THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 25.] 
253 
God lias taken such care of His beautiful vegetable 
offspring, that wherever both of these distinctive organs 
exist in a perfect state seeds will be infallibly produced, 
perfect in their kind, and which, under favourable circum¬ 
stances, will produce plants similar in type to that from 
which they came. Our fair correspondent, therefore, 
who wishes to know how she is to “ avoid breaking the 
flower”—the blown petals of the plant she wishes to 
impregnate, such as the pansy, “and also if it be neces¬ 
sary to remove the stamen from the flower operated 
upon,” may rest contented that, if mere fruitful seeds are 
her object, her attention in this respect will not be 
required, as in favourable circumstances nature will 
manage all this without her interference. But if, as we 
suppose, she desires to obtain not merely fertile seeds, 
but seeds which will produce other flowers different and 
more beautiful still tlian the one she wishes to fecun¬ 
date, then her aid will be of importance in securing the 
desired object; that object being the producing a cross, 
or a hybrid or hybrids,’ that will have the good proper¬ 
ties of both parents. 
Though the matter has been several times referred to, 
we thus touch upon it again, believing that even yet 
great misapprehension exists. A short time ago I was 
visited by an enthusiast in gardening—an amateur who 
spends a considerable sum every year upon novelties, 
who is a good cucumber grower, and perfectly under¬ 
stands the method of fertilizing their seeds, and yet 
made it his especial errand to know how such things are 
done in the case of calceolarias, geraniums, &c., stating 
that he could not make out a female flower from 
a male flower, as he could readily do in the case of 
the cucumber and melon. Now, though many plants 
resemble the cucumber in having their male and female 
blossoms separate, the great bulk of our flowering plants 
possess both sexes in the same flower, and in such 
cases the female may always be readily recognised— 
1st. By its holding the first or central part of the flower; 
a fact which might teach philosophers the importance 
of establishing a correlative in the rational world, by 
giving to woman the first, the central, and not the 
secondary place in society, a position she must occupy 
before great advances are made in refinement and 
civilisation; and, secondly, the female part of the flower 
is always known by containing at its base, as in the 
case of the cucumber, the embryo of the future seed 
vessel. These things being known, fertilizing the female 
organ with the pollen of its own stamens, or cross 
fertilizing it, or hybridising, with the pollen of a kindred 
plant, becomes a mere matter of routine. 
There are, indeed, some very singular phenomena 
connected with the position and the office of these 
separate organs in some tribes, which must be under¬ 
stood and examined before the processes can be readily 
seen through. Many of these have already been re¬ 
ferred to, and one of the most striking is that of the 
common blue bell or campanula, as was noticed so 
well lately by our friend Mr. Beaton; but I have mis¬ 
laid the number. A young friend enquired the other 
day, if the three horned-like things in the centre of a 
full blown bell-flower were stamen boxes fixed upon the 
central pistil? As these horns were covered with 
pollen, and as the true stamens had dwindled down into 
almost imperceptible threads, it is no wonder that she 
'made such a mistake ; but by showing her a flower not 
quite opened the mystery was at once explained. There 
stood the five chubby gentleman anthers, cheek by 
jowl, with the three pointed pistil; the anthers with 
I slits longitudinally, while the tripartite, or three horned 
pistil, in each of its divisions was furnished with rows 
of short bristles, and only in the side next the anthers— 
which entering the pollen boxes cleared them out of their 
pollen, and thus fertilization was effected—the anthers 
withered and drooped, while the style of the pistil became 
elongated, so as to present the appearance that puzzled 
our young friend. Now, though not so striking, there is 
also something peculiar in the mode of fructification of 
the common pansy. The pistil, as in every other analo¬ 
gous case, is in the centre of the flower. The stigma is 
the point which we easily observe in the centre, connected 
with the germen or seed-vessel by a short slender style; 
while the anthers, five in number, clasp firmly the 
sides of the seed-vessel. Here, as in the case of the 
bell-flower, the stamens open only on the inner side, 
next the germen; did they open on the outside, the 
pollen dust might be scattered wide of the stigma. As 
it is, and owing to the slightly nodding character of the 
flower, the pistil in some of its parts must be covered 
with the pollen as it falls; and to ensure this more 
effectually, there is an appendage fixed to the upper 
point of the anther, which acts as a tan-board or shield, 
an appendage which is not common in hardly any 
other tribe of plants. Now in answer to the two questions 
of our friend: there will be no necessity for breaking 
off the bloom of the flower you would impregnate; 
but as we have seen that the pollen boxes are close 
to the side of the germen, you cannot get at the 
pollen dust by any other means than by turning the 
flower, and for this purpose it will be generally neces¬ 
sary to nip off the flower-buds you intend to act as 
males, bearing in mind that the pollen dust will be ripe 
for fecundation when the bloom is fully expanded. 
Shaking the bloom with its male parts thus ripe, or, 
what is better, tying it over the pistil you wish to hy¬ 
bridise, will generally be successful. "VV e disapprove 
of destroying the blossom-petals of the plant thus in¬ 
tended for seed-bearing; and if it is necessary to remove 
the stamens, that may easily be effected before the 
blossom opens, by bending the petals just so much as 
will enable you to start them off at their base with 
the point of a needle or a small pen-knife. 
Now, as to the second question—is it necessary to 
remove the stamens in such circumstances? we say, 
decidedly so, when any very precise and definite result 
is intended, and by the means specified it may easily be 
done; but in general cases it is not necessary, as the 
fecundating of the pistil with foreign pollen before the 
pollen cells of its own anthers burst is held to be suffi¬ 
cient. Our own experiments, as well as many others, 
would almost lead us to hold this opinion, but we con¬ 
fess that the data are not quite sufficient to enable us 
to determine definitely, In all cases of nicety, there¬ 
fore, we recommend removing the stamens. 
Our space has so soon filled up, that we shall have 
something to say in another communication of some of 
the results of being acquainted with the sexual system, 
and the principles to be kept in view in hybridising. 
Chrysanthemums. —We can say little of this splendid 
flower in addition to what was stated last year, only 
now is a good time for making layers from plants 
growing in the open air, so as to ensure very dwarf 
specimens. One of the best modes is to have pots filled 
with light rich soil; place the top of the chrysanthemum 
over it, run a knife for an inch or two along its centre; 
place a stone, or stick, or piece of mould, between to 
keep the wound open; cover it with soil; and fasten it 
in its place with a pebble or hook, and roots will soon 
be protruded if moisture is supplied. Those in pots 
should not have their shoots stopped any more, or the 
flowers will be small and scarce. R- 1 ISH - 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC ORCHIDACEiE. 
plants requiring baskets {Concluded from page 226.) 
Vanda fusco violacea; E. India.— A handsome species, 
with brownish sepal and petal, and a violet-coloured 
lip. 168s. 
