86 ON RAISING TULirS FROM SEF1>. 



ARTICLE VI.— On Raising Tulips from Seed. By Mr. 

 John Banton, Florist, &c. 



Your correspondent "W. E. F." (Vol. II. p. 163) inquires 

 about the method of raising seedling Tulips; and as no answer to 

 his request has yet appeared in the Cabinet, I beg leave to offer -a 

 few hints on the subject, if you think them worthy of insertion. 

 The following method I have pursued for several years with great 

 succebs, and have raised a quantity of seedlings, some of which I 

 expect to see in bloom this present year. 



Select such flowers as you think most eligible in respect to shape, 

 colour, &c. Although much has been said relative to raising seed 

 from self-coloured or breeding Tulips, it does not appear — from 

 the published experience of some first-rate growers — to be of any 

 consequence whether the seed be saved from broken or unbroken 

 flowers : in either case they should be handsomely cupped with 

 clear bottoms, these being indispensible qualities in a good flower. 

 It is of little consequence whether you impregnate them or not, 

 as it is almost sure to be done by natural means ; and if you 

 wish a perfect cross-fertilization, you ought carefully to extract the 

 anthers the first time the Tulip opens, and put a gauze bag over it, 

 fastening it to the stem, to prevent the bees and flies from intro- 

 ducing any pollen. After taking this precaution, you may let 

 them stand three or four days ; then, with a camel-hair brush) 

 take pollen from the flower you have chosen to impregnate with, 

 and apply it to the stigma of those you had before prepared. Or 

 you may take the anthers themselves, and apply in the same 

 manner, until the stigma is completely coloured with the pollen ; 

 then cover up with the gauze, as before. 



I am supposing all the while that your Tulips are sheltered 

 from the wet. The general method is, after the beauty of the 

 flowers is over, to throw them open to the weather, and take on" 

 the seed-vessels. When you do this to the others, remove the 

 gauze from your fertilized ones, and let them be fully exposed to 

 the weather. With respect to the injury done to the bulbs by 

 suffering them to perfect their seeds, I do not find that any mate- 

 rial deterioration takes place. 1 have, however, practised the fol- 

 lowing method with some favourite bulbs from which I wished to 

 save seed. As soon as the other Tulips (which had the seed-ves- 



