rOL. LVI.-Xo. 3,096. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1913. 
THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE 
NOTE OF THE WEEK. 
Garden’’ Varieties. 
.V!th(»uph the publications of the British 
Pteridological Society, now extending 
through sf'ine nineteen years, and still more 
the articles contributed for a still longer 
period to these pages, have done much to 
enlighten the public with re¬ 
gard to the origin of the now 
innumerable beautiful varietal 
forms of our native ferns, we 
ktiU find constantly cropping 
up the term ‘‘ garden forms,” 
a* applied to them. Although 
this is lietter than the more 
ancient epithet of “mons¬ 
trous. which implies that 
Nature had, as it were, made 
* aktake in creating them 
, it 
as 
as 
real 
pro 
the 
^ itill as erroneous and 
•■i^iding. and betrays 
••A ignorance of the 
ficU underlying their 
To (leal with 
“roonstrons ” first of all 
might quite as justifiably 
*Pply the term to all onr most 
flowers, and fruits, 
^ vegetation generally 
*«> do not conform to the 
botanical specific forms 
^ Ae wild plants. It is 
pawy a question of degree of 
applied to the innu 
instances where " 
^ feason or other, ii 
^'formation occurs 
r^mes to reversion, more 
„ as in the cases 
in J 
'►‘0. ..r K 
*”*norin!i "iterferenoe 
*• •ijurv ‘ due 
monstrous ” 
>m the normal Ofo. i- 
for 
irregn- 
due 
from T " “'o^^trous ” 
* non inb however, 
. ®‘*^faseofc.!'’l?- They are not, 
S?"' orgai*^ the constitu- 
»'hieh rha ’ P animal con- 
so tha? th®® ^^he seed 
fi ^ f^'gularlv in the '^^aracter ap- 
% U indeed wi'”""’ '‘■'e 
' ritk *'^''ouchbro.t i^nn-ever we 
or “sp;rt,” 
j^l'^i'ont. so that it 
in beautJ*^ * . exceeds the nor- 
sown, J’a“"'* spores 
c 
^ We ^ spores 
fcB ti •”'eeis«lv the * generation 
‘*"’>8'' it li irdiS“" P^oliarities, 
" ^‘fferent grades, it 
surely a misnomer to apply the epithet 
‘'monstrous” thereto. When, however, as 
sometimes happens, a “ sport ” appears in 
which persistent structural defects occur 
so that, instead of a more beautiful plant, 
we obtain a persistently ugly and imper¬ 
fect one, then, indeed, we may apply the 
term with justice, but only then. Coming 
now to the so-called “ garden ” varieties, 
MR. GEORGE P. MILN, J.P. 
conditions, the i)otency was implanted of 
producing these subsequent wider develop¬ 
ments, the garden itself has not, and does 
not, contribute anything thereto, though, 
of course, we have to thank the gardener, 
the selective cultivator, for his care in sow¬ 
ing and selecting. Even he, however, can 
do no more than profit by the “ wild ” 
potency alluded to; and the result which 
it affords him the capacity of 
obtaining. These considera¬ 
tions, therefore, show ns that 
it is only in the case of hybrids 
and crosses specially effected 
by the cultivator that the 
term garden form ” is in any 
wmy properly applied, since 
the results attained are due to 
human interference with nor¬ 
mal reproduction, and would 
not, and perhaps, could not, 
have been a(?quired without it. 
With the wild “sports,” how¬ 
ever, it had been practically 
proved that, if left in their 
original habitats, their scat¬ 
tered spores may produce im¬ 
proved types without any 
human aid whatever. The 
mere growth within the limits 
of a garden, might just as well 
justify the appellation of 
“ garden ” forms to the mil¬ 
lions of normals grown under 
the same conditions, which 
would obviously be absurd. 
under w'hich category the choice ferns are 
erroneously classed, the “ garden ” has 
nothing whatever to do with their origin, 
nor has it acted in any way as an incentive 
to the production of the beauty we see, 
since quite probably it may have been 
found in even greater beauty, in the wdld 
glen, wood, or other unsophisticated habi¬ 
tat in which it was originally discovered as 
^ purely wild plant of Nature’s unassisted 
production. True it is that, subsequent 
to its dis(X)very, its spores may have been 
sown, and new generations been raised of 
even greater beauty, and that, instead of 
the original wild parent, we may be view¬ 
ing ill the garden one of the many of its 
descendants, but this makes no difference 
at all. In that wild plant, and under wild 
Mr. Georg^e Peddie 
Mi In, J.P., recently ap¬ 
pointed a magistrate for the 
city of Chester, is widely 
known in commercial circles 
by reason of his long connec¬ 
tion with Messrs. Dicksons, 
Lim., of Chester and his pre¬ 
sent position as managing 
director of Messrs. Gartons, 
Lim., of Warrington. He has 
devoted his attention chiefly 
to seed production, and has achieved 
considerable suc(?ess in the improve¬ 
ment of cereals and grasses by cross¬ 
fertilisation and selection. Natural science 
has always claimed his devotion, but 
botany has been his particular hobby, 
and the Order Gramineae his special study 
for many years. For a long period he was 
hon. secretary of the Chester Natural 
Science Society, and held the office of 
president for three years, and in this con¬ 
nection he was awarded the Charles Kings¬ 
ley Memorial Medal in 1905 “ for having 
contributed to some branch or department 
of natural science.” He has been instru¬ 
mental in establishing prizes for Nature 
study for the scholars of the city and dis¬ 
trict, and by his energy and influence he 
