CROSS-FERTILISATION 63 



gathered before it is quite ready to burst ; otherwise the 

 seeds may be lost. 



Very desirable precautions are to cut out the anthers 

 of the proposed seed-bearing flower while in a young 

 state and so prevent possible self-fertilisation, which in 

 some varieties very rapidly takes place, and also to 

 protect it from wind or insect-carried pollen with 

 glass or fine muslin. And it is much easier to ensure 

 success in making the desired cross when the mother 

 plants are grown in pots in a greenhouse. 



The seeds should be sown as soon as ripe, in boxes 

 (or pots and pans), and kept in a cold frame plunged in 

 cocoa-fibre on a well-drained and level bottom. The 

 soil in which they are sown should have a good mixture 

 of sharp sand, and good drainage should be supplied by 

 a layer of rough, half-rotten turf. The seeds should 

 be covered with about half an inch, or a little less, of 

 sandy soil ; the little bulbs when produced have a 

 remarkable way of their own of working down to their 

 proper depth. The young plants do not come up all at 

 once but at intervals throughout the winter, and their 

 tender, narrow, rush-like leaves must be duly protected 

 from snails and slugs. 



The young plants should be kept in their boxes, pots 

 or pans, in the cold frame for their first two years, and 

 afterwards planted out in the open in beds raised slightly 

 above the surrounding level. 



Seeds from the very small growing kinds, such as 

 Triandrus, Juncifolius,and Cyclamineus, generally flower 

 in the third year after sowing, and a good many seeds 

 of other kinds may be expected to show flower the 

 fourth year ; but five years is the usual time for the large 

 growing kinds, and even then they do not exhibit their 

 true character at once, but may go on improving for 

 several years. This seems a long time to wait for 

 results ; but if an annual sowing is made, when once the 



