REMARKS ON HYBRIDISING. 



115 



important results, they are probably nothing 

 compared to what may be expected to come 

 of it. We anticipate, through its assist- 

 ance, a change in the whole face of culti- 

 vated plants, and we shall be much sur- 

 prised if even a few years do not bring us 

 acquainted with races of trees, esculents, 

 corn and forage plants, of at least as much 

 importance in their waj', as those which have 

 alread)'' appeared among fruits and flowers ; 

 all that is wanted is to call attention to the 

 subject, and to point out what the principles 

 are which the experimenter has to bear in 

 mind. 



The effect is produced by applying the 

 pollen of one flower to the stigma of ano- 

 ther. The pollen indicates the male parent, 

 the stigma the female. In performing the 

 operation, it is necessary to use these pre- 

 cautions : The female flower must be de- 

 prived of her stamens before they burst, 

 and disperse their pollen ; and as soon as 

 the stigma is glutinous enough to hold it 

 fast, the pollen must be applied with care. 

 Should this care not be taken, the stigma is 

 very likely to be inoculated with the pollen 

 of her own or some other flower, and then 

 the pollen which it is intended to use will not 

 take ; for it must always be borne in mind 

 that a stigma once inoculated cannot be ino- 

 culated again. From want of these precau- 

 tions, people are continually fancying they 

 have obtained hj'brids, when they have only 

 gained natural seedlings. At least half the 

 specimens of so called hybrids, sent to us 

 for examination, are not hybridised at all. 

 When the Dean of Manchester, who is the 

 greatest of all authorities in this matter, 

 wishes to obtain a cross, he always endea- 

 vors to force the female parent before others 

 of its kind blow, so as to be insured against 

 accidental inoculation from pollen floating 

 in the air. Want of attention to these mi- 

 nutiae has led to some singular errors on the 

 part of a very ingenious correspondent, who 

 fancied he had obtained seedlings between 

 Crinum, Ismene, Buphane, Calostemma, 

 etc., while he had only raised the usual 

 seedlings. 



It is hard to say within what limits the 

 operation may be successfully practised. 

 The general rule is, that plants only, which 

 are very nearly related, are able to inocu- 

 late each other. But there may be excep- 



tions to this. At least we know that very 

 near connexions have, or seem to have, a 

 great aversion for one another. For example 

 a Raspberry and a Strawberry are first cou- 

 sins, yet they appear to have no mind for an 

 alliance. A Gooseberry, Currant, and Black 

 Currant, are still nearer to each other, and 

 their repugnance seems invincible ; at least 

 nobody has yet found means to hybridise 

 them with each other, though many have 

 attempted it. On the other hand, Heaths, 

 different as they are from each other, inter- 

 mingle freely; Cereus speciosissimus is 

 readily inoculated by the night flowering 

 Cereus ; and even the creeping Cereus has 

 been crossed with the former ; the Rhodo- 

 dendron will fertilize the Azalea ; and 

 strangest of all, the Red Cedar has on se- 

 veral occasions been found to inoculate the 

 American Arbor Vit«, the issue from which 

 is that curious whipcord-branched plant, 

 called in the gardens Thuja filiformis. This 

 singular shrub was so produced for the first 

 time in Messrs. Loddiges' nursery at Hack- 

 ne}^, and has since been obtained in the 

 same manner at Paris. These facts open 

 a very wide field for inquiry, and are espe- 

 cially valuable as affording evidence that 

 the limits of hybridising are far from being 

 narrow. 



In the midst of many experiments con- 

 ducted without exactness, from which no 

 safe conclusion can be drawn, there are 

 some which, in the hands of such men as 

 the Dean of Manchester, seem to justify 

 the important inference, that as a general 

 rule, the properties of the male parent will 

 be most conspicuous in the hybrid. For 

 example, Mr. Herbert crossed the long-yel- 

 low-cupped common Daffodil, with the small 

 red-edge-cupped Poet's Daffodil ; and the 

 seeds of the common Daffodil furnished a 

 bulb with most of the attributes of the Poet's 

 Narcissus. The same gentleman also ob- 

 tained out of a capsule of Rhododendron 

 ponticum, inoculated by Azalea pontica, 

 seedlings which had entirely the habit of 

 the latter or male parent. 



In like manner, the arborescent crimson- 

 flowered Rhododendron atlaclerense was 

 raised from the seed of the dwarf pallid R. 

 catawbiense hybridised by the arborescent 

 crimson R. arboreum ; and when the com- 

 mon scarlet Azalea, with its crimson flowers 



