HYBRIDIZATION. 



61 



bits of bamboo, pointed like toothpicks and of 

 different sizes, are also useful, and are cleaner 

 and more satisfactory than camel's-hair or sable 

 pencils for conveying pollen from anthers to 

 stigmas. Before using these they should be 

 dipped into some nectariferous flower, a Fuchsia 

 for example, as this honey causes the pollen to 

 adhere and also facilitates its growth. Small 

 muslin bags will be needed in many cases to 

 protect the impregnated flowers and prevent 

 pollen being blown or carried by insects to those 

 selected for seed-parents and fertilized or polli- 

 nated by some particular pollen. 



Then when many crosses are made we should 

 enter full particulars of them into a note-book 

 and affix to the plants small tallies or labels 

 having corresponding date and number, so that 

 we can at once verify every cross or pollina- 

 tion made. Without this precaution chaos will 

 soon reign supreme, and we shall be quite unable 

 to say accurately what the parents of our hybrids 

 or crosses really were. 



Much as has been already done by our leading 

 horticulturists in the fertile field of hybridism, 

 much more remains to be done, and many, many 

 more earnest workers are desirable. 



Fig. 76.— Cowslip (parent). 



Fig. 77.-Oxlip (hybrid). 



Fig. 78.— Primrose (parent). 



As examples of hybrid plants that occur both 

 wild and also as raised by cross-fertilization in 

 our gardens, we may instance the yellow Oxlip, 

 which is not unfrequently found wherever the 

 Primrose and the Cowslip grow near each other. 

 A similar hybrid has long been known in gar- 

 dens, where it sprang from a union of the col- 

 oured Cowslips and Primroses as fertilized by 

 wind, or insects, or human agency. This cross 

 is the origin of the coloured Oxlips known as 

 Polyanthus-Primroses, and which differ but little 

 from the wild Oxlip of the fields except in 

 colour (figs. 76, 77, and 78), 



Other examples are seen in the Star Narcissi 

 (N. incomparabilis in variety), of which there are 

 hundreds of forms originated by the fertilization 

 of Narcissus poeticus with N Pseudo-Narcissus. All 

 the forms of Narcissus odorus again are produced 

 by the union of N. Jonquilla and N. Pseudo-Nar- 

 cissus, and N Johnstonei and its forms are simi- 

 larly produced between N. Pseudo-Narcissus and 

 N. triandrus. 



Even amongst the tropical Orchids we find 

 many wild hybrids, and Phalwnopsis intermedia 



(Portei), as imported from the Philippines, has 

 been raised at Chelsea more recently by artificial 

 fertilization, its parents being P. amabilis x P. 

 rosea. As a broad rule, all hybrid plants possess 

 a greater vegetative vigour than that of either 

 parent. 



In the crossing and hybridization of orchids 

 the mode of procedure is different from that with 

 other plants, for these flowers but rarely polli- 

 nate themselves, as the pollen is in solid, sticky, 

 wax-like masses, and must perforce be carried 

 mechanically from one flower to another. In 

 the tropics of both hemispheres, where the 

 finest of these flowers find a home, there are 

 insects specially adapted to the task of fertiliz- 

 ing these flowers; but in our hot-houses, from 

 which bees and flies are excluded, this insect- 

 pollination cannot take place. This is one reason 

 why orchid flowers remain fresh and fair for 

 weeks or, in some cases, months after their 

 flowers expand. These lovely blossoms go on 

 waiting patiently for the marriage priest in the 

 form of fly or bee — a priest that never, or but 

 rarely, comes. If you closely examine the flower 



