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KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

the first authority living on that particular 
subject: 
Feeling assured that our readers will 
derive great pleasure from the perusal, we 
subjoin part of the article to which we have 
alluded : — 
To those who would attempt the hybridising 
or cross breeding of plants, I will now offer 
some suggestions for their guidance. It is an 
essential element to success that the operator be 
possessed of indomitable patience, watchfulness, 
and perseverance. Having determined on the 
subjects on which he is to operate, if the plants 
are in the open ground, he will havethem put into 
pots, arid removed under glass, so as to escape 
the accidents of variable temperatiire—of wind, 
rain, and dust, and above all, of insects. 
A greenhouse fully exposed to the sun is best 
adapted for the purpose, at least as regards hardy 
and proper greenhouse plants. Having got them 
housed, secure a corner where they are least 
likely to be visited by bees or other insects. The 
plants which are to yield the pollen, and the 
plants which are to bear the seed, should be both 
kept in the same temperature; but where this 
cannot be managed, pollen from an outside plant, 
in genial summer weather, may be used, provided 
it can be got ; for there is a class of insects which 
live exclusively on pollen, and devour it so fast 
after the pollen vessels open, that, unless the 
plant is under a hand-glass (which I would recom- 
mend), it is scarcely possible to get any pollen for 
the required purpose. 
To secure against chances of this nature, a 
sprig with opening bloom may be taken and 
kept in a phial and water inside, where it will 
get sufficient sun to ripen the pollen. But here, 
too, insects must be watched, and destroyed if 
they intrude. An insect like, but smaller than, 
the common hive bee, which flits about by fits 
and starts, on expanded wings, after the manner 
of the dragon-fly, is the greatest pest, and seems 
to feed exclusively on pollen. The hive bee, the 
humble bee, and wasp give the next greatest 
annoyance. All these may be excluded by netting, 
fixed over apertures from open sashes or the like. 
Too much care cannot be bestowed on exclud- 
ing these intruders, whose single touch, in many 
cases, might neutralise the intended result ; forthe 
slightest application of pollen native to the parent 
plantissaid by physiologists to supersede all foreign 
agency, unless, perhaps, in the crossing of mere 
varieties ; aid the truth of this observation con= 
sists with my own experience. Without due pre- 
caution now, the labor, anxiety, and watchfulness 
of years may issue in vexation and disappointment. 
As a further precaution still, and to prevent self- 
fertilisation, divest the blooms to be operated on 
not only of their anthers but also of their corollas. 
Remove, also, all contiguous blooms upon the 
plant, lest the syringe, incautiously directed, or 
some sudden draft of air, convey the native pollen, 
and anticipate the intended operation. 
The corolla appears to be the means by which in- 
sects are attracted ; and though when it is removed 
the honey on which they feed is still present, they 
seem puzzled, or indifferent about collecting it; or 
if haply they should alight on the dismantled flower 
(which I never have detected), the stigma is in 


most cases safe from their contact. It will be some 
days—probably a week or more, if the weather be 
not sunny—ere the stigma is in a fit condition for 
fertilisation. This is indicated in many families, 
such as Ericacese, Rosaceé, Scrophularines, 
Aurantiacege, &c., by a viscous exudation in the 
sutures (where these exist) of the stigma, but gene- 
rally covering the entire surface of that organ. In 
this condition the stigma may remain many days, 
during which fertilisation may be performed; and 
this period will be longer or shorter as the weather 
is sunny, or damp, or overcast. In certain families, 
such as the Malvacez, Geraniacer, &c., where 
the stigma divides itself into feathery parts, and 
where the viscous process is either absent or inap- 
preciable by the eye, the separation of these parts, 
the bursting of the pollen; the maturity of the 
stigma, and all which a little experience will 
detect, indicate the proper time for the operation— 
sunny or cloudy weather always affecting the dura- 
tion of the period during which it may be success- 
fully performed. 
As to the proper time and season_best adapted 
for such experiments, a treatise might be written ; 
but here a few remarks must suffice. As for the 
season of the year, from early spring to midsummer 
I would account the best period; but, as I have 
just observed; I regard all cold, damp, cloudy, and 
ungenial weather as unfavorable. On the other 
hand, when the weather is genial not so much from 
sun heat as at times occurs from the atmosphere 
being moderately charged with electricity, when 
there is an elasticity, so to speak, in the balmy air, 
and all nature seems joyous and instinct with 
life—this, of all others, is the season which the 
hybridist should improve, and above all if he 
attempt muling. } 
The hybridist should be provided with a 
pocket lens, a pair of wire pincers, and various 
colored silk threads. With the lens he will 
observe the maturity of the pollen and the condi- 
tion of the stigma, whether the former has 
attained its powdery, and the latter (if such is 
its nature) its viscous condition. If he find both 
the pollen and the stigma in a fit state, he will, 
with the pincers, apply an anther with ripened 
pollen, and by the gentlest touch distribute it 
very thinly over the summit of the stigma. The 
operation performed, he will mark it by tymg 
round the flower stalk a bit of that particular 
colored silk thread which he wishes to indicate 
the particular plant which bore the pollen; and 
at the same time tie a bit of the same silk 
round the stem of the latter, which will serve till 
recorded in a note-book, which should be kept 
by every one trying experiments on a large 
seale. 
It is quite wnnecessaty to offer any directions 
as to the restilts to be effected. If it is desired 
to reproduce the larger, finer formed, or higher 
colored bloom of a plant having a tall, straggling, 
or too robust a growth, or having too large or too 
coarse foliage in a plant without these drawbacks, 
T need not suggest to select, in another species of 
the same family a plant of an opposite character 
and properties—say of dwarf compact growth, 
handsome foliage, and free flowering habit; and 
if such can be obtained, work with it, making the 
latter the seed bearer. Or, if it be desirable to 
impart the fragrance of a less handsome kind to 


