NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



It will thus be seen that not only is the 

 time for crossing the cactus restricted to a 

 very few days and a few hours of each one of 

 these days, but that only a very short portion 

 of such daily period may be used. So all 

 possible haste in the work consistent with 

 accuracy is imperative. 



First securing from the plants to be crossed 

 with those in waiting a sufficient amount of 

 pollen, thoroughly distributed through eamel's- 

 hair brushes, the stigma is examined with a 

 powerful hand microscope to make absolutely 

 certain that not a single pollen-grain is upon 

 the stigma. One such pollen -grain at this 

 juncture would defeat the whole pollenation. 

 Should such a grain be discovered, it must be 

 removed at once; if this cannot be done, the 

 blossom must be abandoned. With the stigma 

 clear, the pollen is dusted thickly upon it : the 

 initial act is ended, though the real end of the 

 test be years distant; for from the seeds of 

 this pollenated plant other plants must be 

 grown and still others, thousands of them it 

 may be, and interblendings must be made 

 between these and other thousands as the 

 years pass. The very complexity of it all is 



380 



