88 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  26,  1896. 
W.  J.  Botton,  Ellen  Paterson,  David  Rennie,  Miss  Hudson,  and  Emme¬ 
line,  though  but  a  few  out  of  a  large  collection.  These  are  as  cuttings 
housed  in  frames  during  the  winter,  then  planted  out  in  April. 
A  very  marked  feature  was  a  row  of  fine,  double  Hollyhocks  at  the 
back  of  these  Pansy  beds,  the  plants  being  in  good  health,  a  true  sign 
that  Hollyhocks  can  be  grown  now  if  well  done.  Between  these  Pansy 
beds  are  alternated  others  of  choice  Carnations  just  coming  into  bloom. 
Dahlias  are  in  a  separate  quarter,  and  Stocks  of  several  varieties.  Sweet 
Peas,  and  Asters,  are  grown  in  great  quantities  to  furnish  bloom  for 
cutting.  Vegetables  are  first-rate,  beds  of  Onions,  Carrots,  Beet,  and 
others  are  all  in  fine  form  ;  so  also  are  Potatoes,  Peas,  and  Runner  Beans. 
There  is  no  department  that  is  not  good.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
fruit,  of  which  there  is  outside  ample  promise  of  all  hardy  kinds. 
Raspberries,  especially  the  fine  Superlative,  are  in  splendid  form,  these 
being  grown  in  several  long  rows  secured  to  wire  trellises. 
Mr.  McLeod  opens  out  trenches  on  either  side  of  the  rows  in  the 
winter,  fills  up  with  half-decayed  manure,  and  re-covers  with  soil .  No 
wonder  if  in  such  case  and  with  liberal  waterings  the  crop  is  indeed  a 
wonderful  one.  Inside  there  are  fine  crops  of  Grapes,  Peaches,  Nectarines, 
Figs,  and  Melons,  and  such  a  display  of  Tomatoes,  tons  of  these  fruits 
being  produced  every  season.  Sutton’s  A1  is  very  highly  favoured  here. 
Plants  in  the  houses  are  a  most  taking  feature.  The  collection  of 
Crotons  could  hardly  be  excelled  in  any  private  place  for  variety  or 
perfection  of  colouring.  Very  fine  varieties  are  Superbum,  Golden 
Dream,  Morti,  Weismanni,  Andreana,  and  Rodeckiana. 
Caladiums  again  constitute  a  beautiful  feature,  the  modern  varieties 
are  chiefly  grown,  furnishing  a  brilliant  colouration.  Such  varieties 
as  Mons.  Freeman,  Ibis  Rouge,  Cardinal,  Ladas,  F.  W,  Moore,  President 
Devansaye,  George  Berger,  and  Comte  de  Germiny  show  that  the 
collection  is  a  varied  and  rich  one,  for  some  hundred, sorts  are  grown. 
Begonias  in  a  broad  span  house  make  a  fine  show  ;  and  in  a  plant  stove, 
singularly  effective  on  the  roof,  the  racemes  of  flowers  hanging  down  in 
great  profusion,  are  several  plants  of  Clerodendron  Balfourianum.  So, 
too,  Allamanda  Hendersoni,  Stephanotis  floribunda,  Bougainvillea  glabra, 
Dipladenia  amabilis,  and  the  curious  but  beautiful  Gloriosum  superbum, 
are  very  beautiful.  In  a  greenhouse  Plumbago  capensis  is  on  the  roof 
very  charming.  More  features  it  is  not  possible  to  particularise,  but 
without  being  a  pretentious  place.  I  have  visited  few  gardens  where 
there  may  be  seen  in  perfection  so  many  attractive  features  as  here. — A. 
THE  GENESIS  OF  NEW  FORMS  AS  A  RESULT  OF 
CROSSING. 
We  have  several  times  made  reference  to  Messrs.  Kerner  and  Oliver’s 
splendid  work  on  “  The  Natural  History  of  Plants,”  of  which  Blackie 
and  Son  are  the  publishers,  and  now  give  a  citation  from  the  thirteenth 
number  on  the  above  subject,  that  will  doubtless  be  of  interest  to  our 
readers. 
“  The  aim  of  agriculturists  has  always  been  so  to  cultivate  their 
land  as  to  rear  plants  likely  to  grow  luxuriantly,  to  bear  good  fruit,  and 
thus  to  rfford  an  abundant  harvest  in  return  for  their  pains.  Gardeners 
similarly  have  made  it  their  endeavour  to  produce  from  wild  plants 
races  whose  flowers  are  superior  to  those  of  the  ancestral  stock  in  form, 
colour,  and  scent  ;  and  the  results  of  their  labours  are  the  delight  and 
admiration  of  all  lovers  of  beauty.  In  both  cases  the  idea  has  been  to 
perfect  and  ‘  ennoble,’  and  the  means  adopted  have  been  successful  to  a 
degree  calculated  to  amaze  anyone  who  studies  the  history  of  cultivated 
plants  with  attention.  The  methods  which  led  to  these  results  have  not 
always  been  deliberately  adopted,  nor  have  they  depended  on  scientific 
researches.  On  the  contrary,  chance  observations  made  by  growers 
in  the  course  of  their  dealings  with  vegetable  life  as  it  occurs  in  nature 
have  been  the  means  of  suggesting  the  first  unaided  attempts  to  make 
crops  more  productive,  fruits  and  vegetables  more  palatable,  and  flower¬ 
ing  plants  more  pleasing  to  the  eye. 
