change, the air is maintained in a state of nearly uni- | We should recommend the unprofessional gardener, form composition and purity, and serves over and over in replenishing either a rock-work or pond with approagain for all the purposes of vegetation. It may, how-priate plants, to consult a nurseryman skilled in the ever, be stated, to prevent misconception, that the more subject; as soil, air, climate, moisture, and other cir pure the air of the apartment, the plants will have the cumstances, require careful consideration. better chance of thriving, because there must necessarily be an interchange to some extent betwixt the air of the room and the case, in consequence of the daily expansion from heat and nightly condensation from cold. This interchange will be effected by the minute crevices in the apparatus, and therefore requires no special provision.” ROCK AND AQUATIC PLANTS. GARDEN PLOTS IN TOWNS. The attempt to have a neat and flourishing garden or garden plot in populous towns, is very often defeated by the abundance of smoke and other impurities in the atmosphere; for, as repeatedly mentioned, pure air is essential to the proper growth of plants. It is found, however, from experience, that certain kinds of shrubs and flowering herbs are less delicate in this respect than others; and that, with a reasonable degree of care, vegetable bloom and beauty. On this branch of flowerculture, so important to many town residents, there appeared, some time ago, a well-written paper in that useful publication," The Magazine of Domestic Economy," describing the experience of an amateur florist; we take the liberty of extracting from it the following passages: If space and means permit, a flower-garden may be much improved by introducing a piece of artificial rock-open plots in towns may be made to yield a surface of work, and a small pond; because, in connexion with these, certain highly interesting plants may be reared or kept, which would not answer in a plain earthy soil or surface. In order to increase the effect, the pond should be at the base of the rock-work, and receive from it the trickling of water which has been conveyed to the summit in pipes. Let the rock-work possess a natural appearance, with rugged sides, and perhaps be ten or twelve feet high. Rocks of the same kind and colour should be placed together; if intermixed, they seldom wear a natural appearance. A dark cave, penetrating into the thickest part of the erection, is not very difficult to construct, and, when encircled with ivy, and inhabited by a pair of horned owls, which may be easily procured, it will form a most interesting object. Rock plants of every description should be profusely stuck around, and, in one short twelvemonth, the whole scene will exhibit an impress of antiquity far beyond anticipation. The undertaking, when completed, will present a field of varied and interesting study, and more than compensate for all the attention and outlay bestowed upon it. The aquatic and rock plants, which formerly were "far to seek and ill to find," will thus be brought within the range of every-day observation; the wagtail, oxeye, and stonechatter, will be attracted to the spot, not, perhaps, because they are lovers of the picturesque, but because they find every thing here suited to their nature; and colonies of the wild-bee will soon be seen and heard around the interstices of the rocks, and heavily laden with their winter store. "When I first took possession of my garden [in town], I found it encumbered with old lilacs and laburnums, the common aster, and other ordinary plants. These I immediately removed; by my west wall I planted a Buddlea globosa and a Virginian creeper; and by my south wall, which was partly covered by a vine, I planted the jasminum revolutum, the small white clematis, and the pyrus Japonica. The latter grew luxuriantly, and bore an abundance of flowers, which, glowing upon the light wall, enlivened my prospect in winter. I had a great deal of the south sun in my garden, but none of his morning beams reached it, and there was a corner which never had a gleam at all. In this spot I planted a quantity of roots of the lily of the valley, and they flowered well, although late. The laurustinus also grew well with me ; and I should strongly recommend this pretty shrub, together with the laurel, instead of those deciduous shrubs which we see in town gardens. The latter become very shabby as they grow old; neither the lilac nor syringa flower well in confined situations; besides this, the untidy appearance of their falling leaves is a great annoyance. "My jasmine grew quickly, and, with the clematis, soon covered as much A weeping-willow adjoining, and one or two mountain-wall as I could afford to them; the great inconvenience ashes, will add materially to the beauty of the scene; of the latter plant is, that it requires frequent attention and, if the spot be airy, there might with advan-as to nailing up, and this, where there is not a gardener tage be planted, on or about the top of the eminence, a always at hand, is troublesome; as, although the stem variety of what is usually called the Scottish thistle. should be cut down within three feet of the ground This tall elegant plant will not thrive in low or damp every autumn, yet the young shoots soon grow