146 ON HYBRIDIZING. 



a vigorous grower, a very prolific bloomer, and being of a bright and 

 lovely rose colour, which is delicately softened off towards the margin 

 of the lip, it cannot fail to please all who grow it. It can be had at 

 any of the principal nurseries near London. 



ARTICLE II. 



ON HYBRIDIZING. 



BY J. E. M. 



If we knew a person anxious for the attainmant of some pastime 

 combining dexterous manual management with considerable intel- 

 lectual exercise, we do not know of one to whom we could more con- 

 fidently point him than the pursuit of horticulture and floriculture. 

 There is in the cultivation of flowers a charm for the most vacant 

 mind ; they also open up a field of study for the man of most auster 

 thought; here, also, the most refined mind, alive to loveliness in every 

 form, and beauty in every phase, finds ample, scope for admiration ; 

 true, indeed, " Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of 

 these." 



One of the greatest pleasures attendant on the pursuit of this art, 

 consists in raising new and improved varieties of flowers ; for, how- 

 ever beautiful flowers naturally are, there is no denying that they are 

 doubly so when they come from the hands of the skilful hybridizer. 

 In doing this, we are only taking advantage of the known laws that 

 govern vegetable reproduction ; it is on a small scale, art dictating to 

 nature, and to that, in a great measure, we owe our many improved 

 varieties of fruits and flowers. The field of experiment is boundless 

 as the extent of nature itself. Thousands of flowers that our fathers 

 looked upon as the pride and glory of their gardens, we now look upon 

 as almost worthless as plants of ornament ; were some old amateur 

 of half a century ago to have a look at our gardens now, he would be 

 bewildered by the blaze of beauty that would meet his eye ; the 

 change is not greater in form than in substance ; the style of laying 

 out gardens has advanced as well as the productions with which they 

 are enriched. For the majority of our most beautiful varieties of 

 flowers we are indebted to the skilful hydridizer ; he soon gains a 

 wonderful power over the colour and form of vegetable existence. 



