8 



ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



that of its own or of a kindred flower ; and how can we presume 

 to say that structural and constitutional differences may not have 

 arisen amongst vegetables which have diverged from one origin, 

 rendering the fertility of their sexual union in some cases diffi- 

 cult, in others impracticable ? 



I have had no opportunities, by the help of a powerful micro- 

 scope, of pursuing any investigation into the process by which 

 the pollen fertilizes the ovules ; and I have somewhere stated, 

 that, although I could not pretend to contradict those who asserted 

 that the grains of pollen from their own bulk emitted tubes 

 which reached from the surface of the stigma to ovules in the 

 germen, sometimes as in Hymenocallis pedalis tubiflora, 12 or 

 13 inches distant, and in others where the germen is subterra- 

 neous at an uncertain distance, my understanding would not 

 assent to it : my objections were twofold : first, that it did not 

 appear possible that such a minute body should emit a tube of 

 such length, through which its contents were passed into the 

 ovary, as asserted. Secondly, that in all the wonderful con- 

 trivances of Almighty wisdom to effect apparently difficult pur- 

 poses, I had perceived that no unnecessary complication of 

 machinery was used. It seemed to me preposterous to imagine 

 that the Allwise would employ such almost miraculous tubes to 

 convey the contents of the grains of pollen into the ovary without 

 conducting them to the ovule itself, when they might have been 

 as securely delivered by passing directly from the pollen into the 

 passage through which the tubes were to advance without such 

 secondary conductors. It was as if an engineer, after leading 

 water for miles from the mountains in pipes, should at last turn 

 it into the valley, to find its way as it might into the cistern he 

 was desirous of supplying. I understand that further observa- 

 tions tend to the establishment of the fact that the tubes, instead 

 of terminating abruptly, as before asserted, do actually reach the 

 foramen or aperture of the several ovules, and obtain admittance 

 through the mouth thereof. I have not witnessed this phenomenon, 

 but I am willing to believe in it, because it is perfectly consistent 

 with the apparent wisdom of God in all his works ; but I think 

 those who have broached the facts have not understood the opera- 

 tion, and it seems to me to yield the key to a great part of the 

 mystery in which the subject of vegetable fecundation is involved. 

 I therefore recur to my first objection, that it is utterly impos- 

 sible that such a minute body should emit such a pipe and its 

 contents, that is, emit it of its own substance ; and I apprehend 

 the fact to be, that by contact with the juices of the cognate 

 plant it acquires that which enables it to gain bulk for such an 

 elongation. I conceive that the abstraction of something, per- 

 haps carbon, from the juice of the stigma, is necessary to that 



