Herberfs AmaryUidacece. 275 



cable mysteries explained and accounted for satisfactorily ; many 

 of his conjectural views confirmed or refuted, and, perhaps, a 

 point or two on which he may have some misgivings. The 

 uninitiated will find here every inducement to begin and prose- 

 cute the study ; every rule which has hitherto been found 

 availing laid down for his future guidance ; and a vast number 

 of conjectural suggestions, M'hich may be found of much use to 

 him under certain or difficult circumstances. About the time 

 (1819) the author first made public his views on this subject, it 

 was looked on with great distrust and alarm among botanists, 

 " under an impression that the intermixture of species, which 

 had been commenced, would confuse the labours of botanists, 

 and force them to work their way through a wilderness of 

 uncertainty ; whereas it was evident to myself that it would, on 

 the contrary, afford a test by which the accuracy of their dis- 

 tinctions might be more satisfactorily investigated, many of the 

 errors of their system eradicated, and its details established upon 

 a more solid foundation." Subsequently, the alarm thus " taken 

 inconsiderately appears to have subsided; " and admissions been 

 made, " by the most distinguished," in favour of the author's 

 views. Setting aside these honourable " admissions in favour of 

 the flower-garden," and applying this "test" to some of the 

 existing and recent arrangements of different families of plants 

 by different individuals, " the accuracy of their distinctions," it 

 is feared, will be found on the wrong side of the scale. Two 

 years' application of this "test" to De Candolle's arrangement 

 of the Cruciferse would make fearful disclosures; and, if a com- 

 plete ericacetum were to be planted, according to the arrange- 

 ment of that family in the Arboretum BritatMiicum, and a skilful 

 hybridist afterwards let in, he might easily show that we do not 

 manage these things better at home. The cause of the fertility 

 or sterility in cross-bred productions has caused no inconsider- 

 able degree of controversy ; but it may now be said to be satis- 

 factorily accounted for and settled. A great number of instances 

 are adduced, to show that the fertility of a natural or artificial 

 offspring depends on the constitutional similarity of the parents ; 

 and a dissimilarity in the constitution of the parents is, of course, a 

 cause of barrenness. This is a grand point settled, and one which 

 opens a wide field for the ingenuity of the cultivator in devising 

 certain modifications of culture, with a view of changing or coun- 

 teracting constitutional habits in the subjects of his experiments. 

 Thus, for example, Ribes sanguineum will not readily yield 

 seeds under cultivation, and failed to do so under many experi- 

 ments ; but yielded under the following, viz. transplanting when 

 on the point of opening its flowers. It lias produced seeds freely 

 under this treatment; and I have obtained a cross from it by the 

 pollen of 7?. aureum var. prae^cox of the nurseiies ; and, though 



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