«2$$ SECTAItfNES AND TEACHESO^ fllE SAME *RANCH. 



Not as sup- Most of tlie gardeners, with whom I have conversed re* 



J^ ed o ^ lg to specting these anomalies, attribute them to the pollen of 

 brought from neighbouring nectarine trees brought by bees : but, as the 

 nectarmes by young fruit is smooth or downy long before it is impregnated, 

 this cannot be the cause ; and in my humble opinion, no 

 change of this sort is produced subsequently. Not that I 

 have a shadow of doubt of the important consequences 

 whicil ensue when the stigma of one plant imbibes potten 

 belonging to another; bat these are only manifested in the 

 succeeding generation. The great Linne, in the Plantce 

 HybridcB and Generatio Ambigeria of his Amsznitates Aca- 

 demicae, first promulgated a doctrine, which I firmly believe, 

 that varieties, species, and even genera, have been created 

 in this manner; and without the fullest comprehension ©fit 

 no gardener can hope to be successful in raising new vege- 

 tables, free from the faults, or endowed with the perfections 



t- * *u* ne wishes. The pith of Linne's theory is, that the new ve- 



Linneus's the- _ r v. 



ory of the pro- getable will resemble its father, or that from which the pollen 



ducuonof new came m stem an( j ] eaves ; b u t its mother, or that upon which 

 kinds of plants. \ . . . , '. , / v . 



the stigma is situate, in flowers and fruit; this idea, which 



somewhat less restricted has been confirmed by actual ex- 

 periments, should never be forgotten. Of the necessity of a 

 sexual intercourse, every one who has raised a cucumber or 

 melon is well convinced, and as far as the annual production 

 . of these or other fruits is concerned, I have nothing to hint 

 in addition to modern practice, except that the pollen of 

 Pollen may be all vegetables might probably be preserved from one year* 

 preserved. to auo th e v; in early forcing, it would be found very useful, 

 and should be kept in papers as dry as possible, not apply- 

 ing it till the stigma is moistened with its own natural exu* 

 dation. In those countries, where dates are the principal 

 food of the inhabitants, a famine would sometimes be the 

 consequence of neglecting this precaution; for the male 

 trees do not flower every year, and it is well authenticated, 

 that pollen of this palm performed its office successfully, 

 after being sent many miles by the post to Berlin. 

 Other vege:a- Other vegetables sport in their pubescence as remarkably 

 ties vary in as this, but being of less importance, are not attended to, 

 cence. PU **~ Two years ago I observed a wall-flower-leaucd stock with 

 both smooth and downy leaves, in Messrs. Whitley and 



Braioe'a 



