Herherfs Amarylliddcece. 279 



pletely, as entirely to envelope it in foreign pollen, and after- 

 wards applied the natural pollen on the top. It had no effect ; 

 and I had a cross offspring : so that, if I had sufficient pollen at 

 command, by which I could entirely encrust the stigma, I should 

 have little fear of the influence of other pollen, either natural or 

 otherwise. There seems to be a peculiar attraction between 

 certain stigmas and the pollen, which favours this experiment. 



A curious experiment might be tried, by placing pollen on 

 one division of a tripartite or multipartite stigma, to see what 

 effect it had on all the ovules in the germen. If it was found to 

 fertilise all the ovules, then, in lieu of a mixture of pollen, dif- 

 ferent pollen might be applied to the different lobes of a stigma, 

 and thus produce a multipolleniferous offspring ; and a most in- 

 teresting point of physiology might easily be ascertained. But 

 the subject is too wide a field to be taken up, in all its bearings, 

 in an article of this kind. It is familiar to my mind, from having 

 occupied a great portion of my attention for the last twenty 

 years, or since I first saw a cucumber impregnated ; and I do 

 not think that I have exaggerated in any one degree : indeed, 

 I have not been able to appreciate, or set forth, the value of this 

 part of Mr. Herbert's labours. All that remains for me to say 

 is, that any gardener, having the least spark of botanical spirit 

 in his composition, ought not to rest satisfied till he has made 

 himself master of what has been advanced by the author on this 

 subject. Gardeners, and all lovers of plants, will be delighted 

 to see, in this work, what accession is soon expected from the 

 higher latitudes of tropical America, even in the natural order 

 Amaryllif^ace^^. No less than three dozens of new alstroemerias, 

 not including their allied congeners, the bomarias, of which, also, 

 upwards of forty species are yet in store for us, are described in 

 this work, and many plates of them given ; some of which 

 appear to be of surpassing beauty and elegance of growth. Mr. 

 Herbert's remarks on the exclusive system at Kew are well 

 worth attention : — "In 1831, I offered to add ten new 

 species to that collection, in exchange for a few cuttings ; but 

 all to no purpose." There are many other valuable extracts, 

 which deserve to be transcribed ; such as flued borders, &c. ; 

 and a separate paragraph might be given on each of the author's, 

 new camellias ; but I have not here space. 



The author intends, " as opportunities may occur, to prepare 

 memoranda for rectifying and supplying the deficiencies of this 

 work ; and any communications relating to it, if left for him, free 

 of expense, at the publishers, will be attended to thankfully." 

 There is an unavoidably slight mistake relative to the introduc- 

 tion of Crinum octoflorum, under that article, at p. 252., where 

 it is said to have been introduced from the Spanish Main, by 

 W. Gordon, Esq., my lamented late employer. Dr. Hamilton of 



T 4 