beyond situations, and prefers a bracing to a warm atmosphere; a woman's reach. However, it is worth while putting hence, though a beautiful object in borders, it will be ourselves to a little trouble for the sake of the delicious found difficult to bring to perfection in some situations. scent of the flowers of this pretty trailing plant. As It may be remarked, that there has been some uncer- regards perennials, I daresay all who are fond of flow tainty as to which is the true Scottish thistle, or that ers have endeavoured to nurse the China rose, and figured in the national emblazonment. Mr Dovaston, induce it to flower in the town. I have grieved over in a communication to Leighton's Flora of Shropshire, many a healthy plant which refused to show a single states that, in a tour of Scotland, he asked many per- bud, and watched the gradual wasting away of others, sons which was the Scottish thistle, and found many notwithstanding my unceasing care. The common Pro different opinions. A Hebridean gentleman pointed to vence roses, both white and red, flower well in the the Carduus eiophorus, and Sir James Grant at Inver- town; but it is vain to attempt the China-it requires ness indicated the Carduus nutans. For our own part, a very pure air, and I do not know any flower whose we do not believe that, when the emblem was adopted, colour varies so much with the quality of the atmo any particular species of the plant was meant: the lead-sphere. I am but slightly acquainted with the names ing idea was the self-defending power of the thistle, as given by botanists to the numerous varieties of roses; emblematical of the determination of Scotland, though but I have tried many of them, and found the Tuscan, poor, to submit to no injury or offence without retalia- the rose de Meaux, the Tudor, the little early crimson, and one surpassing them all in beauty, the Bengal Among the plants suitable for growing from the celestial (I believe), flower extremely well. With recrevices of the rocks, may be mentioned various heaths gard to spring flowers, the snowdrop I could not tole and mosses, the Valeriana dioecia montana, Trifolium rate in the city-the smoke robbed it of all its beauty alpestre, Thymus vulgaris, Epilobium alpinum, Cam- the crocus, either the mice or the sparrows would be panula cervicaria, Alyssum calycinum, and Viola bana- leave undisturbed; and, after replenishing the edge of Many plants might be mentioned as suitable my border several times, I gave up the matter. The for the marshy borders of the pond, as the Acorus, hepatica and gentianella flowered well with me; abe Littorella, Lychnis flos-cuculi, Saxifraga irrigata, Epi-mones also I had of very good colours. Heart'slobium augustifolium, Pimula farinosa, and so forth. pined away after the first year, but they were easiț tion. tica. but it will not grow to so great a height in such a situa tion as it does in the country. There are many other plants which might be treasures in a town garden; experience, however, is the best teacher in this as well as in more important matters, and if a garden be stocked with the plants I have mentioned, experiments may be made as to others; should they all fail, the garden will still be gay." To the foregoing we need only add, that much may be done to keep garden plots neat by frequent trimming and raking, and particularly by keeping the plots in grass close shaven. To be kept in the best trim, grass should be mown once a-fortnight. FLORICULTURAL MONTHLY CALENDAR. January.-Little can be done in the flower-garden except the weather be open and dry; but advantage ought to be taken of favourable intervals to render the plots and borders neat; to protect by coarse screenings of leaf-mould fuchsias, China roses, and other choice shrubs; for though they may not perish by frost, the mulch tends to enrich the soil, when forked in. Propagate, by division of roots, daisies and thrift: protect the beds of hyacinths, anemones, ranunculuses, and tulips, by a covering of coarse litter. Top-dress auriculas, using a compost of light loam and two yearold cow-dung, mixed with a twelfth each of sea or river sand, and rotten wood. Plant all the bulbous roots that are still out of the ground. replaced, and they were too ornamental to be relin- | quished. Then followed the white lily, and a variety of irises, all of which increased fast, and flowered abundantly. The peony I could never persuade to flower; in the first place, it does not blossom well until it has been for years settled in a garden, and I believe its beauty even then is greatly dependent upon the purity of the air. My buddlea was every spring covered with its golden balls, and grew so quickly that I scarcely knew what to do with it. I am surprised this beautiful shrub is not more common: it is perfectly hardy, even as a standard; it will remove well, even when it has attained a considerable size; it is very easily raised by layers; and there is an air of grandeur about it, both as to leaves and flowers, that raises it above the common flowering shrubs of our gardens. But we go on in the old-fashioned manner of planting our gardens: the same varieties of deciduous shrubs are taken, without considering with how much advantage their places might be supplied by those more lately introduced. The magnolia, for