24 
HYBRIDIZING. 
really valuable and large specimen, the head 
of the tree should lose something, and it will 
require some ingenuity to remove those 
portions whose removal will not injure the 
appearance of the specimen. But the same 
principles that govern us in the case of a 
lar<re tree should be observed in transplanting 
all things. One certain fact is, that what- 
ever the root suffers checks the tree, and 
unless the subject be the better for checking, 
the plant must be reduced, and therefore 
care must be taken to prevent the root from 
suffering. But many subjects are the better 
for the check ; that is to say, they would be 
too luxuriant without such check ; hence the 
pi'actiee of root-pruning, to check fruit-trees, 
a practice that hastens maturity and brings 
on fruit-bearing. This was the inducement 
to disroot pines, which some people have com- 
plained of as unnatural culture ; but our fore- 
fathers were not such dolts as the present 
generation would have us think them to be. 
The old lesson read to us in our boyish days 
would apply to many theorists who undermine 
old practices, a truism not to be despised by 
any means, though not always right as ap- 
plied to modern changes, — " Young folks 
think old folks are fools, but old folks know 
young folks to be fools." The pruning of 
roots checks the flow of raw sap, which in- 
duces rank growth, and allows that already in 
the tree to elaborate and adapt itself to the 
fruiting process ; and if roots are not pruned, 
or a check given artificially, the tree must push 
on with vigour, forming leaves and branches, 
but no fruit, until the tree attains its mature 
size, and the roots have settled down the 
supply by lessening it sufficiently, when that 
sap which is supplied will properly elaborate, 
and fruit is the consequence. Confine the 
roots of a tree in a pot, and stunted growth is 
a certain consequence. Cut away the parts 
of a root which wander farthest, and a more 
sudden check takes place ; yet it so lessens 
the quantity of nourishment taken up, that, 
presuming it be not too violent, it hastens the 
blooming and fruiting ; carry this operation 
too far, and the check is too great ; yet a 
little further, and the tree dies, because the 
leaves give off" more moisture than can be 
taken up. The only chance, therefore, of 
saving trees of which the roots have been too 
much damaged, is to lessen the work which 
the roots have to perform, when the life will 
be saved. We have, in the clearing of a piece 
of ground, met with accidents, and destroyed 
more root than we ought, chiefly in conse- 
quence of some vigorous growths taking place 
out of the usual situation of roots ; more than 
half has been destroyed perhaps. It has been 
on such occasions that we have tried experi- 
ments : plant such trees or shrubs as they 
come up, and they die; lessen the head a good 
deal, and they live, but are sickly; cut a very 
large portion down, and the remainder will 
not lose a leaf. Hence it is that plants of all 
kinds that arc inclined to grow too vigorously 
receive a wholesome check when they are 
young. Hence it is that fruit-trees are root- 
pruned, and bear the earlier for it. Hence it 
is that pine-apples are disrooied to hasten 
their fruiting; and many plants that are apt 
to run away and grow too fast are frequently 
removed, and each time with the loss of some of 
theirroots. But, on the subject of transplanting, 
it will be desirable to particularize many differ- 
ently habited trees, shrubs, and vegetables, in 
papers devoted to themselves. It is enough 
to lay down, at present, as an unerring fact, 
that the loss of roots checks growth ; that the 
only way to counteract this, when the check 
is not desirable, is to take extra pains to pre- 
serve them, to remember that every fibre 
that is broken is the loss of a means of support, 
and that, to maintain the plant health}', it 
must be reduced in exactly the proportion 
that the root suffers ; so that plants like 
firs, which cannot be cut down without the 
destruction of their symmetry, must not lose 
any portion of their roots, because there are 
no means of lessening the consumption, and 
therefore we must not lessen the supply. 
HYBRIDIZING. 
In bringing before the notice of our readers 
the practice of hybridizing, we have to re- 
mind them that nothing should be done with- 
out a meaning as clear as the sun at noon-day; 
nothing should be attempted without an object, 
that object being the improvement of one or 
other of the flowers on which we are at work. 
Now, the only points to be gained by hybrid- 
izing, are first to obtain the properties or 
qualities of a tender plant upon a hardy one, 
or the flowers or colours of an ill-habited 
plant upon one of good habit. Generally 
speaking, these two points comprise all that 
can be gained; but there may be another 
object, which is only comprised in those men- 
tioned by implication — the mixture of colour 
between plants of equal, or nearly equal claims. 
The first of these objects is important, and 
has been accomplished to a great extent in the 
Rhododendron. The difficulties attending 
this operation with many flowers are, first, the 
species flowering at different seasons; secondly, 
their flowering in different places; for there 
are certain rules to be observed, without which 
failure is certain. The pistil of the female 
plant, or rather the plant which is to bear the 
seed, has to be impregnated with the pollen or 
farina of the male plant, or the one which is 
required to impart the desired property; and 