“  The  most  important  method  adopted  has  been  the  artificial  crossing 
of  the  species  which  are  brought  under  cultivation.  When  we  consider 
that,  from  time  immemorial,  Chinese  and  Japanese  gardeners  have 
produced  Asters,  Chrysanthemums,  Camellias,  Pinks,  Pasonies,  and 
Roses,  of  which  the  majority  are  the  results  of  crossing,  we  may  assume 
with  certainty  that  the  practice  of  dusting  flowers  of  one  species  with 
the  pollen  of  another  species  first  came  into  use  in  those  countries.  It 
is  true  that  in  Europe  the  contrivance  was  known  to  Rose  growers  at 
the  time  of  the  Roman  Empire,  but  it  was  not  employed  on  an  extensive 
scale  till  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  fashion  for  breeding  Tulips 
and  Auriculas  became  the  rage.  The  gardeners  of  that  day  still  made  a 
great  secret  of  their  mode  of  procedure,  and  it  was  not  till  the  latter 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  the  production  of  new  forms  of 
plants  by  the  aid  of  artificial  crossing  was  carried  on  at  all  generally. 
For  some  decades  the  rearing  of  these  new  forms,  which  are  called 
hybrids,  has  been  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  a  gardener’s  duties, 
and  we  shall  not  exaggerate  if  we  put  the  number  of  hybrids  hitherto 
produced  in  gardens  in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth  century  at  10,000. 
Many  hybrids  which  were  great  favourites  only  a  short  time  ago  have 
disappeared  from  our  gardens,  and  have  Ijeen  replaced  by  others. 
“  As  in  so  many  other  matters,  the  fashion  changes  ;  new  forms  are 
in  constant  request,  and  horticulturists  endeavour  to  meet  the  demand 
by  Introducing  wild  plants  from  the  most  various  regions  and  crossing 
them  with  those  already  under  cultivation.  It  is  now  no  longer  un¬ 
common  for  gardeners,  in  advertising  some  plant  which  has  been  brought 
from  distant  parts,  to  recommend  it  to  the  trade,  not  on  the  ground  of 
its  own  beauty,  but  because  it  possesses  flowers  of  an  exceptional  colour 
or  leaves  of  a  peculiar  cut,  and  will  therefore  in  all  probability,  if 
crossed  with  other  species,  yield  handsome  new  hybrids.  Rose  growers 
always  welcome  the  discovery  of  any  instance  of  variation  in  the  wild 
Rose  as  an  important  event,  because,  by  crossing  this  Rose  with  others, 
they  are  able  to  produce  a  large  number  of  new  forms,  and  there  is 
always  the  chance  that  one  or  other  of  them  may  find  favour  with  the 
public.  On  an  average,  sixty  newly  bred  Roses  come  into  the  market 
yearly  ;  in  the  year  1889  the  number  even  amounted  to  115.  A  Rose 
cultivator  at  Meidling,  near  Vienna,  grows  in  his  garden  nearly  4200 
different  kinds  of  Rose,  and  yet  he  is  still  far  from  possessing  all  the 
forms  which  have  been  produced  in  recent  times  (chiefly  by  French 
growers)  by  crossing  one  with  another.  According  to  his  estimate  the 
number  of  Tea  and  Indian  Roses  alone  is  nearly  1400,  and  the  total 
number  of  all  the  different  Roses  which  the  trade  has  produced  up  to 
the  present  day  amounts  to  G400. 
“  The  plant  forms  which  are  called  into  existence  by  the  operation  of 
crossing  are,  in  the  case  of  Roses,  reproduced  largely  by  means  of  brood- 
bodies  (cuttings  and  layers)  as  well  as  by  budding  and  grafting  (see 
vol.  i.,  p.  213)  ;  but  the  first  origin  of  the  new  forms  is  always  to  be 
traced  to  crossing.  This  statement  applies  also  to  many  other  plants 
of  which  gardeners  have  taken  possession,  and  especially  to  cases  where 
propagation  by  seed  requires  more  time  and  trouble  than  multiplication 
of  brood-bodies.  The  kinds  of  Tulips,  Gladiolus,  and  Lily  produced  by 
crossing  are  propagated  most  easily  by  means  of  bulbs,  and  the  tuberous 
Begonias,  Dahlias,  and  Gesneracem  by  tubers,  whilst  Pinks,  Pelargo- 
goniums.  Cactuses,  and  many  others  are  most  rapidly  reproduced  by 
cuttings.  Moreover,  these  methods  ensure  the  preservation  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  new  forms  unchanged,  and  such  perpetuation  of 
characteristics  would  be  much  more  difficult  to  achieve  if  the  plants 
were  propagated  by  means  of  seeds.  On  the  other  hand,  a  number  of 
new  forms  which  have  originated  as  the  results  of  crosses  effected  in 
gardens,  such  as  those  of  Petunia,  Portulaca,  and  Viola,  are  reproduced 
with  less  trouble  and  greater  rapidity  by  seeds,  and  that  method  is  in 
such  cases  preferred  to  the  cultivation  of  brood-bodies. 