instance, grows quickly, and flowers abundantly in the city upon a south wall; and the arbutus is not at all particular with respect to situation. The bignonia grandiflora also does not withhold its scarlet trumpet-like blossoms in the immediate vicinity of a steam-engine. To return to my garden, the glory of which in the autumn was the lobelia fulgens, I managed it thus: I sank in the ground, up to the rim, a large and deep seed-pan; this I filled to about three quarters of its depth with rich soil properly mixed, and planted my roots. As soon as the shoots appeared, I supplied them plentifully with water, and from time to time added more soil. The plants grew luxuriantly, furnishing tall and thick stems, with large and highlycoloured blossoms; indeed, the gardener who had assisted me said that he had never seen finer flowers. The sweet-scented marvel of Peru throve well with me, and the tiger-flower also. Carnations and picotees I tried one year, but was so much disappointed in the result, that I gave them up, although very reluctantly, as I believe carnations do not require a very pure air; and I have fancied since, that my failure with them arose from some other cause than the smoky atmosphere. Dahlias, also, although they flowered very well, I gave up. The amaryllis lutea flowered well with me when once established, and the hemerocalias cerulea and flava did the same." In heat, sow mignionette, annual stock, penstemon diffusus, gentianoides, and other half-hardy annual and perennial plants, using the propagation-pot, by which means the entire number of seedlings (allowing for previous thinning out) can be transferred, with roots undisturbed, to the plots or borders. Commence sowing in the last week, for hot-house culture, seeds of Gloxinia and Gesneria; these, if obtained from impregnated plants, may yield new and striking varieties. Sow also (broken up and mixed with sand) the berries of Psidium Cattleyianum; this plant is one of the choicest evergreens of the stove, or even green-house, for it is not tender. February-Attend to the foregoing general directions, and now cut turf for lawns; fork and clean the flower-borders. Plant anemones, gladiolus, perennial herbaceous roots; and transfer others, dividing the crowns, to multiply the species. In this way almost all such plants can be increased. For examples of this division of roots, select the primrose, single, double, and the polyanthus. Transplant the rooted layers of carnations, also the divided roots of campanula, lobelia, lychnis, mullpink, and dianthus sinensis. Sow in mild heat any annual flower seeds, and of auricula and mimula, in boxes or pans. We include the beautiful primula sinensis. Excite choice dahlia roots, placing them in hot-bed frames, or in troughs or pots of old tan, or any light moist substance, on the floor of a stove or vinery at work. After condemning annuals in general, the same writer goes on to say "I own I am willing to make Some exceptions myself in favour of the coreopsis, and ruch brilliant flowers particularly; the French marigold, too, and the scarlet zinnia, I could scarcely give up. The lupinus mutabilis blossoms well in the town, but it is very liable to be destroyed by a caterpillar; the easiest method of preventing which is to strew a little soot around the plant. The grub, I suppose, will not rise through this: I found it more effectual than tobacco, which I also tried. The scarlet colutia is much eaten by an insect: I found the same method succeed in this case. I had forgotten to mention that all bulbs of the narcissus and jonquil tribe flowered well with me: the primrose and polyanthus gave miserable-looking blossoms. I planted the double pomegranate against my south wall, and it grew well: I left the house before the plant was old enough to flower. I should notice one great recommendation which American shrubs possess to those who are likely to change their residence-they may be removed without danger at almost any size. Mine were planted in a border of common earth, in a hole filled up with peat and loam fit for them; and when a rhododendron, four feet in height, was removed, it was found that the roots formed a complete ball, none of the fibres having penetrated beyond the soil which was proper for them. The common and Portugal may be removed when very large: I have my-gonia. self seen one of the latter, which three men and a boy April.-Plant dahlia roots, in richly-manured loam, could with difficulty lift, transplanted with success. Of hollyhocks, carnations, biennials and perennials: at course, it was carefully tended as to water. The scar- this season, every herbaceous plant is almost certain let lychnis does not mind the corrupt air of the town; to succeed.' Campanulas (the tall pyramidal), raised laurel March. Sow annuals, including balsam seed, collected from the best double flowers. Plant boxedgings, using much pit-sand; also evergreen shrubs of every description. Transplant autumn-sown annuals into pots, and protect them, till fresh-rooted, under glass; as Clarkia of every kind, Calliopsis, Enothera Lindleyana, mignionette, Schizanthus pinnatus, and porrigens. Sow in the last week, in the open ground, and at the same time, a pot of each in heat, or at least under glass, stocks, foxglove, China-aster, Clarkia, dahlia, campanula, larkspur, penstemon, amaranthus, tobacco, and all the hardy annuals. Take cuttings of hydrangea from the tops of the shoots. These, if the buds be full, sometimes will produce a fine flowerhead, and the effect is striking. Soil, pure heath mould, or leaf-mould and sand. Use small pots, as for pelar madia elegans, mimulus, the white night-flowering petunia, tall and dwarf larkspurs. Sow the seed of the best pansies. Take cuttings of all the fine pelargoniums that are out of flower early in the month; also of calceolarias, shrubby and half shrubby; of antirrhinum caryophylloides, penstemon gentianoides, &c. ; these require no heat, but should be placed in a cold frame. September.