184 GENERAL REVIEW. 



cross from N. moschatus by N. angustifolius is not always 

 white, and I have from N. fatidus (N. incomparabilis] by N. 

 angustifolius some with green flowers." 



The following interesting details are from the late Dean 

 Herbert's valuable paper in ' Jour. Hort. Soc.,' ii. i et seq. : " I 

 have seedlings from N. Pseudo- Narcissus by a yellow Her- 

 mione brevistyla, from N. minor by papyracea, cequilimba, and 

 italica or States-general. All the breeders were forced near a 

 month before the time of flowering, and were carefully deprived 

 of their anthers some days before expansion by making an inci- 

 sion in the tube and drawing them out at bottom, so that they 

 did not approach the stigma ; and the non-access of the natural 

 pollen was proved by the invariable failure of all the flowers 

 touched with the pollen of certain plants, and the success of 

 almost all touched with that of certain others. For instance, 

 the failure was complete with pollen from Double Roman Her- 

 mione, which seemed very dry ; of Soleil d'Or (doubtless because 

 the bulbs have been raised by offsets for three or four centu- 

 ries) ; of the large-anthered Queltias, except montana; of Bazel- 

 man major and minor, which, I am satisfied, are crosses between 

 Hermione brevistyla and Narcissus poeticus ; of N. gracilis and 

 tenuior ; of Corbularia and Ganymedes : while it is remarkable 

 that almost every Ajax flower touched with pollen of Hermione 

 States-general has seeded. The application of pollen of Ajax 

 lutetis or moschatus to Narcissus poeticus is almost sure of suc- 

 cess. The constitution of the seedlings was very different. 

 The seed of N. Pseudo-Narcissus crossed with N. luteus came 

 up readily, and grew so fast and weak in the greenhouse in 

 winter that it was necessary to put the pot out : that of the 

 same Ajax which was impregnated by Hermione brei'istyla came 

 up very slowly, much of the seed rotting; and the seedlings 

 did not find the house too warm, and were twice as many 

 months as the others were weeks in reaching the same stature, 

 and proved so delicate that, having been planted out in May, 

 all but one of the first batch, which was much injured, rotted 

 by the cold and wet in the autumn. One drawback is, that 

 the seed of Narcissi is very apt to lie two years in the ground, 

 unless sown immediately ; and to rot, if it gets too much wet 

 before it is ready to vegetate ; and that the snails are apt to 

 destroy the seedlings if raised in the open border ; and that the 

 hybrid seed, however good and fine, is more apt to suffer than 

 the natural seed." Mr Herbert remarks that N. odorus never 

 seeds in cultivation, nor yet in its native habitats, so far as he 

 could learn ; and this circumstance, together with the light of 

 other experiments, caused him to surmise that it was a hybrid 



