78 WATER-LILIES 



If we are to arrive at satisfactory results 

 and wish to save ourselves a large amount of 

 unnecessary trouble incident to the growing 

 of seedlings without value, we must protect 

 ourselves against such contingencies. For 

 this reason, two precautions are taken: the 

 exclusion of insects from the flowers to be 

 used and the removal of the stamens of the 

 female parent. The first object is best 

 arrived at by enclosing the flowers, before 

 they open, in a bag of muslin, which must be 

 finer than mosquito-netting, thus preventing 

 the access of foreign pollen. 



Hybridisation must not be attempted in 

 the early part of the summer since but few of 

 the pods mature their seeds then. It is better 

 to wait till August. Almost infertile hybrids, 

 if they mature any pods at all, do so in the 

 latter part of the season only. 



Our operations commence by ascertaining 

 if the plant which we desire to cross is capable 

 of producing seed. If the flowers are fertile 

 the presence of a few fertilised ovules is 

 sufficient to influence the movements of the 