-Plant the crocus and some other bulbs. Transplant herbaceous perennials and pinks to permanent beds, if perfectly rooted. Propagate, by cuttings, China roses in the open borders; and by slips petu nias, heliotrope, salvias, gerania, calceolaria, &c.; they require only a hand-glass and light soil. Sow auricula seed in pans in the green-house; also Clarkia, collinsia, chelone, and other annuals, to be preserved in pots all winter. If the pyramidal campanula be out of flower, take up one of the finest roots, blue and white; break it to pieces, and half filling a large pot with loam, place the pieces on the earth; fill the pot with loam, and keep it by cuttings of the roots in autumn, may now be trans-page. Use gentle heat; add any other favourites, as ferred to pots of loam and leaf-mould; and as the plants grow, they are to be constantly shifted, till they come into pots, wherein they will bloom profusely. If placed in the borders, they will require no peculiar treatment. Sow in a pot the seeds of this variety of campanula (seedlings frequently produce the finest plants; they require profuse watering); also the seeds of the pansy or heart's-ease, to procure varieties. Propagate by cuttings, as directed for geraniums, or by single eyes, the Erythrina crysta Galli, and laurifolia. In propagation pots, using the same soil, all the salvias, verbenas, rockets, double wall-flowers, and every species of fuchsia that has produced young wood. Try every plant by cuttings placed in ounce phials, three parts filled with rain-water. Bud China, noisette, and moss-roses, on dog-rose stocks. Divide the roots of dahlias, either retaining one single tuber with a sprouting eye, or twist out very cautiously a single shoot, so as to detach its base and the latent bud it contains, planting it in the smallest pot of sand and leaf-mould; a gentle hot-merely protected from frost all winter. Raise every bed will facilitate the protrusion of roots. geranium or other green-house plant now in open ground, and repot them in soil suitable to each. Cut back to low buds, well situated, the horse-shoe geranium, and place all the plants under glass, to recover from the removal; make cuttings of the best ampu tated shoots of geranium. Gradually diminish the watering of all green-house plants. October.-Plant towards the end, bulbs of hyacinth, narcissus, and tulips, the common jonquil, and daffodil, and anemone roots, &c.; also shrubs of every descrip tion, though evergreens generally succeed in spring: May-This is the season to stock the flower-garden with those plants which have been prepared during autumn, winter, and spring; and therefore transfer, from the propagation pots, annuals raised in them, by lifting the whole mass, and depositing it in a spot prepared in the border: thus trouble and loss of time are obviated. Sow a few annual seeds in the open ground for succession. Plant the parterres with groups of fuchsias, calceolaria, petunia, Neapolitan violet, verbena; and at the latter end, form masses of the scarlet and variegated gerania, and many less-prized but beau-cuttings, as before, if not completed. Hyacinths in pots, tiful fancy varieties; such are, Diomede, conspicuum, filled with a compost of light loam, sand, and vegetable succulentum speciosum, Moore's victory, Dennis's rival, earth, should be plunged to the rims in ashes, or light &c. &c. Propagate, by cuttings, the China roses of earth, under the glass of a cold frame; and when the every kind; plant them two joints deep, in a shady situa- plants begin to grow, the pots should be raised, cleaned, tion; also calceolareas of the shrubby kind, Peruvian and placed in the green-house. Green-house plants heliotrope, &c. by division of the roots, Neapolitan must now be taken in, and be gradually inured to violet, placing them in beds of manured loam, twelve winter treatment, by the free admission of air and inches apart; the heart's-ease of the best varieties, in abatement of water. Take up the Persian cyclamen, shady situations; the soil, rich loam and leaf-mould. and pot it in loam, sand, and leaf-mould. There is a These favourite prize-flowers require a frequent re-geranium which merits much attention; it is called the newal of soil; they dwindle if retained in one site, and degenerate to the condition of the poor weak flowers of former years. Propagate, by slips, lychnis, double rocket, and wall-flower; thin out the superabundant shoot of asters, antirrhinums, penstemons, phlox, and indeed of every luxuriant herbaceous plant. June.