THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 91 



now of Fiicbsia^ Geraniums, Salvias, Heliotropiums, Verbenas and Petunias. 

 Those struek early will now require stopping and shifting. 



Rhubakb.— It new plantations are wanted for next season, now is the time to 

 make them. Clioose deep rich soil, trench and manure, and plant stout pieces ot 

 good varieties, "witli one plump eye to each. 



Spinach to be sown in successive breadths between rows of peas. 



Stove Climbers must bs encouraged to grow fast, and training must he de- 

 layed as long as it is safe to do so, as training checks tiie growth. 



Stove Plants must be shifted and repotted as required. Nearly every plant 

 in the house will need some attention of the kind, either to give more root-room or 

 lo refresh with new compost. 



Succulents wanting larger pots, they should now be shifted, and the soil used 

 should be a mixture of lime rubbish, broken bricks, turfy loam, and a little cow- 

 dung, with plenty of drainage crocks in the bottoms of the pots. Plenty of light, 

 plenty of water, when in free growth, and a generous temperature, are requisite to 

 produce a good bloom. 



Wall Fruits are now pushing into bloom, and projecting material should he 

 put up at once, if not done already. Beware of coddling the trees by means of 

 shelter; sunshine and air ai-e beneficial — frost and rain do the mischief ; a breeze 

 playing among the blossoms helps to set the pollen. 



Vines to be thinned of their superfluous bunches as soon as the berries are 

 fairly set, and the thinning to be done with a bold hand. Thin the shoot-;, aljcays 

 insuring the natural shade of leaves for the bunches. Inside borJers to be kept 

 warm, and be liberally watered. ^_^ 



BRITISH WILD -PLOWERS, 



CONSIDERED IX THEIR RELATION TO INSECTS. 



BY SIR JOH>- LL'BBOCE:, BABT., il.P., F.E.E. 



fiPRANGEL, in his bouk published at th->. close of the last cetitury, was 

 the first to throw a light upon the connection existing between insects 

 and flow,.-rs, and to point out that not only the form, size, and shape of 

 the latter, but the lines and dots upon them, had reference to this con- 

 nection. This discovery excited but little attention till Darwin took up 

 the subject in his work on orchids, since when much more has been learnt from the 

 investigations of Axel, Delpiuo, Iliklebrandt, Muller, Noble, Bennett, and Dr. 

 Hooker. Sprangel was the firsc to discover that insects, notably bees, serve to 

 transfer the pollen from the stamens to the pistils. They do not, as a rule, 

 transfer the pollen of the stamen to the stigma of the same flower, but to that of 

 another, and, as any gardener knows, better seed and more of it is to be obtained 

 by this cross fertilization. There are three classes of plants that are not self- 

 fertilizing : the first in which the stamens and pistils are in separate flowers ; the 

 second in which they are in the same flower, but do not mature at the same time: 

 and the third in which, although both are contained in the same flower, it is im- 

 possible from their position for the pollen to get to the stigma. In flowers that do 

 not fertilize themselves the pollen is chielly conveye * by the wind or by insects — 

 though water, and even snails, serve in some instances. Plants fertilized by wind 

 are notable for an unusually Large discharge of pollen— as in the Scotch fir and the 

 nut tribes— and very prominent pistils. They flower mostly in early spring, when 

 there are no leaves to catch the pollen. In insect-fertilized plants it is clearly 

 shown that the flowers are indebted for size and colour to the insects. The common 

 mallow and the round-leafed mallow are instances of this. They are almost iden- 

 tical in all but size and shape of flower. The former has a large and attractive 

 blossom, but the stigma stands straight up, and the stamens bend down, so that u 

 cannot fertilize itself, and depends upon the insects it attracts. The flower of the 

 March. 



