CHAPTER VI 



Raising New Varieties 



To THE thorough-going water-lily enthu- 

 siast, hybridising and pedigree-culture, which 

 enable him to trace completely the ancestry 

 of his plants and the influence of the various 

 crosses, are the greatest hobbies. 



Where hybridisation has been attempted 

 during the previous season, it is highly 

 probable that some of the seedlings will show 

 the blending of parental characters. Such 

 plants are of course the ones to be chosen for 

 the purpose of propagation, either by seed 

 or from offshoots. 



Though the cultivation of water-lilies has 

 attracted widespread attention since the 

 middle of the last century, but very little is 

 known about the limits of variation of the 

 specific characters, and a scientific discussion 

 of the various hybrids (using the word in its 

 75 