-Propagate, as during the last month, and plant young side-shoots of the best lobelias, in shady borders, under a hand-glass. The pipings of pinks, placed in sandy earth, are to be closely covered in the same way, till completely rooted. Salpiglossis succeeds best in the open air; the plants should be now turned out of pots, and set in a dry border. Green-house plants may now be arranged in a north aspect; the pots to stand on a deep stratum of coal-ashes. Azaleas, acacia armata, and some such plants, are greatly improved by being turned out of pots, and planted with entire balls in an open peat-border. scarlet globe, and appears to be a seedling variety of Pelargonium zonale: cuttings of it strike freely in the open border early in summer; the handsomest of these taken up in September, and carefully potted in poor loamy soil, will flower throughout October and Novem ber, placed in the window of a south room: the flowerhead assumes the figure of a Guelder rose. November.-Bulbs; plant all, employing much sand about and above the bulbs. Protect fuchsias, if frost threaten. Screened leaves form the best substance to be placed as mulch. Dahlias should be digged up in airy and dry weather, when quite dry and clean; preserve the tubers in dry sand; damp is the worst enemy of the dahlia. December.-Protect beds of tulips, hyacinths, and other choice bulbs or roots, with a layer of saw-dust mixed with sand, or with ashes. Saw-dust alone has been found the most effectual protector to the roots of potted plants in frames, the pots being plunged in is to the rims. If dry weather permit, lightly fork the surface of plots and borders; but at any rate, if it be frosty, scatter some light manures around the stems of shrubs and the more tender plants; it will tend to enrich the ground at the first spring regulation. Secure begonias and other plants which die down to the mould, by placing the pots in a temperate dry July-Bud roses on wild stocks. A pretty effect is produced by inserting one or two buds of the deep-red China in the common China rose. The former is strengthened in its habit, and the different tints of the two roses are very pleasing. Propagate, by cuttings, the Chinese azaleas, half-shrubby calceolarias, linumis, pelargoniums, fuchsias, myrtles, and other exotic shrubs. Layer carnations in sandy earth, with a little chalk; peg them near the incision with hooks of fern- cellar. leaves. Sow the seed of mignionette in small pots, for Our recollection has been much assisted by referring winter; also, annual flower seeds for bloom in Septem-to the excellent calendar at the end of Mr Mantes treatise on Floriculture, published in " Baxter's Library of Agriculture and Horticultural Knowledge," a work which we should be happy to recommend to every admirer of rural economy. Printed and published by W. and R. CHAMbers, Edinbush Sold also by W. S. ORR and Co., London. CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE NUMBER 75. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S THE hardy fruits usually produced in gardens of an ordinary description in Britain, are of three leading kinds-kernel fruits, of which the apple and pear are the principal; stone fruits, including the peach, apricot, plum, and cherry; and berries, of which there are many different species, as the gooseberry, currant, and strawberry. The kernel and stone kinds are produced from trees, the others from shrubs or more tender plants. All the garden fruits, of whatever sort, are greatly improved by a long course of cultivation from a wild state-this being a branch of vegetable economy which has engaged the unremitting attention alike of men of science and practical gardeners from a remote antiquity till the present time. Of the best means which experience has suggested for culturing fruit trees, and bringing their produce to perfection, we now propose to speak. GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES. trenched soil two feet deep; and so on to a ten-feet wall, which should have at least three feet of free penetrable soil. The principle is, the deeper the soil, the less will the roots straggle. As already said, their tendency is chiefly downwards; and it is only because they cannot get far enough down that they range abroad. Their object is to absorb nourishment wherever it can be obtained; and, abstractly considered, it is of little consequence whether this nourishment is procured beneath the main stem or at ten yards' distance. But, practically, the gardener is concerned in keeping the roots from straggling, and interlacing, as with a network, the under strata of his borders, thus impeding his operations, and perhaps robbing his culinary vegetables or bushes of a portion of their food. It will therefore be observed, that depth of available soil is as essential in fruit tree culture as in any other department of gardening. If possible, a depth of three feet should always be obtained. Should the garden, when first taken possession of, not have more than eighteen inches or two feet of soil, our recommendation is, not to plant fruit trees upon it at all, till you have trenched the ground to a depth of three feet, and, by annual digging, mingled the lower layer with that immediately above it. (See article LAND IMPROVEMENT.) In the course of these preparations, let the soil be well cleared of stones, meliorated by winter frosts, and enriched with old manure. Bear in remembrance