HYBRIDIZING. 



Otherwise it will not act ; in other words, 

 if the stigma is too young or too old, the 

 application will be ineffectual. The stig- 

 ma to which the pollen has been applied 

 must be guared from injury until after fer- 

 tilization has taken place, or the applica- 

 tion will be ineffectual. The time which 

 transpires before this is secured varies in 

 different plants; in some it is very slow, 

 occupying a month and upwards. For the 

 same reason, after the pollen has been ap- 

 plied, the pistils should be secured as far 

 as possible from any chance of contact with 

 other pollen, either by the agency of wind 

 or insects, and especially should they be 

 secured from being influenced by the pollen 

 of their own species, for this is probably 

 much more ready in its action than that 

 obtained from a strange plant. A very in- 

 teresting fact connected with pollen has 

 not until latterlj' been fully proved ; we al- 

 lude to its property of keeping, without 

 losing its peculiar vivifying powers, if stored 

 in a proper manner. The principal condi- 

 tions seem to be to keep it dry and cool by 

 whatever means may be preferred. 



M. Haquin, a distinguished horticulturist 

 at Liege, has impregnated flowers of Azalea 

 with pollen kept for six weeks, and Camel- 

 lias with pollen kept sixty-five days ; and 

 he even thinks that it would be quite ef- 

 fective if preserved until the following 

 year, which supposition is confirmed by the 

 experience of Mr. Jackson, a nurseryman 

 in Yorkshire, who has found the pollen of 

 a variety of Rhododendron Smithii to retain 

 its fertilizing power for twelve months. 

 Haquin's plan of preserving pollen is to 

 gather the stamens just before the anther 

 cells burst, and wrap them in writing pa- 

 per, and place them in a dry room ; he then 

 collects the pollen they emit, and preserves 

 it in sheet lead in a cool dry place. M. 

 Godefroy suggests that two concave glasses, 

 like those employed for keeping vaccine 

 matter in, would be better. The globules 

 or granules of pollen must not be crushed. 

 This is, indeed, a most valuable fact con- 

 nected with the subject before us, for upon 

 a proper selection of pollen very much of 

 success depends, and a store of this can 

 therefore be laid by whenever it is procura- 

 ble, ready for use as soon as an opportunity 

 offers. Unless this were the case, the means 



of improvement would be very limited, for 

 it often happens that the two kinds which 

 it may be desired to intermix are not in 

 flower at the same time, or at least not in 

 the requisite degree of development. 



In raising and blooming seedling plants 

 in this way, there is one point which it 

 appears to be of importance to keep in view, 

 and that is, that whether it be flowers or 

 fruit, the real properties and qualities of 

 the seedling are not at first to be detected, 

 ■and therefore no hasty conclusion should be 

 arrived at as to its merits. A very remarka- 

 ble case, illustrative of this point, is on re- 

 cord : — when the late Mr. Knight raised 

 the Black Heart Cherry, part of its first 

 produce was sent to the Horticultural So- 

 ciety, and was considered so bad, that had 

 not the tree been called the property of one 

 of his children, (who sowed the seed,) it 

 would have been cut in, and worked with 

 something else ; the after produce of this 

 tree was of better quality, and the variety 

 is now known as one of the richest of its 

 class. This case appears to me tobedecisive. 



It may also be worth while to mention, 

 that as no visible alteration in the appear- 

 ance of the seed vessels results from im- 

 pregnation by another, this want of change 

 is not to be considered as being conclusive 

 of failure. Whether or not impregnation 

 has been effected, is easily determined ; for 

 when this has taken place the stigmas soon 

 wither, while those which have not received 

 the pollen remain green and vigorous for a 

 much longer time, varying of course with 

 the duration of the particular flower. A 

 change is generally to be noticed first in 

 the petals, as in the case of the Pelargo- 

 nium, in which they usually fall within 

 three or four hours after impregnation, af- 

 fording a convincing proof of the operation 

 being successful. 



It may be interesting to notice a few of 

 the recorded instances in which definite 

 results have been obtained. One of them 

 is the case of some Fuchsias raised by Mr. 

 Standish, of Bagshot, who crossed corym- 

 biflora with some other kind, as globosa, 

 and obtained but very moderate success in 

 the first generation ; these crosses were, 

 however, again crossed with one of the 

 parents, (we believe globosa,) and this 

 result was some of the best varieties of 



