ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS. 443 



exceptions to the rule, that the best flowers proceed from 

 the best parents, are numerous. Notwithstanding, unless 

 we possess special knowledge we cannot do better than 

 work upon this rule, for if we reject it we have nothing so 

 good to put in its place. 



One word as to the special knowledge just alluded to. 

 Now and then a variation, peculiarly fitted for the work of 

 progress, will arise. Many years ago a Pansy named 

 Queen Victoria, raised by the late Mr Thompson, of Iver, 

 proved of this character; and more recently the Roses 

 General Jacqueminot, Jules Margottin, and Victor Verdier 

 may be taken as prominent instances. From these in 

 their day, and for a certain period, many more good 

 flowers were raised than from all others of the period put 

 together. Now, if one acquires this special knowledge, 

 there is sure ground to work on. But I know of no law 

 by which this quality of a plant can be determined in 

 advance. In the present state of our knowledge, I con- 

 ceive that it can only be ascertained by observation and 

 experiment. 



I have raised many thousands of seedling Hollyhocks, 

 Roses, Zonal Pelargoniums, and other plants, simply on 

 the principle of gathering the seed from the most advanced 

 plants and flowers without any attempt at cross-breeding. 

 My success under this method of proceeding has been 

 greatest with Hollyhocks, as I could claim at one time 

 (about 1857) tne finest Hollyhock of almost every colour 

 as of my production. This I account for by the fact that 

 the subject was a good one for experiment. Although 

 a flower long known to us, it had not been long subjected 

 to high cultivation, and was fully ripe for improvement. 

 With the Rose the case was somewhat different. It had 

 been experimented on by clever and industrious men in 

 France for a number of years, and doubtless I was here 

 traversing ground which some of them had exhausted long 

 before. However, success here has not been altogether 

 denied me, and to which I shall have occasion to allude 



