132 
STOCK SEED. 
the finer they are bred the less they are inclined to its produc¬ 
tion. This is a purely practical matter, and varies with the 
nature of the subject. Picotees and carnations, from the absence 
of stamens in their flowers, are among the most difficult. A 
careful search should be made among the petals of the thinner 
flowers, and the few that can be collected must be made to im¬ 
pregnate as many neighbouring styles as possible. In others, 
which have pollen of their own, the utmost care should be taken 
to remove it before the anthers shed it in a ripe state, or any 
attempt at crossing with another kind will come too late. Above 
all things, let the female or seed-producing flower be the finest of 
its kind; that obtained from two blooms of the same plant, one 
of which may be perfect and the other inferior, will yield plants 
differing one from another in precisely the same manner as the 
flowers which produced them. 
Hortulanus. 
HOW TO SECURE GOOD STOCK SEED. 
Good double stocks are a desideratum in every garden, and 
many are the out-of-the-way projects for obtaining them, even 
the old absurd notion that, to be good, the seed should be saved 
from plants intermingled with others having double flowers yet 
exists ; for it is not many days since a person solicited the favour 
of a friend of mine, to stand his single stocks among my friend’s 
double ones ; and as this idea is held by some who should know 
better, but will not give themselves the trouble to think on the 
matter, it may be well to remind them of the absurdity they 
entertain. Double stocks have no stamens, they are changed 
into petals, therefore they can have no pollen, and in the absence 
of this it is not possible to conceive in what way they can affect 
the single ones. Another fancy is pertinaciously insisted on by 
some, who bring something like a theory to back their assertion, 
that it is only such flowers as have an extra petal which pro¬ 
duce seed likely to yield double varieties. Was this notion acted 
on throughout, there would soon be a dearth of stocks; others 
say, in planting, you should select those with ramified roots for 
double ones, the remainder with tap-roots being certainly single. All 
