September 15. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
455 
and who can believe it possible that the seed would keep 
fifty years, and that the pollen-grain would not, under 
similar circumstances? 
The fail ures in saving pollen arose entirely and alto¬ 
gether for want of thought in the harvest-men who 
undertook the experiment; they allowed the anthers to 
become ripe before they gathered them, or so near to 
ripeness that they opened during the process of drying. 
| Now, if we allow a Fern-seed to break its case and get 
into the open air, or the anther is allowed to open its 
valves, as the case may be, we might just as well attempt 
to lock up electricity as to secure the Fern-seed, or 
the pollen-grain, from destruction. The case of the 
Fern-seed must never open until it is rent asunder by 
the swelling of the seed itself, under the bell-glass of 
the gardener, on the damp sand. The anther must be 
equally guarded from every influence that would excite 
it to open until it is wanted, or rather its contents, for 
the stigma of the recently opened flower. All that we 
have actually proved on the subject is this, that if we 
extracted anthers and stamens long before the anthers 
were ripe, that the pollen in them would ripen, and be 
in use, and fit to cross, after the lapse of six mouths; 
and that pollen, gathered when ripe and flying out of 
the anthers, though kept with the greatest care, would 
not fertilise the stigma of the parent plant at the end of 
a month. We believe the driest atmosphere we can 
keep in our rooms and drawers is far too moist for the 
preservation of pollen for any length of time after 
being actually exposed to it; and we also believe that 
an anther would keep as long as a piece of bladder 
under the same influences, and that it is as impervious 
to moisture as the bladder, and, therefore, as capable of 
preserving pollen as is the seed vessel of the Fern in 
retaining the vitality of the seed—a fact that no one 
now questions. 
If the flower of a Geranium is picked off as soon as it 
opens, although the anthers may appear to be only half 
ripe, there is sufficient moisture in the flower to feed the 
anthers and cause them to burst in two or three days. 
Therefore, if it was intended to dry that pollen for pre¬ 
serving, it could not be done, as no method could be 
adopted to save it if once it is in contact with the air ; 
that flower was too far gone to be harvested for pollen, 
and it would be much about the same with nine flowers 
out of ten from other plants. 
Then, it follows, that when we wish to make dry speci¬ 
mens of flowers, with a view to save the pollen, we must 
gather them a short time before the flower opens; or when 
there is more than one flower on a stalk, and they are 
known to open in succession, it will be as well to let the 
first of them just open before you cut the stalk, and let it 
take its chance ; if we can get it and the anthers dried 
in such a manner as that the latter do not burst, so far 
so good; but, if not, the loss of the former flower will 
not be much, and we can reckon on some, or all the rest, 
to ripen the pollen without reaching that point of 
ripeness when the anther should burst. 
Here we are met by a wise provision of nature, which 
is familiar to any one who lias been in the habit of dis¬ 
secting flowers, and which greatly assists us in this work. 
The anther is the first part of a flower which comes to 
its full size, the stamens lengthen out very gradually, 
the petals no less so, and the stigma is hardly ever up 
to its full-size so soon as the other parts; but the an¬ 
thers, on the contrary, are of full-size when the flower is 
only in the bud. In some plants they are full-grown 
ten days before the flower opens. Wheat, lor instance, 
is impregnated by its own pollen before the top of the 
ear issues from the sheath, and before stamens come 
into existence, or nearly so; therefore, it is impossible 
that one kind of wheat should naturally fertilise another 
wheat in the field. The moment the wheat pollen is 
shed, the stamens begin to lengthen, carrying up the 
empty bags on their summits, till, at last, they push 
them right into the open air; then the farmers believe 
the plant is in blossom. 
We have met with a hundred instances in which the 
anthers were in full-size, and all but sessile; that is, 
without a sign of stamen below, while the flower is a 
mere bud. To cut a full-sized anther at that stage of 
the flower would give one no signs that anything like 
dry dust should ever be formed by it. It is a solid mass 
of tissue, apparently like any other soft portion of the 
plant. Now, supposing that one of these flowers were 
cut off ten days before the pollen would be ripe, and 
that it was dried very slowly, after the manner of speci¬ 
mens for the herbarium, if there were sufficient moisture 
in the stalk and surrounding parts to keep the anthers 
from shrivelling, there is no question about the pollen 
ripening during the process of drying. The full-sized 
anther requires no more room when the flower is quite 
opened than it occupied somo days before; hence, the 
greater facility of getting the pollen well-ripened after 
the flower is cut, without causing the anthers to burst 
open. 
Suppose, now, that we have a truss of Geranium 
flowers well up in the bud, dried, and ready for the 
herbarium, with the pollen ripe, but the anthers not 
likely to burst or open ; is there anything in reason, or 
philosophy, which can contradict our surmise, that that 
pollen may be kept in that state for many years, and 
be as good when the anther was cut as it was the first 
day ? We think not. 
The next question is about the best way to dry the 
flowers; and here it must branch into wide-spread diver¬ 
sities. Some flowers, with thick substance in the parts, 
say a Gloxinia flower, will require to be dried as fast as 
it can safely be done, or the great store of sap will, 
assuredly, run the anther to the bursting point before 
all is sufficiently dried. Another, say some slender 
Heath flower, with hardly any substance in it, or round j 
about it, in the leaves or the shoots, must be dried as j 
slowly as possible, in order to give time to the full 
development of the pollen ; and all intermediate flowers i 
must be dealt with according to the best of our judg¬ 
ment, until, by practice, we come to understand more of 
the subject than anyone can lay claim to at present. 
What we have to bear in mind, is, that if the anther ; 
I 
once opens there is no more safety to the pollen; that 