“  The  statement  that  new  forms  of  plants  are  bred  originally  in  gardens 
by  any  other  method  than  that  of  crossing  is  incorrect ;  it  is  sometimes 
made  in  ignorance,  but  sometimes  also  with  the  intention  of  deceiving. 
In  former  times  gardeners  believed  that,  in  order  to  produce  new  forms, 
it  was  sufficient  to  plant  different  species  in  close  proximity  to  one 
another.  The  idea  was  that  if  the  seeds  of  such  plants  were  taken  and 
sown  in  good  soil,  there  would  always  be  found  amongst  the  seedlings  a 
few  forms  differing  from  the  parent ;  these  were  to  be  selected  for 
especial  care  in  cultivation,  and  to  be  treated  as  starting  points  of 
new  forms.  The  gardeners  who  acted  on  this  assumption  had  not,  it  is 
true,  themselves  crossed  the  flowers  ;  and  if  this  was  all  they  meant, 
there  was  no  falsehood  in  the  statement.  The  operation  of  crossing  was, 
however,  perlormed  without  their  knowledge  by  hive  and  humble  bees 
and  other  insects,  and  the  planting  together  of  the  different  species  was 
only  of  advantage  inasmuch  as  it  facilitated  the  conveyance  of  pollen 
from  one  species  to  the  stigmas  of  another. 
“  A  celebrated  grower  of  the  old  school  once  assured  me,  in  all 
seriousness,  that  he  did  not  himself  cross  the  plants  that  he  reared,  but 
that  he  had  repeatedly  observed  that  early  in  the  morning,  soon  after  a 
flower  opened,  it  put  forth  infinitesimally  fine  threads  which  radiated 
in  all  directions  and  reached  across  to  the  flowers  of  other  plants,  form¬ 
ing  in  a  short  time  a  web  like  that  of  a  spider  1  I  would  not  have 
mentioned  this  statement  were  it  not  for  the  importance  of  pointing  out 
the  unreliable  character  of  so  many  of  the  statements  made  by  gar¬ 
deners,  especially  in  the  past ;  and  I  repeat  that  the  person  responsible 
for  tbe  above  communication  is  a  well-known  and  much-esteemed  horti¬ 
culturist.  Gross  inventions  such  as  the  above  would,  of  course,  be  at 
once  seen  through  and  rejected  by  any  thoughtful  man  ;  nevertheless, 
in  some  instances  reports  of  growers,  likewise  untrue  or  inaccurate,  but 
not  bearing  the  stamp  of  improbability  so  plainly  on  the  face  of  them, 
have  been  credited,  and  have  even  found  their  way  into  books,  particu¬ 
larly  into  those  whose  authors  have  omitted  to  confirm  the  reports  by 
watching  the  garden  experiments  from  beginning  to  end  themselves. 
The  statements  are  then  not  infrequently  quoted  as  ‘  results  obtained 
by  trustworthy  experiments  made  by  gardeners,’  and  relied  upon  for 
the  foundation  of  ‘  laws  based  upon  facts ;’  theories  are  then  built  up 
upon  them,  and  are  copied  from  one  book  to  another.  It  becomes  very 
difficult  afterwards  to  get  rid  of  such  propositions,  especially  if  they 
afford  support  to  the  hypotheses  of  distinguished  savants.” 
THE  PROFITABLE  UTILISATION  OF  GLASS  HOUSES 
IN  THE  WINTER. 
[Silver  Medal  Essay  by  Mr.  G.  Hart,  Buckingham,  Old  Shoreham,  Sussex.] 
It  is  comparatively  easy  to  utilise  glass  structures  in  a  profitable 
manner  in  the  summer,  but  to  make  the  houses  pay  in  the  winter  is 
much  more  difficult ;  yet  that  they  can  be  made  to  pay  then  even  in 
these  days  of  strong  competition  there  is  not  the  least  doubt.  I  will 
endeavour  to  show  how  this  can  be  done,  and  as  I  consider  actua] 
experience  of  considerably  more  importance  than  theory,  I  shall  describe 
the  kind  of  houses  which  I  have  had  to  profitably  utilise  both  winter 
and  summer.  Let  me  say  at  the  outset  that  there  are  many  failures 
in  trying  to  grow  too  many  varieties  of  plants  and  crops.  It  is  best  to 
make  a  speciality  of  a  few,  growing  them  in  the  best  manner,  and 
