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THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



others, that this variety is much finer than any other 

 they have seen. Whether the Irish Butterwort is larger 

 than the English kind I cannot say, but I incline to 

 the belief that cultivation has something to do with it, 

 and the fine blooms I have produced result as much from 

 its mode of growth as from any other cause. I have it 

 now in a IC-size pot, growing in good ordinary pot soil, 

 such as I should use for any other hardy plant, but 

 having a considerable addition of white sand in it. I 

 think pans about four inches in depth would suit it 

 better, as the plant does not require depth of soil so 

 much as plenty of moisture and room to expand its side- 

 shoots, which are thrown out in abundance in the 

 autumn. In the winter it can be safely housed on a 

 shelf in any cool place, say in an ordinary greenhouse, 

 where it should be kept sufficiently moist to keep it 

 alive without causing the plants to damp off. The 

 month of March will be a good time to pull the plants 

 to pieces and plant them out in pans of fresh soil, just 

 fixing them to the surface, and from that time forth 

 sprinkling freely with water twice a day. "When cncc 

 growth takes place the plants soon establish themselves, 

 and blooms appear about the middle of April. The 

 length of time the plants remain in flower depends upon 

 the strength of the crowns, as if three or four blooms are 

 sent up the blooming period may extend to six weeks. 

 Where so desired, it may be grown entirely in any cool 

 shady place in the open air if kept well watered. My 

 own plants are now out of doors in a shady place, and 

 being kept liberally watered, will develop into a perfect 

 mass of growth ere the winter again comes. Because 

 the Butterwort is termed a "bog plant," it is doubtless 

 the practice to grow it in poor hungry peat ; this is a 

 mistake, for, whether it prefers a diet of insects or not, 

 at least it likes its soil to be both rich and moist. 



CROSSING CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES. 

 At this season of the year, says the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 when the Carnation and Picotee are rapidly developing 

 their flowers, the following remarks on crossing the Car- 

 nation and Picotee, with a view of obtaining improved 

 varieties, may be acceptable as showing the mode 

 adopted by that well-known raiser, Mr. E. S. Dodwell, 

 formerly of Derby. Crossing to assist fertilization is 

 but a simple operation. The grower has merely to 

 collect the pollen from one flower and apply it delicately, 

 with a light touch, to the stigma of the flower intended 

 to bear seeds. The pollen, which has the appearance of 

 small round balls of whitish-grey powder, will be found 

 upon the stamens springing from around the ovary, or 

 germ, of the seed-vessels in the interior of the flower, and 

 may be generally found in a mature flower protruding 

 from amongst the centre petals. Should it not be so 



disclosed, it may be lying in the interstices between 

 those petals, and a slight shifting of their natural 

 I arrangement will suffice to bring it into view. When 

 | detected, the pollen may either be collected upon the 

 point of a very fine camel's hair pencil, or the stamen, 

 with the anther upon it, may be removed with a fine 

 pair of forceps, and the farina may thus be brought into 

 gentle contact with the stigma, commencing at the 

 points and passing downward over the fine hairy appen- 

 dage with which it is provided. The stigma consists of 

 two bold curved horns, which rise almost invariably in a 

 mature flower above and immediately between the centre 

 petals. Much stress is generally laid upon the necessity 

 for covering the flower operated upon with muslin, or of 

 taking other means of preventing the access of bees, flies, 

 and other insects. Where the flower must be left un- 

 watched this may be advisable, otherwise it is of no 

 consecpience whatever, as the result will assuredly con- 

 firm the success or non-success of the operation. If 

 impregnation has resulted, the flower will collapse within 

 from twenty-four to thirty-hours (earlier in a flower past 

 maturity, and later in one barely arrived at puberty), 

 otherwise not. It is, however, of great importance to 

 remove the stamens from the flowers intended to bear 

 seed, as otherwise impregnation may naturally ensue 

 where a cross had been intended or assumed, and the 

 result of course will mislead. The time most suitable for 

 performing this operation is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a 

 bright sunny day ; if cloudy and dull, impregnation 

 rarely follows, the pollen at such a time being heavy and 

 adhesive in its character, and it has not the light dusty 

 powderiness requisite for fertilization. In all cases the 

 crosses should be between flowers of the same class- 

 that is, scarlet bizarre with scarlet bizarre, purple 

 Picotee with purple Picotee ; even when this rule is 

 most sedulously observed, the sportiveness of these 

 flowers is wonderful. In dull seasons the pollen will 

 frequently refuse to ripen in the open air. In such cases 

 the flower from which the pollen is desired may be 

 plucked and placed in water in a greenhouse or the 

 I window of a sitting-room with a southern exposure. 

 There it will speedily become fit for the use of the opera- 

 tor, and thus enable him to obtain seed in a season 

 otherwise barren. 



"New, Beautiful, and Rare Plants." William Bull, 

 King's Road, Chelsea. — For many years Mr. Bull's plant 

 catalogues have taken a very foremost place amongst 

 works of this class. Indeed, without Mr. Bull's book no 

 horticulturist or botanist can become properly ac- 

 quainted with all the best new plants of the day. This 

 retail list contains two hundred pages of descriptions 

 (with many illustrations) of new, rare, and beautiful 

 plants of the greatest botanical and floricultural interest. 



