274 Retrograde Varieties 



seems to have no lacunae, are not sufficient. 

 Most of the questions remain open and need in- 

 vestigation. It would be a capital idea to try 

 to repeat the history of the begonias or any 

 other hybrid race, making all the described 

 crosses and then recording the results in a man- 

 ner requisite for complete and careful scien- 

 tific investigations. 



Many large genera of hybrid garden-flowers 

 owe their origin to species rich in varieties or 

 in elementary subspecies. Such is the case 

 with the gladiolus and the tulips. In other 

 cases the original types have not been ob- 

 tained from the wild state but from the cultures 

 of other countries. 



The dahlias were cultivated in Mexico when 

 first discovered by Europeans, and the chrys- 

 anthemums have been introduced from the old 

 gardens of Japan. Both of them consisted of 

 various types, which afterwards have been in- 

 . creased chiefly by repeated intercrossing. 



The history of many hybrid races is obscure, 

 or recorded by different authorities in a differ- 

 ent way. Some have derived their evidence 

 from one nursery, some from another, and the 

 crosses evidently may have been different in 

 different places. The early history of the glad- 

 iolus is an instance. The first crosses are re- 

 corded to have been made between Gladiolus 



