228 BRECK’S NEW BOOK OF FLOWERS. 
Messrs. Strong, Spooner, and other gentlemen have ex- 
hibited new seedling varieties, some of them fully equal 
to any imported. These hybrids have often very valua- 
ble qualities, besides their beauty; they are frequently 
more hardy, and very often are more prolific in flowers 
than the originals, though in some cases they do not pro- 
duce seeds. As the art of hybridizing is not generally 
known, it may be interesting to the reader: to be made 
acquainted with the process, and I cannot present the sub- 
ject in any clearer light than to adopt the description 
given by my late friend J. E. Teschemacker, in an article 
published in the Horticultural Register, in 1835, on the 
Gladiolus. He says:—‘My-way has been, when the 
flower just commenced opening, I open it very carefully, 
and then extract the anthers with a pair of tweezers or 
pincers, before they can have opened and shed their pol- 
len on the pistil, which will then be found with the trifid 
divisions closed. As soon as the flower, thus deprived 
of its anthers, has opened and the styles have separated, 
take the ripened pollen from the anthers of the flower 
you wish to mix and impregnate with, either with a small 
piece of cotton, a camel’s hair pencil, or the fine point of 
a penknife, and shed it on the styles so that it remains 
sticking there; this will impregnate the seed. 
It is now, however, necessary to prevent this flower re- 
ceiving, by the means of insects or the air, pollen from 
any other flowers of the same species, either of its own 
spike or from others; for this purpose, I have generally 
tied a piece of very fine gauze or India muslin over the 
flower, so as entirely to protect it from further impreg- 
nation. 
When the petals are fading, it will be perceived, by the 
swelling of the seed vessel, whether the purpose in view 
has answered. Should it have been successful, I remove 
the muslin, and generally allow some of the other flowers 
