140 ON CROSSES AND HYBRID INTERMIXTURES. 



we cannot cross plants which do not ripen seeds -with us, for their dust may 

 be used to fertilize one that will ripen its seed ; for instance, the pollen of 

 Zephyranthes carinata, which I have never known to bear seed in England, has 

 fertilized Z. tubispatha. It is also very possible, if the fruit of one species is 

 apt to perish immaturely from the unsuitableness of the climate, and the germen 

 of another is not usually fertilized with us, in consequence of an imperfect for- 

 mation of its pollen, that it may be effectually fecundated by the pollen of the 

 other species, though neither would have borne seed separately. The deficiency 

 of pollen is of frequent occurrence in the American Azaleas from the fault of 

 our climate ; but the pollen of Sprekelia and of Z. carinata is abundant, and their 

 sterility does not arise from its defect, but from the temperature or exposure in 

 which they are placed not being exactly adapted to the growth of their fruit." 



" The first hybrid amongst our liliaceous plants that appeared in our gardens, 

 was the mule between Hippeastrurn vittatum and regium, which was circulated 

 under the name of Amaryllis Johnsoni ; having been raised by a nurseryman 

 named J ohnson. It was, perhaps, an accidental production, for it was offered to 

 the public with an incorrect statement, that it had been raised by impregnating 

 H. vittatum with the pollen of Sprekelia formosissima. He might, however, have 

 made various trials, and have been deceived as to which of them had been suc- 

 cessful. That statement has been since disproved by the failure of every attempt 

 to fecundate any species of Hippeastrurn by the pollen of Sprekelia, of which the 

 separate generic character is thereby confirmed, and also by the facility with 

 which plants exactly similar have been raised between H. vittatum and regium. 

 The next hybrid of that order that flowered amongst us, was the Crinum Goweni, 

 which was raised from seed of C. Capense, impregnated with the pollen of C. Zey- 

 lanicum, in the greenhouse of the Earl of Caernarvon, at Highclere, in 1813, by 

 R. J. Gowen, Esq., and blossomed in my possession at Spofforth ; and soon after 

 the mules between C. Capense and Caniculatum, which had been first raised by 

 me at Mitcham about the same time, came into flower with other crosses at 

 Spofforth. All the hybrid Crinums raised between Capense and tropical species, 

 which are now very numerous, are hardy enough to stand out of doors against 

 the front wall of a stove, where, if a mat is thrown over them in sharp frosts, 

 they preserve much of their leaves through the winter, and from May to 

 November continue throwing up a succession of flower-stems in great perfection. 

 C. scabro-capense bears the most beautiful flower ; C. pedunculato-capense is of the 

 largest stature. 



" The genus Calceolaria affords greater facility than most others, because its 

 stigma is nearly obsolete before the pollen of the flower is ready ; and in the 

 earliest stage of the bud, it is easy to lift up the corolla and take, out the 

 anthers, which are then comparatively large and exposed, and the stigma may 

 be fertilized at that early period, when it is defended by the covering of the 

 corolla from any accidental intrusion." 



