Vl2 A PLEA FOR THE PRACTICE OF HYBRIDISATIOX OK PLANTS. 



result has been brought about by the practice of the arts of 

 cultivation and hybridisation. In this short paper I intend to 

 deal Avith the latter of these, viz : — hybridisation, including 

 cross-fertilisation. 



It may be fairly assumed that in the origin of vegetation 

 distinct species only were in existence, all other forms being 

 merely varieties of such species ; and this opinion is confirmed 

 by the fact that, even at the present day, botanists are unable 

 to define what strictly constitutes a species. 



It is only within a comparatively recent date that the organs 

 of fructification of flowers have been thoroughly understood, 

 although the ancients appear to have had certain ideas as to 

 the sexuality of flowers. Empedocles and Anaxagoras in the 

 fifth century before the Christian era, claim for vegetables the 

 same sexuality as animals ; and Herodotus states that the 

 Greek cultivators of the date. Phoenix dactylifera, brought the 

 flowers from the male plants and attached them to the fruit- 

 bearing trees, that the produce might attain maturity. 



Yet it was not till 1787 that any great improvements had 

 been effected in varieties of fruits and vegetables. In that vear, 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, President of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society of England, commenced his experiments in hybridisation, 

 which he carried on uninterruptedly for forty years, since which 

 time the general appearance of our cultivated plants has very 

 much changed. It matters not whether we look to the useful 

 or to the ornamental department of the vegetable kingdom 

 — at the beautiful flowers that adorn our gardens and add a 

 charm to our daily lives ; or to the more useful, the fruits and 

 vegetables that supply our wants. In each department is the 

 thought and skill of man apparent, as year by year new forms 

 of beauty are added to our already large list of flowers, and 

 new and improved varieties to our stock of fruits and 

 vegetables. 



For years past both the Queensland Acclimatisation Society 

 and the officers of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens have searched 

 the world for fruits and plants of economic value ; and with 

 great success as the garden and orchards throughout the colony 

 testify. But here the matter has ended ; with the exception 

 of one solitary instance — so far as I am aware — no endeavour 

 has been made to improve such plants by raising indigenous 

 hybrids, for it is only by such means that plants can be really 

 acclimatised. Some one has truly said that plants like men 

 thrive best on their native soil. 



The one exception to which I referred is that of our President, 

 Dr. Bancroft, who has succeded in raising a new and indigenous 



