November  7,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
419 
as  an  edible  product,  but  bog  moss,  or  sphagnum,  and  green 
wood  moss,  or  hypnum,  of  various  kinds,  are  very  valuable 
to  the  growers  of  tropical  orchids  and  of  other  greenhouse 
flowers.  Amongst  salads,  pot-herbs,  and  other  useful  plants 
the  best  of  native  origin  are— mint  (menthol),  thyme 
(thymol),  caraway,  coriander,  camomile,  yarrow,  lettuce, 
endive  or  chicory,  dandelion,  angelica,  mustard  and  cress, 
burnet,  horseradish,  garden  radishes,  watercress,  sorrel, 
scurvy  grass,  eryngium  roots  candied,  samphire  for  pickling, 
fennel,  dill,  marjoram,  savory,  wormwood,  elderflowers  for 
toilet  water,  wine  or  vinegar,  hop  and  nettle  tops,  Good 
King  Henry  (Chenopodium  Bonus  Henricus),  leeks, 
alexanders  (now  supplanted  by  celery),  to  say  nothing  of 
edible  lichens,  seaweeds,  and  fungi  of  many  kinds  to  which 
we  have  already  referred. 
How  to  Improve  the  Best  of  our  Native  Wildings. 
The  first  thing  is  to  feel  a  want,  some  ideal  standard  of 
excellence  must  be  set  up,  to  which  it  is  thought  any  par¬ 
ticular  plant  or  product  may  be  wisely  made  to  conform.  The 
habit  of  the  plant  may  be  bettered,  the  size  or  shape  or  colour 
and  flavour  of  its  flowers  or  its  fruits,  roots,  or  leaves  may  be 
enhanced  or  improved  ;  but  whatever  the  earnest  or  long-felt 
want  may  be,  will  it  so,  stick  to  the  point  persistently,  and 
ultimately  in  a  great  measure,  even  if  not  wholly,  you  will 
find  the  old  adage  verified  that  “  all  things  come  to  those  who 
will  and  wait.”  In  all  arts  and  crafts  the  first  great  motor 
power  is  the  will,  or  the  imagination,  and  this  in  the  main  is 
where  the  great  artist  differs  from  the  merely  clever  and 
dexterous  workman  or  maker  of  things  inanimate  on  canvas 
or  in  wood  and  stone.  But  in  improving  the  wild  plants  you 
are  remodelling  life  itself ;  yours  is  a  nobler  duty  than  that 
of  the  artist,  who  simply  imitates  and  ennobles  inanimate, 
or  even  animate  things.  You  are  nearer  to  nature,  and  are 
really  and  truly  carrying  on  the  life  work,  the  evolution  of 
beautiful  and  useful  created  things.  Having  formed  a  clear 
idea  as  to  the  plant  or  plants  best  worth  improving,  the  next 
point  is  to  select  the  best  wild  varieties  as  breeders.  Thus, 
in  the  case  of  the  Blackberry,  you  will  choose  forms  remark¬ 
able  for  at  least  one  good  quadcy — it  may  be  size,  or  flavour, 
or  a  good  and  prolific  habit  of  growth  and  fruiting,  and  these 
may  be  further  improved  by  cross-breeding  the  selected  wild 
parents  under  good  cultivation.  Good  culture  does  not 
always  mean  a  deep,  rich,  heavily  manured  soil.  The  Black¬ 
berry  often  does  its  best  amongst  rocks  and  Furze  bushes, 
or  in  Hawthorn  or  Sloe  hedges,  where  its  roots  have  to  com¬ 
pete  with  others  for  earth  food,  but  where  they  have  shelter 
and  support.  Our  failures  with  the  best  American  kinds 
may  be  due  to  their  having  been  grown  alone  in  too  rich 
earth  in  part,  and  also  to  the  lack  of  bright  sunshine,  or  of 
too  much  moisture.  Then  the  Blackberry  is  naturally  a 
climber,  and  one  that  prefers  a  living  support  to  a  dead 
one.  A  hedge  of  Bullace-plums  and  Blackberries  might 
prove  an  ideal  way  on  many  dry  warm  soils.  Both  Plums 
and  other  stone  fruits  like  chalk  or  limestone  soils,  which 
also  suit  Blackberries  well ;  so  that  there  is  a  double 
advantage  in  growing  both  together. 
Plant  improvement  is  effected  by: — 1.  Forming  a  strong 
and  high  ideal  of  what  is  beautiful  or  desirable.  2.  Selec¬ 
tion  of  the  best  or  most  suitable  wild  kinds  and  garden 
varieties.  3.  By  good  culture  of  the  finest  of  garden! 
varieties.  4.  By  selection  of  the  best  garden-reared  seed¬ 
lings.  5.  By  careful  cross-breeding  the  best  wild  and  culti¬ 
vated  varieties. 
