HYBRIDIZING. 257 



of the same family or not, and proceed to notice tlie benefits 

 arising from sncli process. Perhaps the greatest advantage 

 that has been experienced has been in those instances Avhere 

 a hardy plant of little or no beauty has been crossed with 

 a tender one of great brilliance, and the produce has shown 

 great increase of beauty on a hardy race. Let us look at 

 once to a very faniihar cross. The Nepal mountaias pro- 

 duce rhododendrons with exceedingly briUiant crimson-scarlet 

 flowers ; the American rhododendrons are very hardy, and 

 have white or dirty purple flowers, or various shades of lilac, 

 violet, or puce. The E. ponticum is a very poor flower ; the 

 R. catawbiense has many shades, from nearly white to deep 

 purple ; the E. maximum is white or dingy purple. Now, 

 the eff'ect of crossing these with the brilliant varieties from 

 the East, has been the produce of hardy varieties with greatly 

 improved colours, such as the alta-clerense, whose bloom is a 

 briUiant crimson. Here, then, we have a decided advantage, 

 enriching our shrubberies with new varieties, and really 

 adding great interest to the cultivation of that family. jVIt. 

 Burns, of Tottenham Park, has raised many very beautiful 

 varieties called hybrids, on account of their being the produce 

 of similar crosses. ^Ir. Smith, of Norbiton, Surrey, has been 

 equally successful in crossing rhododendrons with the yellow 

 azaleas, and has thereby produced yellow rhododendrons, and, 

 in fact, every shade from yellow into bronze of various hues ; 

 and at this moment there is going on a series of experiments 

 in crossing this flower that must result in the production of 

 many extraordinary novelties. Crossing difi'erent races and 

 varieties has produced many of our most valuable kinds of 

 vegetable, especially in brocolies, some of which are nearly as 

 fine as cauliflowers, and perfectly hardy, — that is, will stand 

 all ordinary English mnters. In plants, the novelties pro- 

 duced by crossing are almost endless, though many of the 

 most strildng varieties have been produced by accidental in- 

 oculation, and not by any organized system. In correas, the 

 well-known species (so called) in conmion cultivation were 

 speciosa, pulchella, alba, viridis, and rufa ; but ]\Ir. Milner of 

 Clapham crossed these with one another in. various ways, and 

 the result was all the new varieties let out within the last 

 twenty years : Milnerii, first, then Cavendishii, longiflora, 

 rosea, bicolor, grandiflora, by Low, Groom, Pince, Gaines, and 

 others, partaking of the qualities of the various species in all 



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