230 On ImprrsnaHnn of F/onrrs far H'iIhh'j: Siipciior Ihibrlrls. 



Editorial Misceixaxy — on the second page of which I discover a 

 letter from your correspondent, Prof. North. Humbly beseeching 

 his forgiveness, 1 would, w ])artial exculpation, beg to state, I 

 was led into error by that same malignant devil (printer's, I mean) 

 who maliciously, I trow, substituted an / for a d, and thus the 

 worthy Prof became invested with antidiluvian honors. By the 

 way, Mr. Edward North, as you handle the quill like a veteran 

 journalist, and talk of horticulture like one imbued with the true 

 pomological spirit, why, 1 ask, do you not permit that spirit a lit- 

 tle flight — give it an airing for the benefit of those eager feeders 

 who are clustering around the ample table spread monthly — the 

 Horticultural Review, T mean ; but a hint, &c. — so I Avrite adios, 

 mi ami^o. 



ON IMPREGNATION OF FLOWERS FOR RAISING 

 SUPERIOR HYBRIDS. 



I'.Y A COUNTRY CLERGYilAX. 



One of the greatest pleasures attendant on the pursuit of this 

 art consists in raising ncAV and improved varieties of flowers ; 

 for, iKjwcver beautiful flowers naturally are, there is no denying 

 that they are doubly so when they come from the hands of the 

 skillful hybridizer. In doing this, we are only taking advantage 

 of the known laws that govern vegetable reproduction ; it is, ou a 

 small scale, art dictating to nature, and to that, in a great meas- 

 ure, we owe our many improved varieties of fruits and flowers. 

 The field of experiment is boundless as the extent of nature itself 

 Thousands of flowers that our fathers looked upon as the pride and 

 glory of their gardens, we now look upon as almost Avorthless as 

 plants of ornament. Were some old amateiir of half a century 

 ago to have a look at our gardens now, he would be bewildered 

 by the blaze of beauty that would meet his eye. The change is 

 not greater in form than in substance ; the style of laying out 

 gardens has advanced, as well as the productions with which they- 

 are enriched. For the majority of our most beautiful varieties of 

 flowers we are indebted to the skillful hybridizer ; he soon gains 

 a wPBderfwl power oyer the color aiid form of vegetable existence- 



