My Garden in Spring 



Crocus, and you will find the electricity thereby generated 

 will cause the pollen grains to fly up on to the electrified 

 object, and, what is more, to stick there, but so lightly that 

 directly they are rubbed against the stigma of another 

 Crocus they will leave the amber and be left where you, 

 and Nature before you, intended them to be. For fer- 

 tilising flowers with small pollen grains you will find this 

 plan much more satisfactory than the use of a camel's-hair 

 brush. The sealing-wax can be wiped clean very easily 

 between each crossing, but pollen grains work in between 

 the hairs of a brush, and are not easily induced to leave 

 it and adhere to a stigma, so that it is hard to be sure you 

 have not left some to work out afterwards and muddle up 

 your crosses. It is best to label the bulb with the name 

 of the pollen parent, and either to remove other flowers 

 from it or fertilise them with similar pollen as they appear. 

 The ovary of a Crocus flower is below ground, of course, at 

 flowering time, and does not appear in the upper world 

 until the seeds are nearly ripe. From early May onwards 

 and throughout June the ripening capsules may be looked 

 for, and it is best to pick them before they split and scatter 

 their contents. A gentle pinch will soon tell you whether 

 the seeds inside are hard enough for gathering. I find the 

 nested willow-chip boxes used so much by entomologists 

 very useful for keeping the seed in : the capsules ripen well 

 in such dry quarters, and the names of the sorts can be 

 written in pencil on the lid. Next best and less bulky are 

 those strange wee packets sold for about nothing three 

 farthings the hundred as pence envelopes. I have often 

 wondered who uses them for their original purpose, buying 

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