1882.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



343 



of Hibiscus Moscheutos, the Swamp Rose Mai 

 low. As soon as the buds matured sufficiently 

 to bear it, the petals were unfolded and the 

 anthers very carefully cut off and brushed out 

 with a camel's-hair bru-sh while yet they were 

 quite green. Pollen from the Rose of Sharon 

 (Hibiscus Syriacus) in liberal quantities was a 

 little later applied to the stigmas. Xot less than 

 fifty buds were so treated, while every other bud 

 not so emasculated was cut off as soon as formed. 

 Xow it should appear that any seeds that formed 

 in the manipulated flowers, were the result of 

 hybridization between H. Moscheutos and H. 

 Syriacus. Seeds matured so abundantly tha,t 

 the work was repeated with, if possible, addi- 

 tional care, only to give the same results. From 

 these seeds we raised about one hundred plants, 

 in the house the following winter, about twenty- 

 five of which were planted out of doors in the 

 spring. All of them bloomed, but neither in 

 bloom, stem or in leaf was there or is there (we 

 have still a dozen of the plants) the slightest 

 variation from Hibiscus Moscheutos." 



During two seasons past, I have spent much 

 time in crossing wheats. I have been very care- 

 ful to remove the three anthers from each flower 

 whilfi yet they were immature. Whenever they 

 (the anthers) showed a tint of yellow, an evi- 

 dence of approaching maturity, I have destroyed 

 the anthers. Nevertheless seventy-five per cent, 

 of the heads from plants raised from this crossed 

 seed could not be distinguished from those of 

 the mother plant. 



I trouble you in this matter to give some 

 evidence of the potency of the female over 

 the male parent. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Hybrid Cotton. — Some months since we 

 made note of a reported variety of cotton raised 

 between the okra and true cotton. This news 

 was thought important enough to be sent to 

 every leading paper through the medium of the 

 Associated Press dispatches, a reputable organi- 

 zation for collecting news, or it would not have 

 been thought worth repeating in these pages. 

 As then said in our note, it is not impossible that 

 a hybrid might be obtained between two genera 

 as closely related as. these. In Gesneracese such 

 genera have become badly mixed. In this case 

 it was simply a question of fact against an im- 

 probability. We wrote to the Mr. Subers, of 

 Macon, Ga., for a sample of his hybrid cotton, 

 and such information about the manner of his 

 procedure in crossing as we could have for our 

 readers. No answer has been received, and we 

 feel bound, therefore, to suppose that the story 



is nonsense, and the Associated Press owes ita 

 reputation to inquire into the imposition prac- 

 ticed on it. We would suggest that that " news " 

 agent be changed. 



Death and Birth of New Species of Plants. 

 — The Independent says : " Those who contend 

 for the continual appearance of new species on 

 the earth derive much aid in their argument 

 from the evident continual disappearance of old 

 ones. It would not be consistent with our idea 

 of the new creations unless it was evident that 

 they succeeded extinct forms ; nor is it in har- 

 mony with all we know of nature to conceive of 

 continual extinction unless we admit new forms 

 appear to continue the work of nature. Among 

 plants it is not uncommon to find some species 

 so rare that but a faw specimens are known to 

 exist. These are often found in localities wide 

 apart, and, as they must have in former times 

 been more closely connected, but show no indi- 

 cations of connections now, they are regarded as 

 species on the highway to the grave. In the 

 Southern Alleghany regions are many of these 

 disappearing forms, and there are quite a num- 

 ber in the North. Corema Conradii, a curious 

 plant, with the habit of an Erica, but belonging 

 to the order Empetracefe, is an illustration. 

 Turrey and Knieskern found it in New Jersey, 

 but it has not been since seen where they dis- 

 covered it. It was also once found on Long 

 Island, but has disappeared from there. A few 

 plants have been found at Cape Cod, at Bath in 

 Maine, and in Newfoundland. No doubt there 

 may be a few more isolated places where it may 

 yet be found. Recently Mr. Aubrey H. Smith, a 

 Philadelphia botanist, has announced the dis- 

 covery of a few plants in the Palmaghatt Pass, 

 of the Shawangunk Mountains, in New York. 

 The wide distribution of the localities show that 

 the plant in the long ages past had a wide range, 

 and its disappearance in the intervening spaces 

 was wholly the work of natural agencies, and 

 probably long before even the Indian existed on 

 this continent. 



Nepenthes Madagascariensis. — In view of the 

 lesson on Nepenthes given in our last, it seems 

 that an illustration of another, to follow it, show- 

 ing in what respects one species may differ from 

 another, may be very useful. The present one 

 was recently introduced by Messrs. Veitch, from 

 Madagascar, through Mr. Curtis. Occuring thus 

 at the extreme western limit of the Nepenthes 

 range, it is found to possess characters in its 



