ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



•2o 



Hermione, will mix with it. I have seedlings from A. pseudo 

 by a yellow H. brevistyla, from A. minor by papyracea, aequi- 

 limba, and italica or States-general. All the breeders were forced 

 near a month before the time of flowering, and were carefully 

 deprived of their anthers some days before expansion by making 

 an incision in the tube and drawing them out at bottom, so that 

 they did not approach the stigma ; and the non-access of the 

 natural pollen was proved by the invariable failure of all the 

 flowers touched with the pollen of certain plants, and the success 

 of almost all touched with that of certain others. For instance, 

 the failure was complete with pollen from Double Roman Her- 

 mione which seemed very dry ; of Soleil d'or (doubtless because 

 the bulbs have been raised by offsets for three or four centuries) ; 

 of the large-anthered Queltias, except montana ; of Bazelman 

 major and minor, which I am satisfied are crosses between Her- 

 mione brevistyla and Narcissus poeticus ; of N, gracilis and 

 tenuior; of Corbularia and Ganymedes ; while it is remarkable 

 that almost every Ajax flower touched with pollen of Hermione 

 States-general has seeded. The application of pollen of Ajax 

 luteus or moschatus to Narcissus poeticus is almost sure of suc- 

 cess. The constitution of the seedlings was very different. The 

 seed of A. pseudo-narcissus crossed with A. luteus came up readily, 

 and grew so fast and weak in the green-house in winter that it 

 was necessary to put the pot out ; that of the same Ajax which 

 was impregnated by Hermione brevistyla came up very slowly, 

 much of the seed rotting, and the seedlings did not find the house 

 too warm, and were twice as many months as the others were 

 weeks in reaching the same stature, and proved so delicate that, 

 having been planted out in May, all but one of the first batch, 

 which was much injured, rotted by the cold and wet in the 

 autumn. One drawback is, that the seed of Narcissi is very apt 

 to lie two years in the ground, unless sown immediately ; and to 

 rot if it gets too much wet before it is ready to vegetate ; and 

 that the snails are apt to destroy the seedlings if raised in the 

 open border ; and that the mule seed, however good and fine, is 

 more apt to suffer than the natural seed. 



N. gracilis and tenuior lie under the same suspicion as the 

 Queltias. Their native country cannot be shown ; their seed has 

 not been seen ; that which I described (p. 316), as less round than 

 the seed of N. poeticus, was from the Chelsea Garden ; but it 

 proved to be seed of the larger and lesser jonquil, misnamed by 

 a mistake. There is an outline in Parkinson of a plant said to 

 be from the Pyrenees, which looks like tenuior ; but I very 

 little heed this ; for if the mules were raised by the secret skill 

 of some gardener, he would have been likely to state a false 

 origin. I apprehend that they can be produced between jonquil 



