542 



HYBRIDIZATION OF THE CAMELLIA JAPONICA. 



sembles Pi'essley's Queen Victoria, but surpasses it 

 in beauty. 



From C. Middlemist, by C. pomponia ; the fine 

 white variety ligured in Transactions of the Soci- 

 ety ; very circular, of great depth, full and perfect ; 

 occasionally suffused or touched with light rose. 



Having explained my views in relation 

 to the influence of petaloid pollen, I add, as 

 proof, a few examples illustrative of the in- 

 efficiency o( simple polle7i to generate double 

 flowers. This rule is not stated as invaria- 

 ble, but where the exception arises, may it 

 not be from a state of transformation not 

 visible to the eye. 



From Camellia pfeoniflora, by C. Donkselarii, 

 several single seedlings, one of which, of the exact 

 color of the former, and singularly veined with 

 deep red. 



From C. Colvillii, by C. Donkalarii ; seedlings, 

 with single flowers of various tints, but with no 

 disposition to double. 



From C. tricolor, fertilized with itself; seedlings, 

 with white and red single flowers, but, retaining in 

 habit and foliage the character of the parent. 



From C. Donkaslarii, by itself, a fac-simile, in 

 habit and foliage, but in flower resembling almost 

 precisely the old single red. 



Camellia myrtifolia, and C. imbricata 

 rubra, having departed from their general 

 double form, produced a few anthers, the 

 pollen of which was seized on as most de- 

 sirable for impregnating with, but the pro- 

 geny of these crosses, although in one in- 

 stance so similar in foliage to C. mjTtifo- 

 lia as hardly to be distinguished from it, 

 brought only ordinary single flowers; these 

 varieties seldom deviate from their usual 

 perfect form, and it was therefore noticed, 

 that none of the anthers were petaloid. 

 The seedlings, also, of the Abbe Berlese 

 and Mr. Herbert, raised from crosses by C. 

 myrtifolia, were no better than mine, and 

 Mr. H. declares his were " single flowered, 

 and the worst he ever raised." To what- 

 ever cause this sporting from the accustom- 

 ed habit may be attributed, and without 

 regard to the agency which the female 

 plant may have in generating double flow- 

 ers, it is obvious that the pollen in these 



instances was deficient in the proper ingre- 

 dient, arid further, that the circumstances 

 which induced the blossoms to revert to the 

 primordial stamp, also imparted to the plants 

 a strange retardation of inflorescence ; those 

 of C. myrtifolia not coming to the flowering 

 state, with me, until the seventh or eighth 

 year, and with the Abbe not until the twelfth. 



I have alluded in another place to the 

 structure of the flower designed for seed, 

 and although I place great reliance on the 

 kind of pollen to be used, and doubt not 

 that the juices of the style have, also, a 

 corresponding duty to perform ; still, I at- 

 tach great importance to its perfection and 

 substance ; for where the style has been 

 feeble, distorted, or so imperfectly develop- 

 ed as to exist in numerous divisions, my 

 success has been quite limited. 



Without, therefore, attempting to explain 

 the mysteries of fertilization, or to define the 

 line beyond which there can be no intermix- 

 tures or crosses of the vegetable kingdom, 

 a point on which botanists are much in 

 doubt at the present day, and w^ith no pre- 

 tensions " to breed to a pattern," or " to 

 wash out the last tip of black from the pi- 

 geon's wing," I submit the foregoing ob- 

 servations, with due deference, to those bet- 

 ter skilled in botanical science than my- 

 self. 



There have been so many treatises pub- 

 lished on the cultivation of the Camellia, 

 some of which are quite elaborate, it would 

 be superfluous to enter on it here. It may 

 not, however, in concluding this article, be 

 considered irrelevant, to add the following 

 brief directions : — 



The plants selected for fructification should 

 be removed from the Camellia house to one 

 of higher temperature ; this will essentially 

 assist fertilization, and in many cases ren- 

 der those fruitful which would not otherwise 

 become so. 



