300 years ago,, we intend to 
indicate the improvement that has been 
made amongst Apples and Pears chiefly, but 
even that would take: us hack to Roman 
times, for thei Romans themselves had many 
varieties of those hardy fruits that could not 
be regarded in any other light than, great 
improvements upon the wild originals. 
Those fine varietiesi had, in all probability, 
been the result of cross fertilisation by insect 
agency, and man merely selected the best 
of the seedlings which, turned up in his sow¬ 
ings or plantations, and perpetuated them 
for his own, particular benefit. 
A paper on the “Fundamental Principles 
of Plant Breeding,” by Luther Burbank, was 
read at the International Plant Breeding 
Conference at New York, and this paper 
appears in our contemporary, “ The Ameri¬ 
can, Florist,,” and ,a, few hints from this 
master of the art may be of service to our 
readers. The author thinks that natural 
and artificial crossing and hybr idisation must 
be held accountable for the, many strange 
sports that, turn up amongst plants and per¬ 
plex the cultivator. The latter is not, always 
pleased with the result of sporting, es¬ 
pecially when a new plant reverts or sports 
back to the original, thus deceiving the proud 
possessor of what he considered to be a 
stock of fine: new variety. 
Sporting may not always be the result 
of immediate antecedent crossing, a,s gar- 
denersi in this country are well a,ware. As 
an instance of what we mean, we may refer 
to tliei several beautiful varieties of Begonias 
which 'Originated as sports from B. Gloire 
de Lorraine. The last named itself was a 
hybrid, and after a number of years’ cultiva¬ 
tion it, gave' rise to the sports in question. 
The Chrysanthemum, offers another parallel, 
inasmuch a,si seedling varieties, after a few 
years’ cultivation, may give rise to, sports 
of quite a different colour. These are 
eagerly accepted by gardener and raiser 
alike, provided they are constant, but, they 
sonnetimes revert to the original colour, thus 
causing great disappointment and dissatis¬ 
faction.. 
Mr. Burbank brings in not only natural 
crossing but environment for the production 
of new forms in a wild state. He says that 
potential adaptations often exist in a, latent 
fashion through generations before making 
their appearance. In the face of such facts, 
lie considers there is nothing mysterious in 
the sudden appearance of sports. In 
gardens, however, lie says that intelligent 
crossing may he productive of more imme¬ 
diate results in the shape of plants valuable 
to 1 man. In a, state of nature we may say 
that many of the forms which do arise may 
not be adapted to live in the environment, 
and in consequence they die out. 
On the other hand, a clear distinction 
must, be made between operations of Nature 
and those of man. In a wild state only 
those seedling variations are likely to exist 
which are in some way or other advantageous 
to the species, while the improvements 
effected by man are often, forms of plants 
which could not live if' left to their own 
resources in a. wild state. If of any benefit 
to man, they are practically domesticated 
and tended by man, for his own particular 
benefit,. In a, wild state plants are icion- 
tinually being- subjected to hardships' in, one 
form or another, especially by competition 
with other wild plants, but when domesti¬ 
cated they a,re allowed the whole and sole 
use of the ground in which they are' planted, 
and all intruders are regarded as weeds to be 
eradicated by the cultivator. They are 
also accorded protection in various ways if 
they are too delicate to withstand the in¬ 
clemencies of climate. 
The author of the paper even goes further 
in, speaking of the capabilities of the skilful 
plant breeder. Not only can be raise new 
varieties possessing certain valuable quali¬ 
ties, but, lie cam even produce new species 
with the same precision, that machine,ry can 
be produced by the mechanic. In olden 
