HYBRIDIZING, 



25 



Fticlisia wKicli liad tlien been raised. Mr. 

 Knight impregnated blooms of a degene- 

 rate sort of pea with the pollen of a large 

 and luxuriant grey pea ; the seeds exhibit- 

 ed no perceptible difference from those of 

 the other plants of the same variety, per- 

 haps because the external covering of the 

 seed w^as entireJy furnished by the female ; 

 but in the spring the effect was obvious, for 

 they grew v/ith great luxuriance, and pro- 

 duced dark grey seeds. By impregnating 

 this variety with other*, the colour was 

 again changed, and superior ones produced. 

 In these experiments, when the pollen of a 

 coloured blossom was introduced into a 

 white one, all the seeds were coloured, but 

 the opposite was not the case when the 

 pollen of a white blossom was introduced 

 to a coloured one. Lord Carnarvon ob- 

 tained a mule Rhododendron by fertilizing 

 R. catawbiense with R. arboreum. In this 

 case the mule had the flov/ers and colour 

 ■of the latter, and the foliage and hardness 

 of the former. M. Gallesio procured more 

 certainly double flowers by crossing those 

 which were half double by others in a 

 similar state. M. Fries Morel found cross- 

 -ed clove pinks to resemble the mother plant 

 in form and the father plant in colour. The 

 Dean of Manchester found that in crossing 

 lilies, the plants produced resero.bled the 

 mother plant in their leaves and stems, and 

 the father plant in ail their reproductive 

 •organs; this agrees remarkably with the 

 result in the case of Lord Carnarvon's Rho- 

 dodendron. Some very remarkable hybrid 

 Azaleas were obtained by the Dean of Man- 

 chester from. Rhododendron ponticum fer- 

 tilized by Azalea pontica. In this case 

 there was little trace of the Rhododendron 

 in the seedling, except in the tinting of the 

 flowers, and to a certain extent in their 

 arrangement : the evergreen habit of the 

 female parent was totally obliterated. He 

 also got a seedling between Rhodora cana- 

 densis fertilized by the Azalea pontica ; in 

 this case the hybrid partook decidedly of 

 the foliage, wood, and habit of the Rhodo- 

 ra, its female parent, and in the flowers, 

 which were of a yellowish colour, it fol- 

 lowed the male parent. Many other crosses 

 ivere made by the same distinguished bota- 

 fnist between Rhododendrons and Azaleas, 

 and always with similar results ; and it was 

 Yoh. m. 2 



on the evidence of these experiments of Mr. 

 Herbert's that the genera Rhododendron, 

 Azalea, and Rhodora have been amalga- 

 mated. 



Captain Thurtell found that in cross-bred 

 Pelargoniums the colour and spotting re- 

 sembled the male parent, while the form 

 approached more closely to that of the fe- 

 m^ale. In the case of Gloxinias it has been 

 remarked that in all cases when G, rubra 

 has been fertilized with G. speciosa, or any 

 of its varieties, the result has uniformly 

 been a degeneracy in the colour of the va- 

 rieties ; the few which have been produced 

 possessing any merit in this respect, have 

 been obtained by crossing with G. Candida. 



The mode in which colours act in hybrid 

 crosses is singular. When the bright yel- 

 lov/ flower of the white turnip is crossed 

 with the dull golden of the Swede, an in- 

 termediate colour is not obtained, but some 

 of the mules as to colour follow one parent, 

 and some the other. When a blue Ana- 

 gallis is crossed with the orange-coloured, 

 the effect is to discharge the yellow from 

 the orange, leaving the dull red which was 

 combined with it, whilst the blue is oblite- 

 rated. In Mr. Herbert's Rhododendro- Aza- 

 leas, the purple of one parent, and the yel- 

 lov/ of another, v/as succeeded in the mules 

 by whitish flowers, more or less tinted with 

 rose, and with a yellow blotch on the up- 

 per segment. Usually, however, it is most 

 influenced by the male parent. 



In the absence of better evidence than 

 we possess on this subj ect, we think it may 

 be assumed — 



1st, That the characters of the male pa- 

 rent become more fully developed in the 

 flowers and parts of fructification in the 

 progeny, than those of the female. 



2d. That the characters and general con- 

 stitution and foliage of the female are to a 

 great extent transferred to the progeny. 



From these deductions, and other con- 

 siderations we may venture to draw the 

 following inferences, being fully aware, 

 however, that the evidence is on some 

 points conflicting, and even contradictory : 



-Colour in flowers* seems generally to be 

 most influenced by the male parent. 



Form in flowers apparently more closely 



* A cross between a rose or byblomen tulip, and a bizarre, 

 is said usually to produce '' uicotors," .which ars not prized. 