that fruit trees must never be excited by new and undecomposed manure. The material applied both before planting and also while the tree is growing, should be loam, mixed with a thoroughly-rotted compost of leaves, &c. Some persons, following an old prejudice, place a paving stone at a certain depth beneath, to prevent the root of the tree from penetrating into the subsoil; but this is only waste of labour; for if the descent be counteracted, the roots will proceed laterally, and penetrate downwards as soon as they can conveniently do so. By giving a proper depth of soil, and keeping that soil in heart, no fear need be entertained for the tree receiving injury from the subsoil. Fruit trees are grown as independent plants in an orchard, in which case the tree is suffered very much to assume any height or bulk that nature permits; also trained upon walls, or constrained to grow in a partienlar manner upon artificial palings called espaliers. When we say that depth of soil is advantageous, it In whatever manner the tree is planted or designed to is necessary to guard against an impression being grow, the tendency of the main stem and branches of formed that deep planting is also required. In genethe plant is directly upwards, and of the chief roots ral, the roots of trees should be placed near the surdirectly downwards. In general, the depth and spread- face. Mr M'Intosh, in his very beautiful work, "The ing of the roots are proportional to the height and Orchard," offers the following caution on this subject: spreading of the branches, because the roots are the "Deep planting is an evil much to be guarded against; anchorage and food-seekers of the plant, and require and many of the disappointments which have attended depth and compass of soil analogous to the bulk of the the fruit-grower may be traced to this cause. As some tree and its demands for nourishment. On these ac- criterion for the guidance of the amateur, we would counts, it is of the first importance not to stint fruit say, let every young fruit tree, of whatever kind, be trees of a proper depth and breadth of soil correspond-planted at least three inches above the ground level; ing to their expected dimensions. Trees planted close to walls should have a depth of Boil in proportion to the height of the wall. If the wall be six feet high, the border beneath will require to be a that is to say, let the part of the stem which was level height around it, for a couple of feet or so, in the form | after its polliniferous or male parent; and that, at the of a little hillock. Trees of larger size may be rather same time, it will acquire some of the constitutional more elevated. This applies to soils of the ordinary peculiarities of its mother."" description; but in damp soils, the elevation should be still greater. When trees are set in a pit, which should always be a third larger in diameter than that of the extent of the roots, so that they may be all spread out to their full extent, without being doubled or turned round, they should be spread as regularly as possible, and the bottom should be made perfectly level; by this means, the roots will have a horizontal direction given to them, which they will afterwards maintain. The intention of this arrangement is to induce them to extend themselves near the surface, and to prevent their extending downwards into a bad or cold subsoil." Propagation-Grafting. Illustrating these principles by a reference to the propagation of varieties of apple trees from seeds, Mr M'Intosh observes, that "the kinds of apples that it would be advantageous to cross by artificial impreg nation appear to be those which have a great many qualities in common, and some different qualities. Thus, it would be proper to cross the Golden pippin with other pippins, and even with some rennets, but it would be improper to cross it with codlins or the larger growing kinds. The numerous varieties of pippins raised by Knight and others, have been obtained by the above rule. It is no doubt true that a small apple-say, for example, the Golden pippin-crossed with a much larger sort, will produce a variety sufficiently distinct from the other; but it is almost equally certain that this new variety will be of inferior quality to either; 'the qua lities of both parents,' as Mr Loudon has very justly observed, of so very opposite natures being, as it were, rudely jumbled together in the offspring."" Grafting-its Theory. Fruit trees may be propagated by seeds, layers, cuttings, budding, suckers, or grafting. By any of these methods, a material object of the culturist is to improve, or at least not deteriorate, the quality of the plant. In a state of nature, every fruit is inferior to what it will become by cultivation. This disposition to improve is taken advantage of by gardeners; and by attending to various circumstances in the economy of any individual Grafting, which is a practice of great antiquity, is plant, they are able to produce and propagate the best the union of two plants in a growing state, through the varieties. The principal means employed is to select medium of the circulating juices. It is now a wellsuch varieties as have attained a certain degree of per-known fact in surgery, that if a piece of a finger which fection, and then crossing two of the most nearly