Fecundation of Floisoevs, imth old Pollen. 597 



placed, filled up with earth, so as to envelope the roots ; this earth was pressed 

 tightly around them, and the captain instructed to sprinkle it every fortnight 

 with water. The instructions further stated, if any mouldiness appeared on 

 the stems, it should be carefully removed by dry cloths. By these, and other 

 contrivances unnecessary to relate, I anticipated that a certain degree of ve- 

 getation would continue in these plants, a hope which experience fully realised. 

 The whole plan, in fact, was but a trial, whether or not the vegetation of these 

 tropical trees can be continued while they are in a horizontal position. 



The passage from Bahia to Trieste is performed in from 70 to 90 days. 

 But, by an accident which I could not foresee, the vessel (called Italo) 

 was obliged to enter the harbour of Gibraltar, where it remained for some 

 considerable time ; so much so, that the palms were, on the 1st of November, 

 1831, still in Trieste. This accident not only protracted the time of their 

 artificial position, but it shifted their arrival to a very unfavourable season, as 

 the month of November is, at times, very cold in Austria. Whatever acci- 

 dents or improper treatment these palms might have experienced afterwards 

 it is unnecessary to speak of, although, by so doing, I would corroborate the 

 soundness of the plan concocted by M. Ritter and myself. On these plants 

 arriving in Vienna, they were found in a vegetative state, and, according to a 

 letter of M. Ranch* (who then filled a situation in the Imperial Gardens of 

 Vienna), these large trees were, after an unnatural confinement of nearly 

 seven months, still in such a state that one of them pushed out a vigorous leaf. 



My endeavours were subsequently appreciated in Prussia ; and I have been 

 only lately informed that some gentlemen have been sent from Berlin to Cuba, 

 for the sake of supplying the Royal Gardens with palm trees of a large size. 



As I am discussing matter connected with palms, I may just mention that 

 some of their seeds (for example, Elas'is guineensis) have remained, in hot- 

 houses, in the ground for ten years,'^after which time some of them began to 

 vegetate. It requires certainly a complication of favourable circumstances to 

 soften some of these extraordinarily hard and thick seeds ; an operation 

 which is performed in nature by the very wet soil with which the virgin 

 forests of the tropics are covered : but I have been informed that, in some 

 parts of India and China, the people resort to some artificial means of making 

 palm seeds, and others which are very hard, grow easily, viz. by putting them 

 for some time in very wet manure ; a contrivance which may be worth atten- 

 tion. 



London, August, 1840. 



Art. IV. Facts relative to the Fecundation of Flovoers txiith Pollen 

 which had been kept for some Weeks. By Hay Brown, Gardener, 

 Stoke Edith Park, Herefordshire. 



The cactus mentioned to you by Mr. Beaton I raised from Epiphyllum 

 Jenkinsonz, impregnated with pollen from Cereus grandiflorus, under the fol- 

 lowing circumstances : — I procured pollen from Cereus grandiflorus, folded it 

 up in a piece of letter paper, and, after having carried it in my waistcoat pocket 

 for several days, I laid it upon the chimney-piece in my kitchen till I should 

 have an opportunity of trying it : this happened in the course of 5 or 6 weeks 

 afterwards, by my having a plant of E. Jenkinsonz in flower, which I impreg- 

 nated with the above pollen, and the result was the seedling alluded to. It 

 may be superfluous to say that the pollen was as dry as possible, and not very 

 tenderly used ; but it may be necessary to state that no other of the family 

 were in flower at the time, and the flower was opened with care, and the 

 anthers removed before they burst. 



* M. Ranch is now an able assistant of Mr. Loudon in laying out grounds, 

 and a contributor to the Gardener's Magazine, &c. 



