192 



FOREIGN NOTICES- 



tlier apart from the means which such flowers 

 present for buikling up a peculiar phytological 

 theory". 



I confess that in the case of many plants, such 

 for instance as the Chinese Hibiscus, the sintrje 

 j>erfect flower is to my eye far more beautiful than 

 the double varieties; but beautiful and lovely 

 though many even of our common plants be in 

 their single state — such as the daisy, when slowly 

 rolling back its pale crimson hood-like covering 

 as the sun's rays reach it in the morning — I con- 

 ceive that few, with a correct taste for the beau- 

 tiful, would think of contrasting for a moment the 

 single and the double in such plants as daisies, 

 primroses, violets, ranunculuses, pinks, carna- 

 tions, roses, stocks, wall-flowers, Sweet Williams, 

 rockets, balsams, fever-few, catch-fl}', &c. ; plants 

 which, though generally found in their highest 

 perfection in the garden of the amateur and cot- 

 tager, will never disgrace the parterre of the no- 

 bleman. 



Our attention has been directed to this subject 

 b)' the inquiries of a lady correspondent, as to 

 how such flowers are at first produced. "Is it 

 from richness of soil, as in the stock? I know that 

 double flowers may be perpetuated by impregna- 

 tion, but want to know how to get one double in 

 the first instance." Now our difficulty here con- 

 sists in the fact, that our own mind is not quite 

 made up on the subject, though we incline to our 

 friend's supposition, that double flowers are chiefly 

 |)roduced by cultivation, and, in addition, that 

 they are perpetuated by the same means; and 

 although aware that they may be perpetuated by 

 impregnation, we consider that even that holds a 

 rather secondary place to careful cultivation. 

 Glancing, however, at one or two fallacies may 

 lead the investigations of our friends, who have 

 time at their command, into a channel whence 

 more consistent and legiiimate deductions may 

 proceed. 



That our correspondent is not alone in her opi- 

 nion, that double flowers are perpetuated by ci'oss 

 fecundation , may be seen in the circumstance of 

 saving a single flowering stock for seed that has 

 been surrounded by double ones; the practitioners 

 believing that the contiguity of the double flowers 

 will influence the single ones, and thus so far af- 

 fect the seeds formed that they will produce plants 

 with double flowers. Now, in examining the 

 matter, it will at once be found that the double 

 state in flowers is generally produced by the sta- 

 mens, and the pistils, the male and female or- 

 gans, and also at times what are termed floral 

 leaves. Sec, being all changed into petals; and 

 the more completely this has been done, the more 

 perfect the specimen appears as a double flower. 

 But the more effectually this was accomplished, 

 the more unlikely would such double flowers be to 

 exercise any influence whatever upon the proper- 

 ties of the seed produced from single flowers in 

 their vicinity. If these double flowers contained 



any perfect stamens, the fertilising pollen of these 

 stamens might be transferred to the summit of the 

 pistil of the single flowers, and thus the proper- 

 ties of the double flowers might be imparted to 

 the seeds so fecundated. Thus, in saving seed 

 from semi-double flowers, or even from flower.'* 

 containing a greater number of petals than usual, 

 there is a greater probability of obtaining double 

 flowers in future than from plants with perfectly 

 single flowers, as a predisj>osing cause in the first 

 case has already been in action. Whether this 

 double flowering condition be the result of disease 

 or merely of a full plethoric habit, superinduced 

 by high cultivation, is a question that will not at 

 all affect the above proposition. But, if no such 

 influence in the shape of male organs existed in 

 the double flowers, then their neighborhood to the 

 single ones could exercise no power whatever 

 upon the qualities of the seed that would natu- 

 rally be produced. Future culture will determine 

 whether the plants from such a seed shall be puny 

 or luxuriant, but that culture for the first season 

 will have little or no influence as to the plant pos- 

 sessing double or single flowers; these are quali- 

 ties which would be chiefly lodged in the seed 

 while yet remaining in the seed-vessel of the 

 nurse-parent. What, then, are some of the prin- 

 ciples by which we ought to be guided, when our 

 object is to obtain and preserve double flowers? 



Making allowance lor exceptions, the following 

 may be adduced as leading general propositions; 



First. To obtain double flowers from seed, de- 

 pendence must not be placed upon the influence 

 of a stray stamen that was not converted into a 

 petal or flower leaf, but means must be taken to 

 make the seeds possessed of a property which 

 otherwise they would not possess, by superinducing 

 a highly elaborated, full, plethoric habit, in the 

 seeds. This can only be done by stiiuulaling the 

 plant with high cultivation at a certain period — 

 after the flower-buds appear — and then by re- 

 moving the greater portion of the seeds. If the 

 stimulus is applied at an earlier period, the plant 

 will increase greatly in luxuriance; by giving it 

 thus later, a greater degree of strength is con- 

 veyed to the flowers; bj' thinning these flowers, 

 or the seed vessels, as soon as formed, so as to 

 have only a very few seeds to ripen, these, in 

 consequence, acquire a full plethoric habit; and 

 we know that in the vegetable and animal world 

 alike, this state is opposed to productive fruitful- 

 ness, while in the dcplethoric state it is encou- 

 raued. From a full double flower, therefore, we 

 expect and obtain no seeds. From such plants as 

 balsams, which, though said to be double, j'et 

 produce seeds, the rendering of them more double 

 must be obtained by the high cultivating and seed 

 thinning process. In their case, as well as some 

 others, compactness of growth and clearness of 

 colour seem to be gained by preserving the seed 

 for several years; the fresher a seed, the sooner 

 will it vegO'tate, and the stronger and more luxu- 



