PBOPAGATION. 



333 



in different seedlings. Some doubts are thrown on 

 the parents, as to whether they constitute distinct 

 genera ; hut the same uncertainty is applicable to 

 Lapageria rosea and Philesia lux/folia, the parents of 

 Fhilageria Veitchii. The progeny is sufficiently un- 

 productive and difficult to flower to warrant the 

 belief in a wide separation of the sexual relationship 

 of the parents. Amongst the Amaryllidacece wo 

 have a hybrid between Hynienocallis (Ismene) amances 

 and Elisena longipetala, whose distinctness is suffi- 

 ciently well authenticated. Calanthe Veitchii is a 

 hybrid between Limatodes rosea and Calanthe vestita, 

 but the parents are not reckoned good genera. 



With respect to bigeneric crosses amongst Orchids 

 Mr. H. J. Veitch says, " Leaving the progeny 

 derived from species of Cattleya and Zatlia out of 

 consideration, the last-named genus being confessedly 

 an artificial one, only two bigeneric hybrids have 

 yet flowered ; these I have mentioned above — Phaius 

 irroratus and P. i. purpureas. Many years ago 

 Dominy raised Ancectochilus Dominii from Good- 

 yera discolor and Anmctochilus xauthophyllus; and 

 Goodyera Veitchii from Goodyera discolor and Ancec- 

 tochilus Veitchii. Plants derived from both crosses 

 are still in cultivation, but the names they bear are 

 simply garden names. We have plants, but which 

 have not yet flowered, raised from Cattleya Triance 

 and Sophronitis grandijlora, and C. intermedia crossed 

 with the same species of Sophronitis. We have 

 beside a seedling whose parents, are Cattleya Triance 

 and Brassavola Diybyana, but as the last-named is 

 now referred to Zcelia, this can hardly be regarded 

 as a bigeneric cross." 



II. The Intercrossing of Varieties. — 



Leaving for the present the question of selection, 

 to review that of the intercrossing of varieties, we 

 onter an unbounded field of useful labour, where, 

 with the experience of those who have preceded us, 

 anything inside the limits of natural laws can be 

 accomplished by the hands of the experienced and 

 intelligent hybridist. Were our leading horti- 

 culturists to tabulate their experiments and results 

 with the accuracy and precision of a Darwin, the 

 leading and salient features of the handicraft would 

 certainly be grasped and reduced almost to the 

 value of a science. With good material in hand out 

 of which to manufacture new varieties inheriting the 

 good properties of both parents, there is almost un- 

 limited scope for improvement on the original. 

 Healthy plants only should be operated upon, and 

 the hybridist having profited by the experience of 

 his predecessor, in the case of flowers would apply 

 the pollen from a plant of the desired colour to the 

 pistil of another possessing the desirable habit or 

 size of flower. Other desirable properties could be 



added by operating on the progeny, and this is 

 frequently the only method of obtaining varieties 

 worth peipetuating. When it is desirable to operate 

 on widely-distinct varieties, the first results may 

 not only be unsatisfactory, but highly disappointing. 

 By perseverance, however, and intercrossing the 

 offspring of these same varieties, the most en- 

 couraging success has attended, and certainly will 

 attend, the labours of the operator. 



The truth of the foregoing statements may be 

 grasped in a measure, when we consider what the 

 hybridist has done for the tuberous-rooted Begonias 

 in a comparatively few years. The enormous dimen- 

 sions of the flowers, together with the delicacy and 

 intensity of colour that have been infused into them, 

 with endless and varying tints, would scarcely be 

 credited by one of the old school, who has been 

 accustomed to years of patient waiting and tedious 

 selection. The parents of this race, B. Boliviensis, 

 B. Veitchii, and B. roscejiora, are closely-allied species, 

 and no doubt good in themselves, but neither they 

 nor their first resulting progeny are at all com- 

 parable with the magnificent sorts now existing in 

 hundreds, named or nameless. B. Pearcei, another 

 parent of this group, with yellow flowers, hybridises 

 readily with the scarlet species, or their progeny, 

 but the first result is a mass of rubbish that would 

 require several successive generations of seedlings to 

 obtain anything desirable. Bemembering the axiom 

 that " natura non facit saltum^ we should, for im- 

 mediate results, adhere to the intercrossing of already 

 improved forms of closer relationship. 



Parallel with this we have a showy race of flowers 

 popularly known as Gloxinias, but which are really 

 Sinningias, and mostly descended from S. speciosa. 

 After some years of domestication, during which the 

 original progenitor or progenitors have been induced 

 to vary, the extent to which this may afterwards be 

 carried is almost unlimited. The original shape of 

 the corolla was tubular, widened upwards, with a 

 ridge along the upper side, and nodding. By inter- 

 crossing the different varieties, the original has been 

 induced to break into sorts that readily reproduce 

 themselves from seeds, having erect, nearly regular, 

 campanulate corollas, most beautifully spotted, or 

 transversely banded, with the most delicate, or 

 intense and distinct, zones of colour. This is a 

 striking proof that these artificial productions of 

 man require his constant attention for their pre- 

 servation, inasmuch as the upright varieties, if left 

 to the keeping of nature, would neither afford the 

 proper adaptations for insects, nor preserve the 

 pollen from rain. However, they are highly orna- 

 mental subjects for our green-houses, and if propa- 

 gated by intercrossing the best varieties, a most 

 varied and beautiful stock may readily be obtained. 



