I 10 HYBRIDISING AND CROSS-BREEDING. 



being kept eleven months ! Pollen for keeping should be 

 cleaned out of the anthers and wrapped in soft paper, and for 

 further security the whole may be enclosed in tinfoil. Care- 

 fully separate the pollen from the bits of anthers and filaments, 

 for if these are enclosed with the pollen, they cause damp and 

 mould. M. Lecoq gives the following information on this part 

 of our subject : " The preservation of pollen about to be used 

 in hybridisation will require great care, if brought from a dis- 

 tance. It often happens that the pollen required to fertilise a 

 plant cannot be procured exactly at the time desired ; and if 

 it be necessary to keep it for some time without using, the fol- 

 lowing precautions may be observed : place the collected 

 pollen in the hollow of a watch-glass, and let it remain exposed 

 for a few hours (but not in the sun) till a portion of its moisture 

 has evaporated ; another watch-glass of the sarhe size may then 

 be placed over the one containing the pollen, and made 

 air-tight by the application of gum round the edges. As to 

 the length of time during which it may be thus preserved, 

 nothing precise is known, except that the pollen of some kinds 

 of plants will keep much better than that of others. M. 

 Haguin, of Liege, has fertilised Lilies with pollen that had 

 been collected for more than forty-eight days Azaleas, with 

 pollen forty-two days old ; while Camellias respond to the fer- 

 tilisation of pollen that has been kept for sixty-five days. 

 These periods are far exceeded by that of the retentive powers 

 of the pollen of Ceratozamia mexicana (see Cycadacese), which, 

 after being preserved from 1866 to 1873, was successfully 

 applied by M. Houllet, chief of the plant-houses of the Jardin 

 des Plantes. Nevertheless, M. Bleu, well known as the pro- 

 ducer of a noble series of hybrid Caladiums, states his full 

 conviction that the freshest pollen is the better. M. Haguin 

 cuts the anthers he requires immediately on the opening of the 

 flower, wraps them carefully in a pasted-up seed-paper, and 

 leaves them in a dry and warm situation for twenty-four hours. 

 By that time the fecundating dust has fully ripened, and M. 

 Haguin then envelops it closely in thin sheet-lead, numbering 

 and naming each kind, and placing them in a dry but cold 

 situation till required for use. M. Perrolet reports from 

 Guadaloupe that the male pollen of a Date Palm (which 

 flowers three months before the female tree) was kept during 

 the three months required without injury." 



Emasculating the Flower. This operation consists in care- 

 fully removing the stamens from hermaphrodite flowers before 

 the anther-slits, pores, or folds open to discharge the pollen or 

 admit of its escape. As a rule, this is one of the most import- 



