50 THE BOOK OF ROSES. 



amaryllis, but not between the crinum and 

 the lettuce. 



The offspring of many such unions, the 

 mule, for instance, the mule-bird, or the hybrid 

 plant between the crinum and amaryllis, 

 are barren, and incapable of reproducing their 

 species ; whereas the offspring of a goat and 

 sheep, of a mastiff and greyhound, of the cab- 

 bage and brocoli, are capable of generation; 

 which is supposed to arise from certain analogies 

 of nature in the parents ; the goat and sheep, 

 mastiff and greyhound, cabbage and brocoli, 

 being only varieties of the same species, not 

 distinct species as in the case of the horse and 

 ass, the canary and goldfinch. These monstrous 

 productions seldom occur spontaneously in 

 nature ; a wolf and fox, a goldfinch and linnet, 

 an apple and pear-tree, however nearly ap- 

 proximated the two species which bear an 

 evident analogy to each other, never having 

 been known to produce spontaneous offspring. 

 In the vegetable, as in the animal creation, 

 each subject is produced by a single fecunda- 

 tion; and a hybrid flower can consequently 

 partake of the nature of only two species, a male 

 and female. Yet some florists affect to pro- 

 duce varieties partaking of many species ; as in 

 the case of the Rosa perpetuosissima, described 

 by Monsieur Foulard in the Revue Horticole 

 as a hybrid, partaking of the Damask, the 



