REMARKS ON HYBRIDIZING PLANT?. 193 



perties already alluded to will, for the future, form the standard of a 

 flamed Tulip, being persuaded that they are stiictly in accordance 

 with the opinions of all England, excepting within a circuit of about 

 thirty or forty miles round York. I must, in justice to Leeds, Wake- 

 field, Halifax, and their neighbourhood, say, that their opinion is in 

 accordance with the general one, and all flamed flowers are judged 

 according to Mr. Groom's standard. 



ARTICLE IV. 



REMARKS ON HYBRIDIZING PLANTS. 



BY AN AMATEUR FLORIST. 



I have noticed in the Cabinet, from time to time, remarks by the 

 Conductor on encouraging the hybridizing of various classes of plants, 

 and which induced me to turn my attention to the process last 

 season with the Amaryllis, Achimenes, Verbena, Fuchsia, Phlox, 

 Pelargonium, and others. Some of the seeds I obtained early last 

 summer I sowed immediately, and the others early this spring, 

 and now I have, as the result, very numerous, and in almost endless 

 variety, beautifully distinct flowers of the above, with the exception 

 of the Amaryllis. The process is easy, — applying the 'pollen of one 

 flower to the stigma of another. The flower to whicli the pollen is 

 about to be applied must have its own anthers (containing the 

 pollen) cut away before they burst, after which, the pollen, from the 

 different plant, may be applied to the stigma. If the pollen of the 

 plant to be operated upon is not cut away, the stigma is likely to be 

 operated upon by the pollen of the same flower, and the result be 

 natural seedlings. The stigma, when in a proper state to have the 

 pollen (powder-like) applied, is glutinous outside, and the powder 

 adheres to it. I have noticed that no certain criterion can be relied 

 on as to the form the new plant will take, sometimes I find that the 

 male (pollen) plant is assumed, and in others the contrary. I 

 uniformly found that the more perfect in form both parents were, 

 so was the production, as it respects the colours. I have not had 

 two alike from the same plant; when all the flowers on a plant have 

 been operated upon, by pollen, from one plant, the most decided, 

 strong, and clear colours, give the more distinct in the progeny. It 

 is only by observation, in the progress of the operation and hlooming. 



