2 6o BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



are excluded, the operation denominated "fertilising," 

 or " setting," is undertaken by the gardener. The two 

 genders of unisexual flowers, sometimes placed, as in 

 the vegetable marrow, on different parts of the same 

 plant, hence called monoecious, are frequently produced 

 on distinct plants — then called dioecious, meaning two 

 houses — which are, necessarily, the complements to 

 one another. This fact was known to Herodotus, in 

 the fifth century before Christianity, who describes 

 the process of " caprification " — the transference of 

 pollen from the male blossoms of one tree to the 

 female blossoms of another — by which a crop of dates 

 was insured on the Egyptian palms. 



In our own day, a curious instance has occurred, 

 in the case of the Aucuba japonica (the common 

 blotched laurel), a single plant of which was long 

 since introduced into this country by the Dutch. 

 This solitary specimen, from which, up to a few 

 years since, all the countless plants decorating our 

 gardens and shrubberies had been derived, by cuttings, 

 happened to be a female. The myriads of ovules 

 formed in all the inconspicuous, chocolate-coloured 

 flowers of the descendants of this parent, of course 

 invariably withered for want of fertilisation; but, 

 a few years since, the male Aucuba reached us, 

 and beautiful scarlet berries began to be formed, 

 and our ancient friend made additionally attractive 

 as a decorative plant. These berries gave us new 

 individuals, exhibiting variations from the parents, 

 and yielding some male, some female, flowers, so 

 that the berrying of the laurel is already general. 



The common hazel bears unisexual flowers, which are 



