82 



ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



that is to say, one of the departures from analogy in the disposi- 

 tions of the Allwise, of which I at least cannot fathom either 

 the cause or the mode. 



The genus Crocus, with great uniformity of aspect, branches 

 into an infinity of species and local varieties, being found in 

 peculiar situations and soil, but with greater similarity of habits 

 and constitution than Crinum ; and it might have been supposed 

 that, when brought into cultivation, their seminal produce would 

 become confounded. On the contrary, I have tried in vain for 

 years to obtain any cross; I have not one as yet on which I 

 depend ; and, if I have any, not above three or four such bulbs, 

 and about as many seeds. The cross-impregnation seldom pro- 

 duced a pod, and, if it did, the seed was usually shrivelled and 

 bad. Look at the geological map of Bory St. Vincent. Half 

 the island of Milo consists of igneous rock, half of marble and 

 schist. On the schist he found C. leevigatus. The same schist 

 appears in Thermia ; C. leevigatus is there. I know that it 

 passes thence to Hymettus and to the neighbourhood of the 

 quarantine station at Zeitun. I doubt not that a like calca- 

 reous formation will be found there. But why does C. laevigatas 

 jump from the summit of Milo to the summit of Thermia, and 

 thence by Hymettus to Zeitun, without touching the hills of 

 Epidaurus or Nauplia, or any part of the Moraea, as far as it has 

 been searched? I believe because the soil, subsoil, and climate, 

 in which it grows, have forced Crocus to take that form and 

 aspect which botanists call C. lsevigatus, not that it has a 

 predilection for such, for experience leads me to think that few 

 local bulbs or even plants prefer their native soil, though they 

 are found in it because they can endure it, while the rivals, 

 which would otherwise oppress them, cannot thrive vigorously 

 in it. Many such are found to perish if potted or cultivated in 

 their native soil removed to another situation, finding either an 

 injurious increase or diminution of moisture in the new position, 

 which makes a different soil expedient for them there. Griffinia 

 grows in mountain woods in very strong loam ; it will scarcely 

 live in such soil in our stoves, where it seems to like sandy peat. 

 Ismene Amancaes grows in Bolivia in loam strong enough to 

 break an iron crow ; here it must be cultivated in pure white 

 sand. I find such European Orchidese and Croci as grow in 

 chalky or calcareous stuff, very much disposed to canker and die 

 if potted in the like, while the fresh tubers and corms of almost 

 every kind turn out well from a yellowish crumbling loam of 

 moderate tenacity. No Crocus grows naturally in alluvial soil, 

 probably because other plants would there smother it; but 

 many, if not all, delight in it in a sufficiently dry situation, when 

 cultivated. Different soils, therefore, suit the same vegetable 



