888 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
November 18, 1905. 
(2) A gardeners’ mutual improvement society 
by its very title suggests lectures, debates, 
essays,'and chats, which necessarily would be 
on some subject connected with horticulture. 
As many of these papers as possible should be 
given by members of the society, although 
occasionally some outsider might be asked to 
give a lecture to infuse a little more life into 
the meetings of the association. 
(3) Members should be encouraged to ask 
questions on matters relating to their pro¬ 
fession and work. There could he a certain 
time allowed for them on the agenda at each 
meeting, in addition to the discussion on the 
lecture, and they could be asked verbally, or 
be written on a slip of paper and handed to 
the secretary or placed in a “ question box.” 
Any member who might feel qualified to deal 
with the subject should then give his opinion 
or practical experience. 
(4) A good library of useful works on the 
theoretical, practical, and scientific aspects of 
horticulture ought to exist for the benefit of 
its members. Some of these books might be 
obtained as gifts from ladies and gentlemen 
interested in the society, others purchased by 
the committee. There are so many good 
works now in existence that it would be diffi¬ 
cult to make a selection for this paper, nor 
perhaps would it be wise to do so. The 
“ Gardeners’ Chronicle ” publishes a catalogue 
which would form a guide to anyone wishing 
to make a selection. 
(5) A good microscope and accessories, again, 
often prove very useful in determining fungus 
pests, the structure of plant forms, etc., and 
if one or more of the members are adepts at 
staining, mounting, and preparing objects, so 
much the better. 
(6) A magic lantern, too, fitted with a good 
generator for acetylene gas. is of great service, 
and can be the means of illustrating many a 
lecture, for so numerous are the slides in 
almost every branch of science that winter 
meetings can be made very instructive as well 
as entertaining. Many gardeners now are 
good photographers, and take pictures of 
pretty scenes and flowers in their own or in 
other people’s gardens. These can often form 
the subject for an evening’s chat if made up as 
lantern slides. 
(7) Exhibits of flowers, fruit, or vegetables 
should be encouraged at the meetings, for 
they not only give the members something to 
look at, but often form the subject for conver¬ 
sation as to culture, training, etc. Some 
societies give points for these exhibits, and on 
them depend prizes at the end of the session. 
There is much to commend this, but at the 
same time it is not fair to the under¬ 
gardeners, who have no means of bringing 
produce for this purpose. Certificates are 
sometimes awarded for well-cultivated speci¬ 
mens, or for new and good seedlings. 
(8) Essays, again, form another attraction 
for which prizes can be offered, but unless a 
man has had a certain amount of practice w t ith 
his pen, and can express his ideas clearly, he 
fights shy of the undertaking. 
(91 Visits to famous gardens, to each other’s 
gardens, or, again, to the nurseries and seed 
trial grounds of noted seedsmen, often provide 
instruction and enjoyment in the summer, 
when it is difficult to get members together for 
an indoor meeting. 
(10) Another, but certainly not the least, of 
these suggestions — a flower show might and 
can be arranged, where facilities exist, for the 
non-competitive exhibition of flowers, fruit, 
vegetables, etc. Our society, for instance, has 
organised a Chrysanthemum show on these 
lines for the past three years. The owners of 
the gardens, as well as the gardeners, enter 
into the spirit of the undertaking. We have 
given the profits, amounting to over £35 in 
the three years (and, by the way. this is in a 
village), to the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
and Orphan Funds, thus obtaining voting 
powers at each election of annuitants, and we 
are looking forward to our fourth show in the 
autumn of this year. 
In conclusion, there is just one other small 
but effective suggestion that I would offer, 
viz., a tea and social evening for members 
and their friends forms a good means of adver- 
t ising the existence of the society, besides pro¬ 
viding an agreeable break in the daily round 
of the gardener’s work. 
HYBRIDISING. 
I l •b-fr-F-S- H--H-- I - 1 ! ■ M-d-b-M-d-b-Hb-l-d-d-r 
POLLEN-PREPOTENCY. 
It is with keen interest that I have followed 
the remarks of your contributors upon the 
above subject. The writer having the misfor¬ 
tune to bear the name of “ Arctostaphylos ” 
in the issue for September 30th points out in 
an able manner many mistakes to be found in 
the article of August 26th. Granting that 
this article does contain mistakes, can it be 
said that all the corrections in the subsequent 
article are accurate? 
The first contributor says : “ After fertilisa¬ 
tion, it is customary to cover the bloom with 
a piece of fine muslin to prevent insects carry¬ 
ing the pollen from neighbouring flowers.” 
Obviously this contributor meant to cover the 
flower after pollination, and not after fertili¬ 
sation, for it would be absurd to 1 exclude, 
pollen after fertilisation. 
