388 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



purpose of raising stock for the succeeding year. Whether this is 

 practicable or not can only be determined by careful experiment. 



However, arising from these results are suggestions of very great 

 importance. In order to obtain new varieties of the greatest vigour, we 

 require healthy vigorous parents, whether such are destined to be pollen- 

 producers or seed-bearers. We know that several valuable acquisitions have 

 been obtained by infusing, through pollination, the vigour and characters 

 of allied wild plants, themselves useless, into those already in cultivation. 

 It is worth consideration and determination by experiment how far we 

 can obtain, for future stocks, parents of vigorous constitution, by carefully 

 weeding out all but the very best. To do this, in my opinion, we should 

 not only make a rigid selection of the very best specimens, but these 

 should be planted on poor soil as indicated, and further some of the seeds 

 kept so long that many have lost vitality — the remaining few being likely 

 to be the best, especially to obtain plants for use by the hybridist. It is 

 generally known that, when obtaining new varieties, the seeds which take 

 longest to germinate are likely to produce the most valuable plants. All 

 who have an interest in vegetable seed production should give at least a 

 little thought to the minor points here raised ; and, ever open to conviction 

 in the search for scientific truths, endeavour to ascertain by actual experi- 

 ment how far these things are practical facts. 



