Blackberry, which find little favor with us as far as 

 their fruit is concerned. It was stated that Mr. 

 Rivers had been making some experiments, with 

 the view of improving the fruit of our Blackberries, 

 and that from some of his plants, procured by judi- 

 cious cross-breeding, and now in the Grarden of the 

 Society, it was hoped that a dish of fruit would be 

 shown at the Society's next meeting. Blackberry 

 Jelly, it was said, was wont to be prescribed by a 

 physician in Northamptonshire for gout, and it was 

 stated that what remedial power it possessed doubt- 

 less depended on the small quantity of citrate of 

 potash which the berries contain, and which is well 

 known to be one of the medicines usually given for 

 the cure of that disease. Rubus Gircondianus, 

 raised from seeds stated to have been imported from 

 the Amoor River, Mr. Berkeley pronounced to be 

 R. reflexus of Ker, a species figured in the "Bo- 

 tanical Register" as far back as 1820. " 



The Hybridization of Ferns. — We recently 

 gave, in answer to a correspondent, some facts 

 about hybrid ferns from memory. We have since 

 met with the following paper which may interest 

 our readers. It will be seen that Mr. Stelzner does 

 not render the credit to Noegali and other earlier 

 discoverers we have named, which is their due : 



"One of the most interesting of gardening occu- 

 pations, if not the most interesting of all, is indis- 

 putably the fertilization of plants with a view to 

 change the character of species, or to obtain new 

 forms or hybrids. 



While we watch with a lively interest the pro- 

 gress of plants which have been fertilised one with 

 the other — a process which in Pheenogams is per- 

 fectly ;bar to us, because their organs, whether 

 Izsi^'i (r small, can always be distinctly seen ; we 

 are, nevertheless, still in darkness as to the fecun- 

 dation of ferns, and the mode in which it is ef- 

 fected. 



The profound and interesting investigations of 

 Munter, Lechinsky, Wigand, Schacht, and others 

 have established the existence in ferns of reproduc- 

 tive organs of both sexes (antheridia and arche- 

 gonia), which are borne upon the under side of the 

 pro-embryo (prothallium) — that is, the foliaceous 

 body which results from the germtnation of the 

 spore. In conformity with these investigations, 

 which would give to the pro-embryos, so to speak, 

 the character of flowers, most physiologists are of 

 the opinion that the artificial fertilization of ferns 

 would only take place when the pro-embryos of two 

 distinct species were brought into close contact. 

 The opinion that fertilization might be effected on 



the frond at the time of the spores being formed 

 (and this would be analogous to what takes place 

 in Phsenogams, and would appear to me more in 

 accordance with the laws of nature), has up to the 

 present time found scarcely an adherent, although, 

 from what I have understood, Schacht in his latter 

 days declared himself in favor of this theory. 



The above opinion was expressed about ten years 

 ago in " Bonplandia," I believe, by my friend Mons. 

 F. Stange, of Hamburgh, but with the details of 

 the article in question I am not acquainted. The 

 experiments which I have made on the hybridiza- 

 tion of ferns link together, perhaps, the two theo- 

 ries, without admitting either to its full extent. I 

 am inclined to believe that a kind of fecundation 

 takes place at the very moment at which the spores 

 commence to germinate, and when the gelatinous 

 mass of the different spores commingles, and be- 

 comes mutually transformed long before a pro-em- 

 bryo has been produced. My principal reason for 

 doubting the fecundation of pro-embryos is the 

 fact that a large number of hybrids are frequently 

 found together side by side. Contact between the 

 pro-embryos, therefore, could not have taken place, 

 and it also appears to me that we likewise cannot 

 admit that all these hybrids could have been pro- 

 duced by the mutual opening of the reproductive 

 organs, which takes place as if at a bound. I 

 have my doubts as to fertilization having taken 

 place on the fronds, because I have obtained hy- 

 brids from species which have not been in contact 

 with others of their kind, as I shall now proceed to 

 show. 



Some years ago I reported in " Wochenschrift, " 

 published at Berlin, (1859, page 183), that I ob- 

 tained a new and interesting hvbrid. Grymnogram- 

 ma between Gr. chrysophylla and Gr. lanata. Pro- 

 fessors Koch, of Berlin, and Reichenbach, of Leip- 

 sie, did me the honor of naming it Gr. Stelzneriana. 

 All the plants of it which I have raised had this 

 peculiarity — namely, that nowhere did they pro- 

 duce spores, although they were in the hands of 

 the most experienced English and German cultiva- 

 tors. I even grew some specimens myself with 

 fronds 3 ft et in length, but they did not produce 

 spores, and I believe that the plants which I raised 

 at the above period have now everywhere disap- 

 peared. Three years ago I again succeeded in ob- 

 taining the same hybrid by sowing Gymogramma 

 chrysophylla and G. lanata in the following manner: 

 I collected on a piece of white paper the spores of 

 the two ; and after mixing them as much as possi- 

 ble, sowed them together. In this way I succeeded 

 in obtaining a good proportion of Gymnogramma 