The second contributor says : “ It is prac¬ 
tically useless to cover the bloom with muslin 
after pollination, any pollen deposited a short 
time afterwards being too late to do any mis¬ 
chief.” 
It seems to me that the contributor “ Arc- 
tostaphylos,” whose article is so interesting 
and scientific, errs on this point, for it is 
possible, even after pollinating, for a flower 
to be fertilised with pollen other than that 
applied artificially. This subject, namely, 
“ pollen-prepotency,” is of the greatest im¬ 
portance to hybridists. A stigma which is 
dusted with the pollen from more than one 
species or variety may exert a selective action 
upon the pollen, and it is found that it is not 
always the pollen first applied which is the 
first to fertilise. 
As an example to illustrate my meaning, I 
will mention some experiments of mine on the 
genus Mimulus. 
As most readers are aware, Mimulus has a 
sensitive stigma which closes when touched. 
After cross pollinating, of course, all the 
stigmas closed. In the course of a day or so 
some of the stigmas reopened, while the others 
gradually withered away and the flowers 
faded. When the stigmas reopened the 
flowers remained fresh, evidently not fer¬ 
tilised, but those that were withering were 
fertilised. If these flowers had not been 
covered, then probably those that were not 
fertilised would have been pollinated with 
other foreign pollen. As it is, I was able to 
cross again, and now wait with interest to see 
what the seed will produce. 
It should be borne in mind that just as 
undesirable pollen may compete only too suc¬ 
cessfully after crossing, so may it be present 
before crossing, even though we cannot see it. 
Therefore it is the best practice when 
crossing to cover the flower both before and 
after the operation. 
Herbert Cowley. 
HRYSANTHE/AU/A 
/AONEY/AAKER. 
Sre Supplement. 
At first sight our supplementary illustra¬ 
tion might seem intended for a large exhibi¬ 
tion bloom. When photographed it measured 
6in. in diameter, and is therefore represented 
full size. It is really an early flowering 
market variety which came under our notice 
on October 4th, when shown by Mr. H. J. 
•Tones, Ryecroft Nursery, Hither Green, 
Lewisham, at the early autumn exhibition of 
the National Chrysanthemum Society. At 
that time the blooms measured 4in. to 5in. 
across, and were considerably different from 
the more perfectly developed bloom which we 
had photographed on October 25th. 
The flowers are pure white, and, as will be 
seen, the florets are very broad and massive, 
thus giving the variety a telling appearance 
when grown for cut flowers for market pur¬ 
poses. The blooms may be hal in various 
sizes, according to the desire of the cultivator. 
If sprays of numerous flowers of a graceful 
character are wanted, the shoots should not 
be disbudded, but if something morei massive 
and telling is wanted, and for which a use 
may often be obtained in dwelling-rooms, 
then the stems should be disbudded, that is, 
all the side buds should be picked off as early 
as the finger and thumb can lay hold of them 
without injuring the terminal or tcp bud 
which is to furnish the flower. A First-Class 
Certificate was awarded it as a market variety. 
It is of the easiest culture, and therefore 
should be taken in hand by those having but 
little cultural skill in the production of big 
blooms. The primary operations will, of 
course, be propagation from cuttings, the sub¬ 
sequent repotting into larger sized pots as 
this becomes necessary, and the stopping of 
the shoots several times in order to make the 
plant bushy. We believe, also, it could be 
grown in the open ground and lifted in the 
autumn if a fair amount of care is taken in 
shading the plant till the roots get a fresh 
hold of the soil. We merely suggest this for 
those who have little time to attend to the 
plants during the heat of the summer, as the 
best and most refined blooms are undoubtedly 
obtained from those plants which are grown 
from first to last in pots. Market growers 
usually strive to obtain plants about 18in. to 
2ft. high, according to the variety, and carry¬ 
ing about a dozen shoots or branches, each of 
which bears a blcom of respectable size. 
Birmingham Chrysanthemum Society’s 
Show. —Messrs. Webb and Sens. The King’s 
Seedsmen, Wcrdsley, Stourbridge, had a fine 
exhibit of Potatos, Onions, and Gloire de Lor¬ 
raine Begonias, occupying space 80ft. by 5ft. 
The magnificent collection of eighty varieties 
of Potatos comprised all the most recent in¬ 
troductions, and included several new seed¬ 
lings of Messrs. Webb’s own raising, which 
are to be offered shortly. The Onions were 
excellently grown specimens, and the beauti¬ 
ful lot of Begonias made a charming back¬ 
ground. The premier honour, a large Gold 
Medal, was awarded for this display, 
