THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
275 
August 1.] 
gardening world tl*ink it the best policy, first, to ascer¬ 
tain, if possible, your own opinion on a point or subject 
to be discussed, and then to give their vote on your side 
of the question, without reference to the merit of the 
case, but simply with a view to please, if not to flatter 
you. I would not give a straw for such opinions. 
My visitor was a true blue on this point; he told me 
plainly, before we entered the flower-garden, that be was 
totally at issue with me—personally a stranger to him, 
and an older man by a score of long years—on the sub¬ 
ject of annuals. Of course he was—and so are all the 
great guns ; but that does not alter the matter one jot; 
before we got over half the garden he expressed himself 
favourably on the way I use these annuals—and so 
does every one who sees them; and what everybody 
says must be true. And it is hardly less true that I am 
the only gardener in the country who puts ephemeral 
annuals to their legitimate purpose; with them I fill 
the beds brimful in May, in the spaces between the per¬ 
manent plants, and in one week after planting the beds 
are more full than some I could name are in two months. 
D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Impbegnating and Hybridising. —As a continuation 
of last week’s article, and because no better time than 
the present can be chosen by amateurs for making their 
experiments, we shall, in a random manner, glance at 
some of the results of a knowledge of the sexual system 
in plants, and, secondly, allude to a few principles to be 
kept in view by those inclined to making hybridising 
experiments. 
Eirst. Most cultivators of flowers grow their plants 
chiefly for their bloom; in many of these the parts of 
fructification—the stamens and the pistils—owing to 
their being almost inconspicuous, present few claims 
upon our observation. Unattractive though they seem, 
however, the beautiful flower petals are the guard which 
nature has stationed for their protection and security. 
When the fertilization of the seeds has been effected, 
the swelling of the seed vessel is generally accompanied 
by the fading of the flower petals ; hence some of our 
friends who are somewhat enthusiastic in their love of 
flowers, should have the openings in their jdant-houses 
surrounded with gauze netting, which would allow air 
to enter and yet keep out bees and all flying insects. 
No sooner do these little artificers get in among your 
prettiest fuchsias, geraniums, &c., than the process of 
fecundation is prematurely, as it were, hastened, by 
their liberal scattering of the pollen, and, as a conse¬ 
quence, the bloom is prematurely shed. In cases such 
as we have alluded to, where the stamens and pistils 
are not very conspicuous, the netting may be dispensed 
with, by cutting them out either with a knife or a small 
pair of scissors; the removing of the female organ alone 
will be sufficient; the bloom will stand much longer in 
consequence. The course to be attended to when 
double flowers are the object has already been noticed. 
Is it desirable to save the seed of a certain flowering 
plant, or vegetable? True, it must be kept far apart 
from others of its kind, or, if that cannot be done, the 
plant as a whole, or the particular flowers selected, 
should be covered with gauze so open as to permit light 
and air to enter, and yet so thick as to prevent the 
intrusion of insects and pollen borne by the winds. 
Even in the kitchen-garden, our cauliflowers, cabbages, 
Brussels sprouts, and borecoles, being merely varieties 
of an original species, would soon revert to the primitive 
typo if care was not thus taken in growing them for 
seed. 
Again. Barrenness often takes place in plants even 
though there be plenty of flowers, because these 
flowers are wanting in the necessary organs of repro¬ 
duction. When the principal organ, the pistil, is 
absent, as will frequently be found to be the case if the 
plant has been unduly shaded the previous season, or 
if there lias been a cold, wet autumn, which has been 
more favourable for the growing than the maturing 
principle, then our knowledge will be of no avail for 
that season. But, on the other hand, when the stamens 
are either altogether wanting, or so miserably small as 
to be deficient in pollen, then the remedy is easy and 
obvious; by means of a camel hair brush, a soft feather, 
&c., transfer the pollen from those flowers where it is 
plentiful to the pistils of those where it is deficient; 
and, better still, where the fertile flowers would stand 
thinning, cut a number out when the anther boxes are 
opening, and place or shake them over the pistils you 
wish to fertilize. In the case of large trees, fertile 
branches might be thinned out, when in bloom, and 
placed in proximity to those that were imperfect. Last 
season we obtained a fair crop of filberts from trees that 
were next to destitute of male catkins, by cutting a 
quantity of hazel branches from the hedges when the 
male catkins were opening, and tying them among the 
filberts, leaving the wind to waft the pollen to the little 
red blossoms. “ Oh ! but did not you get nuts instead 
of filberts?” said a friend, who stoutly contended, that 
a melon not coming true was owing to its growing 
beside a different variety. No! this artificial impreg¬ 
nation, this hybridising, very seldom effects much ap¬ 
parent difference upon what is commonly termed the 
fruit—the rind and pulp of a melon, the shell and 
kernel of the nut, the pulpy matter of the peach, the 
juicy consistence of the apple or pear, the berry of a 
'strawberry, or the seed vessel of any plant we cultivate. 
The appearance is generally exactly the same as if fecun¬ 
dation had been effected by its own appropriate pollen. 
It is in the seeds, the true fruit, that the change is 
effected; the plants and flowers raised from which may 
be expected to be different from both parents, and yet 
exhibiting features of both. Thus every man who has 
only a few inches of ground, such as may be set in his 
window-sill, or on his balcony, has it in his power to 
introduce improved varieties of flowers and vegetables, 
and thus constitute himself a public benefactor. Ama¬ 
teurs and cottagers have in general more opportunities 
for this than gardeners. Thus it is our best varieties 
of flowers and vegetables are produced; all that is 
necessary to secure a hybrid is by means of a needle, or 
a small pointed pair of scissors, to remove the stamens, 
before their anthers open, from the plant you wish to 
act as the mother, and then carefully to apply to the 
summit of the pistil the pollen from those stamens 
which you wish to act as the father; or leaving the 
desirable plants in the neighbourhood of each other, 
will often secure a desired result, but not so surely as 
when more time and attention is bestowed. Where 
correctness is an object each flower acted upon artifi¬ 
cially should be labelled, shut in by a gauzo covering, 
and a proper memorandum made. 
Secondly. We shall now allude to a few principles to 
be kept in view, in order to guard against unnecessary 
failures, and ensure some measure of success. 
1 st. Hybridisation will not take place between plants 
destitute of natural relationship. Thus the many 
wondrous tales of the influence exerted by oranges upon 
apples, black currants upon roses, &c., &c., are fit only 
for the good old times that are gono for ever. Even 
where there is considerable natural affinity, so that both 
plants belong to the same genus, and where even a 
graft will take and grow for a time, as in the case of the 
pear and the apple; it has as yet been impossible to 
obtain a hybrid between them. Neither has a hybrid 
been obtained between the currant and the gooseberry. 
