300 . AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. 



that very serious losses and disappointment have occurred 

 through weeding out the pistillate, the seemingly more 

 delicate plants. Careful Mother Nature ! How well she 

 knows the importance of each part of the most marvellously 

 complicated of plant life. Thus the pollen of grasses grow- 

 ing in or near water is arranged to resist the dissolving 

 effects of water, which, as a rule, melts pollen generally. 

 Then the many means which flowers possess, for the 

 protection of this so valuable pollen from rain and 

 dew, are never ending sources of delight and wonderment 

 to the keen observer. The closing of flowers at night, 

 the drooping or nodding of flowers, the possession of 

 sheathing sheltering apparatus for the arching of portions 

 of the flower leaf over the stamens, are all instances 

 of nature's care for plant life. In some poppies, the 

 flowers roll up at night over the pollen which has been 

 shed upon them during the day. In others there are parts 

 that act like a brush, sweeping the pollen out of its case 

 towards the pistil, so that the winds may carry it to its 

 destination. In the camphor laurel, the pollen cases close 

 in wet weather, and so shield the grains from injury. 

 Flowers fertilized by the agency of the wind are generally 

 thin and narrow in form and leaf, and quiet in color. 

 Some are borne on trees which flower before the formation 

 of the leaves, others are on lowly plants with long narrow 

 leaves, so that there may be few obstacles to the pollen 

 laden breezes. The fertilization of corn and fruit trees is 

 mostly managed by bees, which also fertilize clover and 

 lucerne; arums by flies and bees, and hibiscus by ants and 

 flies. This latter family include the apparent!}' distant 

 relatives, the jam yielding rosella, and the somewhat under- 

 rated xida rctitifii, or " Paddy's lucerne," of which several 

 varieties are of Australian origin. 



Hybridisation. That intensely interesting and practi- 

 cal branch of botanical usefulness, 

 by which such wonderful results 

 are got in flowers and fruits, 

 is dependent upon the transfer of 

 pollen grains by artificial means 

 from plant to plant. The process 

 offers such attractions ! 



