METHODS OF IMPROVING INDIGENOUS PLANTS. 
85 
of the cultivated varieties now existing will some day be as far surpassed in beauty 
as they at present excel the primitive sorts. 
A mere glance, however, at the facts of what art has accomplished for our 
indigenous vegetation, ought to make it clearly obvious that a wide and almost 
unbounded field still lies open to the operator, and one on which his patience and 
talents may be exerted with the best possible effect. It is not to be conceived that 
any exotic species can ever be so thoroughly acclimatized as to bear the changes of 
our climate so well as those plants which that climate itself produces. And if our 
flower-borders are to be more amply stocked with a hardy and vigorous race, while 
we would by no means undervalue foreign accessions, we believe that the great 
source of supply should be looked for in our own meadows, and woods, and among 
our mountains and valleys. 
There are three ways in which British plants may be greatly improved ; viz., 
by planting them in a richer soil, by annually altering their position, and by propa- 
gation from seed or hybridization. In adopting the first of these plans, it is necessary 
to proceed with caution, and to bear in mind what is the kind of earth in which 
the species spontaneously thrives. Those who have been in the habit of investigating 
such matters, know perfectly that a common plant is mostly found in a great variety 
of situations and soils, and exhibits, in consequence, as great a diversity of aspect. 
To select only one instance ; the Myosotis palustris, though luxuriating best in shady 
places, on the margins of streams or swamps, is met with in all sorts of localities, 
on banks, in gardens or corn-fields, at the top of dry exposed hills, in light, chalky, 
or clayey land ; but on all open and arid spots its growth is invariably stunted, and 
its flowers insignificant ; while in no situation does it reach the size and beauty which 
it attains in a moist sheltered place. 
The instance thus produced, referring as it does to one of the most interesting of 
the British Flora, may serve to show the necessity for attending to natural circum- 
stances. For when this species is grown in a pot, — -as it often and most deservedly 
is, — it must be kept in a sheltered position, and have an adhesive, well-moistened 
soil in order to bring it to perfection. 
But there are cases, and they include the majority of our indigenous plants, in 
which an adherence to the earth which nature provides, would, of itself, lead to no 
good results, or certainly to very remote ones. A rule will therefore hold, with 
very few exceptions, prescribing a richer soil for every native species which it is 
wished to cultivate highly. Yet, as the plants that have been gradually improved 
by this means would, if transferred immediately from the poor ground out of which 
they were taken to that which, since their amelioration, is actually requisite to 
sustain their fine qualities, have been rendered unhealthy, or stimulated to an undue 
and undesirable production of foliage alone, so it follows that it is unwise to attempt 
a too rapid transition from a sterile to a rich soil, and that such a process should be 
brought about by slow degrees. The improvement of native plants, then, through 
the medium of the soil, must be a work of time, and the earth can be made a trifle 
