THE 



Gardeners' Monthly 



AND 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Volume XXVII. 



MAY, 1885. 



Number 317. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The system of bedding plants has called for a 

 new class of characters. Formerly viewed as a 

 "florist's flower," a verbena, for instance, would 

 require roundness of form in the individual flower 

 as a first requisite. The lobes of the edges of the 

 border should seem so to overlap each other as to 

 form a perfect circle. Then there should always 

 be an " eye," and the colors of this eye and the 

 margin beyond be well defined, and not run 

 gradually into each other. But for bedding pur- 

 poses, a new and striking shade of color, a free 

 blooming character, neat habit of growth, and 

 power to endure a hot, dry sun, are of far more 

 importance ; and the energies of our improvers 

 should be devoted to this end. Seedling raising 

 with this view is very interesting, and we would 

 recommend all our amateur friends to try their 

 hands at it. It is a highly interesting source of 

 gratification even in itself. The way to proceed 

 is to note some variety that approaches nearly to 

 the desired shade, and select seed from these. 

 The next season some flowers will be produced 

 probably deeper, and in a few generations, by 

 careful annual selection each time, the desired 

 shade can be obtained. The old notion that 

 " like produces like," is a fallacy. There is always 

 more or less of difference in the progeny from its 

 progenitors, though most generally so slight that 



we do not observe it; but a little art added to 

 nature's own process brings out the variations 

 very remarkably. Where quite different charac- 

 ters from the original are desired, hybridization 

 may be resorted to. For instance, we may have 

 an excellent habit of growth, and free blooming 

 quality, but a dull colored flower; a kind as 

 nearly allied to the good qualities as possible, but 

 with better colors should be selected with which 

 to fertilize the other. Flowers should be selected 

 for fertilization soon after they have expanded, 

 and the one used as a fertilizer chosen when ma- 

 tured. The flower of the former may then have 

 the latter shaken over it, and fertilization will 

 probably ensue. This is a rough method. The 

 passage of a camel-hair pencil from one flower to 

 another is better ; the pollen from the stamens of 

 the one is more certainly carried to the other. 

 When hybridizing is carried on with nicety, it is 

 best entirely to remove the anthers with a pair of 

 scissors before applying the pollen of the other 

 kind. This lessens the chances of self-fertilization, 

 and renders the operation either a certain failure 

 to produce seed at all, or a different race from its 

 parents by the seed so produced. New fruits 

 may be produced in the same way. It was at 

 one time supposed all these productions were 

 mules, and though they might produce flowers 

 in their progeny, would not produce fruit, and 

 so the operation would not benefit the porno- 



