120 Retrospective Criticism. 



into axiom, for which, nevertheless, 07ie well attested, and in all minuti£e 

 without suspicion, would suffice. It is at least certain, that the cause of 

 the hybridisation, in this instance, took place in the year previous to that to 

 which Mr. Oliver refers it. 



I anxiously trust Mr. Oliver will not for an instant suppose that I have 

 the slightest intention to impugn the veracity of his statement ; but the 

 distance of time may well preclude his perfect recollection of the circum- 

 stances ; the more, as he does not appear to have made any notes on the 

 subject at the time. He, I doubt not, was, and is, fully persuaded of the 

 particulars of the facts as he narrates them ; and the event alone will prove 

 whether correctly or not. 



It is dangerous to draw conclusive reasons from analogy between the 

 animal and vegetable kingdoms, however interesting it may be to remark 

 the shades of correspondence and dissimilitude existing in the laws by 

 which both are respectively governed. For instance, analogy would lead us 

 to suppose that, since (from all the light hitherto developed on the sub- 

 ject) a double fraternity is abhorrent to the laws which govern the former, 

 therefore the like would hold good in the latter : whereas experience 

 teaches that such a conclusion would be utterly fallacious ; as a double or 

 even triple paternity has been proved possible. I allude, of course, to a 

 single seed and foetus ; for we know that (as with the dog) the parent will 

 bring forth young, which unquestionably establish them to be the offspring 

 of different males. 



Mr. Oliver is also mistaken in supposing that mules are incapable of 

 breeding. By coupling the female mule with the horse, or vice versa, foals 

 have been obtained : an instance, in Scotland, was attested on oath by 

 several witnesses j see also Buffbn for others. Neither need he any longer 

 doubt the possible fecundity of hybrids in the vegetable kingdom : the de- 

 scendants of the Nicotiana Tabdcum and undulata, of the cabbage and turnip, 

 of the cabbage and dark red radish, &c. (fee, have produced seed. Indeed, in 

 general, the hybrids are more vigorous, grow more readily from cuttings and 

 layers, seed more abundantly, and hybridise anew with greater facility. Be- 

 sides, Mr. Oliver's own account corroborates this position. He himself tells 

 us, that the seed taken from the fruits, the product of the first hybrid fecund- 

 ation, yielded, when grown in a subsequent year, the specimens that were 

 sent to the London Horticultural Society.* These, he says, failed to pro- 

 duce seed : but this is the second generation of the hybrid ; and this failure 

 most probably arose from accidental causes, as I have suggested above. — 

 J. C. K. Levatit Lodge, Oct. 26. 1832. 



Hyhridisement of the Melon hi/ the Cucumber. (Vol. VIII. p. 611. 7-il.) 

 — Sir, J. D., in representing (Vol. VIII. p. 741.) that M. Sageret's 

 experience (Vol. IV. p. 383.) agrees with Mr. Oliver's on this subject 

 (Vol. VIII. p. 611.), must have quite overlooked my remarks, in Vol. VI. 

 p. 728., where I show that the opinions attributed in Vol. IV. p. 383. to 

 M. Sageret are not his opinions, but a palpable misrepresentation of them, 

 through a false translation ; as may be seen by a reference to M. Sageret's 

 paper, in the Annales d^ Horticidture, and the two Memoires sur les Cucur- 

 bUacees. — J. C. K. Dec. 1832. 



J. D. had, indeed, quite overlooked J. C. K.'s correction of the erro- 

 neous translation ; and his'bringing forward at all the opinions erroneously 

 ascribed to M. Sageret, in Vol. IV. p. 383., was purely from the accident 

 of having met with them while turning over the leaves of the Magazine in 

 search of some other subject. J. D., on seeing them, regretted that they 

 had not been referred to in the otherwise complete citation of references 



* Why was it not taken notice of by some of the members composing 

 that Society ? — J, C. K. 



