68 THE FLORIST AND 



to circumstances. Sometimes it is much larger and sometimes smaller than 

 the seed vessel from self-impregnation. 



From repeated observations and trials I have found that for a given kind 

 of Petunia there are particular varieties that (if I may use the term) har- 

 monize with it. After applying the pollen from different varieties to sepa- 

 rate flowers of one plant, I have found great differences in the size and de* 

 velopment of the seed vessels. Some swell to a very great size, and others 

 do not attain the normal size, that is, the size which would be produced by 

 self-fecundation. The very large seed vessels are generally constant re- 

 sults from the union of certain varieties. In fine, it seems that for a given 

 variety, the size of its seed vessels is governed principally by the nature of 

 the variety whence the fertilizing pollen is derived. It must be born in 

 mind that the possibility of obtaining very large seed vessels at all depends 

 upon the character of the seed bearing plant ; for with some, especially the 

 most improved varieties, such as Enchantress and Prince of Wales, the 

 seed vessels rarely fill out and are generally very small. The Petunia very 

 often bears double flowers, not double in the ordinary sense, but flowers of 

 double size, containing two sets of organs, viz, two pistils, two germs, ten 

 stamens, and ten lobes of the corolla to correspond. On fertilizing, these 

 two flowers form separate sources, there is frequently a marked difference 

 in the size of the two seed vessels. We should naturally expect the best 

 results from planting the seeds of the largest seed vessels, and in some 

 respects it is so, but as a general rule the best new varieties are produced 

 from the smaller sizes. It is well known that the higher cultivated flowers 

 and fruits are not good seed bearers, and that their seeds are apt to produce 

 degenerate kinds. Take the peach for instance. Seeds from the largest 

 and best kinds, with the exception of some few kinds which are always in 

 this region propagated from seed, rarely produce good peaches. When 

 General Jackson was President of the United States, some friend presented 

 him with a large basket of peaches, of extraordinary size and quality, pro- 

 bably the cream of some large orchard. Commodore Ap Catesby Jones, 

 an enthusiast in horticulture, bespoke the seeds of those peaches for the 

 purpose of planting them, and they were accordingly saved. He planted 

 them, reared all the trees carefully, and when he came to test the fruit, it 

 was all worthless and the trees were all ordered to be destroyed. I have 

 had some similar experience, although on one occasion I raised fine fruit 

 from the seed of a very large peach. I purchased the peach at a confec- 

 tioner's in New York, for 18| cents, in the year 1840, and from it raised a 

 fme large peach, which I call the three-fip peach. The tree is now in its 

 prime. But to recur to the Petunia. If the largest seed vessels are not 