allied, in order to produce an intermediate variety. The discovery of the sexuality of plants, as established by Linnæus, has rendered this a comparatively simple operation to skilled gardeners. The following is a short exposition of the method given by Mr M'Intosh, who quotes from other authorities: "The means used in the process of artificially fecundating the stigma or female parts of the blossom of one flower with the pollen or male dust of another, have been beautifully described and explained by Knight and others. That eminent pomologist has obtained thousands of apple trees from seeds, many of which are of first-rate quality, by cutting out the stamens of the blossoms to be impregnated before their own pollen was ripe enough for the purpose, and afterwards, when the stigma was mature, by introducing the pollen of the other parent, either by shaking the pollen of it over the flower containing the stigma only, by introducing the flower when deprived of its petals or coloured leaves, or by transferring the pollen upon the point of a camelhair pencil from the one flower to the other. By these means he prevented the possibility of the natural fecundation of the blossom within itself, and thus greatly increased the chances of obtaining intermediate varieties by making use of two distinct parents. has been accidentally chopped off be immediately applied to the stump whence it was severed, and the wound properly bandaged, it will adhere and become part of the living member as formerly. This, then, is grafting in the animal economy, and it is analogous to the grafting of one vegetable on another. The only dissimilarity is, that the piece of finger is restored to its own stump, whereas the vegetable union is between two distinct trees. But this is a point of no consequence for it is probable that if two persons, in equally good health, were to have a finger chopped off at the same time, the pieces might respectively be changed, and each person might have on his hand the finger of his neighbour. Gardeners assign five reasons for grafting:-1. The perpetuation of varieties of fruit, which could not be insured by sowing seed: 2. Increasing, with consider able rapidity, the number of trees of any desired sort: 3. Accelerating the fructification of trees which are tardy in producing their fruit: 4. Improving the qua lities of fruits: and 5. Changing the sorts of fruit of one tree, and renewing its productiveness. the juices. Yet, to effect any improvement in fructifcation, there must be a certain difference between the varieties. For example, the wild apple tree, which bears only crabs, too sour to be eaten, forms one of the best stocks on which a graft can be made; and for that reason alone, it is grown by nurserymen from seeds. The notice of this remarkable fact leads to a considerstion of what are the radical principles on which in When a tree becomes old, but has still healthy and vigorous roots, and it is thought advisable to renew or improve its fruitful qualities, it is cut off across the lower part of the stem, and forms the stock on which This process is called cross-impregnation, and is in scions are ingrafted, which scions taking root, become its nature highly curious. Dr Lindley describes the in time the fruit-bearing branches of the tree. As a action as follows:- Pollen (the male dust) consists of general principle, the sorts to be united require to be extremely minute hollow balls, or bodies; their cavity considerably alike as respects disposition of woody is filled with fluid, in which swim particles of a figure fibre and sap and pulp vessels, so that no decided ilvarying from spherical to oblong, and having appa-terruption may take place in the ascent or descent of rently spontaneous motion. The stigma (the female organ) is composed of very lax tissue, the intercellular passages of which have a greater diameter than the moving particles of the pollen. When a grain of pollen comes in contact with the stigma, it bursts, and discharges its contents among the lax tissue upon which it has fallen. The moving particles descend through the tissue of the style, until one or two find their way, by routes specially destined by nature for their ser-provement is effected by grafting. On this intricate vice, into a little opening in the integument of the ovulum or young seed. Once deposited there, the particle swells, increases gradually in size, separates the radicle and cotyledons, and finally becomes the embryo that which is to give birth, when the seed is sown, to a new individual. Such being the mode in which the pollen influences the stigma, and subsequently the seed, a practical consequence of great importance necessarily follows, namely, that in all cases of cross fertilisation, the new variety will take chiefly subject we offer, in the first place, the explanations of Dr Lindley: In proportion as the scion and ste approach each other closely in constitution, the iss effect is produced by the latter; and, on the contrary, in proportion to the constitutional difference between the stock and the scion, is the effect of the former im portant. Thus, when pears are grafted or budded the wild species, apples upon crabs, plums upon pless, and peaches upon peaches or almonds, the scion i had regard to fertility, exactly in the same state as if it ha |