RAISING NEW VARIETIES 79 



peduncle which carries the young pod under 

 water and frequently to a comparatively 

 great depth. The manner in which this is 

 done varies in the different groups. If the 

 flowers are not fertile, they are hardly carried 

 below the surface of the water and soon decay, 

 as does the peduncle. Such plants are, of 

 course, to be avoided, unless indeed one wishes 

 to try the influence of a particular kind of 

 pollen in the hope that its use may bring 

 about fertility. 



When the water-lily flower opens, the 

 stigmatic cup in the centre is filled with a sweet 

 watery fluid, secreted mainly by the stigma, 

 which is receptive at the time. Not until the 

 second day, after opening, is the pollen ripe 

 and liberated by the splitting of the anthers. 

 Therefore, as fertilisation should take place 

 on the day the flower of the female parent 

 opens, the flower which is to act as male 

 parent (and which must be two days farther 

 advanced) is previously selected and covered 

 by a muslin bag, which should be large enough 

 to allow the enclosed flower to open fully. 



