104 ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



phenomena, assert that no vegetable since the period before 

 the sun and moon gave it light, no bird or fish since the 

 Almighty called them forth from the salt mud, no creature of 

 the earth since it was evoked from the dust, can have departed 

 from its precise original structure and appearance ? Let us be 

 more humble in our assumptions of scientific knowledge, less 

 bigoted and self-sufficient in our examination of revealed truth, 

 and let us give glory to the infinite and unfathomable power and 

 wisdom of God. I call it self-sufficient to hold that ancient 

 and obscure words can have no possible meaning, but that ' which 

 we have been in the habit of attributing to them inconsiderately. 

 It may be unacceptable to the botanist, who has been accustomed 

 to labour in his closet over dry specimens, and think he can lay 

 down precise rules for the separation of genera, and look with 

 complacency upon the scheme he has worked out, to find that 

 the humblest gardener may be able to refute him, and force him 

 to reconsider the arrangement he has made ; but the fact is so. 

 The cultivator has the test of truth within his scope, — 



Examenque improbum in ista 

 Castigat trutina ; 



and, far from being an evil, I look upon it as a great advantage, 

 because it will lead the industrious and intelligent gardener to 

 take a higher view of the objects under his care, and to feel his 

 own connection with science, and it will force the scientific to 

 rely less on their own dictation, and to feel that they must be 

 governed by natural facts, and not by their own preference. 

 Cross-breeding amongst Orchidaceous plants would perhaps lead 

 to very startling results ; but unfortunately they are not easily 

 raised by seed. I have, however, raised Bletia, Cattleya, Orchis 

 (Herminium) monorchis, and Ophrys aranifera from seed ; and 

 if I were not during the greater part of the year absent from 

 the place where my plants are deposited, I think I could succeed 

 in obtaining crosses in that order. I had well-formed pods last 

 spring of Orchis by pollen of Ophrys, as well as other species 

 of Orchis, which had been forced ; and if I had remained on the 

 spot I think I should have obtained some cross-bred Orchidaceous 

 seed. An intelligent gardener may do much for science by 

 attempts of this kind, if he keeps accurate notes of what he 

 attempts, and does not jump at immature conclusions. 



It was not surprising that the late Mr. Haworth should have 

 told me many years ago that he did not thank me for my mules ; 

 not that I had sent him any, but because he probably began to 

 have an indistinct misgiving that they were striking at the very 

 root of the minute divisions which it had been the favourite 

 labour of his life to establish, as definite and absolute. With 