6.  By  hybridising  distinct  species,  or  a  distinct  species 
and  a  garden  or  Continental  wild  variety  together ;  and  of 
course  all  these  operations  and  phases  of  culture  and 
improvement  may  be  carried  out  side  by  side  at  the  same 
time. 
7.  In  the  case  of  many  good  and  distinct  things  like  caltha, 
the  greater  buttercup,  lily  of  the  valley,  asparagus,  seakale, 
blackberry,  &c.,  simply  selection  from  seed  or  judicious 
cross-breeding  would  probably  yield  better  results  than 
hybridisation  with  other  species. 
In  modern  science,  in  politics,  and  even  modern  novels 
we  often  hear  of  what  is  called  the  “  psychological  moment,” 
or  the  exact  time  for  prompt  action  and  all  due  apprecia¬ 
tion.  I  am  old  enough  to  remember  when  yellow  blossoms 
as  a  class  were  scouted  and  rated  vulgar — when  Daffodils 
were  not  valued  as  indoor  flowers.  The  Marechal  Niel  Rose 
was  one  of  the  first  of  yellow  flowers  that  became  popular 
and  started  the  “  yellow  fever  ”  that  culminated  in  the 
sunflower  craze.  Yellow  Daffodils  always  grew  in  our 
meadows  and  copses,  and  they  had  been  grown  in  gardens 
in  a  tentative  sort  of  way  for  two  or  three  centuries  before 
they  became  really  popular  and  abundantly  improved  from 
seed.  Sometimes,  Shakespeare  notwithstanding,  a  mere 
change  of  name  leads  to  plants  becoming  popular.  The 
Japanese  Funkias  never  become  universally  grown  and 
appreciated  until  a  clever  man  called  them  ‘  Plantain  Lilies.” 
It  has  been  argued  that  the  name  is  wrong,  because  Funkias 
have  nothing  to  do  with  Plantains,  and  that  they  are  not 
true  Lilies  ;  but  in  practice  we  often  find  that  things  “  take  ” 
or  “  catch  on  ”  under  euphonious  names. 
Another  case  in  point  may  here  be  cited,  namely,  the 
beautiful  and  variable  race  of  yellow-anthered  “  Shirley 
Poppies,”  which  were  selections  from  the  common  black- 
anthered  “  Field  Poppy  ”  (Papaver  Rhseas)  made  by  the 
TODEA  SEPERBA  (See  page  418 
secretary  of  this  society  some  years  ago.  Selections  from  the 
same  parent  had  been  made  before  and  grown  in  a  half¬ 
hearted  way  in  our  gardens  as  the  “  French  ”  or  “  carnation  ” 
Poppy,  but  it  lacked  the  advantages  of  time  and  place,  there 
was  no  strong  individual  will  with  high  ideals  behind  it,  not 
even  paternal  love,  let  us  say.  Fortunately  authors  need  no 
patronage  to-day,  but  the  plants,  and  especially  new  breeds 
or  races  and  strains,  are  much  the  better  for  having  earnest 
sponsors,  real  strong-minded  and  independent  cultivators, 
who  firmly  believe  in  their  beauty,  in  their  utility,  or  at 
least  in  their  sterling  adaptability  to  certain  uses  and  ends. 
So  you  see,  apart  from  improvement,  we  must  try  to  catch 
a  propitious  time,  or  we  must  wait  until  the  right  time  comes 
for  their  <r  coming  out.”  Above  all,  select  short  and  pretty 
names  for  your  seedlings,  and  make  sure  of  a  kindly  god¬ 
father,  and  don’t  resent  kindly  and  independent  suggestions. 
- <•©•> - - 
Chiswick  Lectures. 
The  third  of  a  series  of  lectures,  extending  till  Christmas,  and 
given  on  each  alternate  Thursday,  was  delivered  in  the  Council 
Room,  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens,  Chiswick,  on  the 
evening  of  October  31,  by  Mr.  George  Massee,  mycologist,  Kew, 
The  object  of  the  lectures  is  to  afford  gardeners  resident  in  the 
neighbourhood,  knowledge  of  the  general  capabilities  of  fungi, 
which  are  the  cause  of  all  diseases  among  garden  plants.  The 
subject  of  Thursday  last  was  “  Some  Diseases  of  Herbaceous 
Plants,”  and  on  November  14  the  subject  will  be  “  Some  Diseases 
of  Fruit  and  other  Trees.”  The  meetings  begin  at  7.30  prompt, 
and  are  interestingly  illustrated  by  drawings. 
