THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 17, I860. 
245 
selected. In stone fruit, if two kernels are in one stone these 
give birth to inferior plants. 
6. The time which elapses before seedlings attain a bearing 
age is very various. The Pear requires from twelve to eighteen 
years; the Apple, five to thirteen; Plum and Cherry, four to 
five j Yine, three to four; Raspberry, two; and the Strawberry, 
one. 
7. The most successful mode of obtaining good and very dis¬ 
tinct varieties is to employ the pollen from a male in a flower 
grown on another plant than that bearing the female parent. 
To avoid previous and undesired impregnation, the anthers in 
the female parent, if they are produced in the same flower with 
the pistils, must be removed by a sharp-pointed pair of scissors, 
and the flower enclosed in a gauze bag to exclude insects until 
the desired pollen is ripe. Another effectual mode of avoiding 
undesired impregnation is bringing the female parent into flower 
a little earlier than its congeners, and removing the anthers as 
above described ; tho stigma will remain a long time vigorous if 
unimpregnated. 
8. Although the fertility of all the seed in one seed-vessel may 
be secured by applying pollen only to one style, even where there 
are several, yet the quantity of pollen is by no means a matter of 
indifference. Koelreuter found that from fifty to sixty globules 
of pollen were required to complete the impregnation of one 
flower of Hibiscus Syriacus; but in Mirabilis Jalapa and 
M. longijlora, two or three globules were enough ( Willdenow , 
323) ; and in the case of Pelargoniums, Captain Thurtell says 
two or three globules are certainly sufficient. 
9. M. Haquin, a distinguished horticulturist at Liege, has im¬ 
pregnated flowers of the Azalea with pollen kept six weeks; and 
Camellias with pollen kept sixty-five days. He gathers the 
stamens just previously to tho anthers opening, wraps them in 
writing-paper, places them in a warm room for a day, collects 
the pollen they emit, and preserves it in sheet-lead in a cool, dry 
place. M. Godefroy suggests that two concave glasses, like those 
employed for vaccine virus, would be better. The globules of 
the pollen must not be crushed. M. Haquin thinks the pollen 
of one year will be effective if preserved until the year following. 
Mr. Jackson, of Cross Lancs Nursery, near Bedale, says he has 
found the pollen of tho Rhododendron Smith'd tigrinum retain its 
fertilising power even for twelve months. 
10. It is easy to discern whether impregnation has been effected, 
as iu such case the stigmas soon wither. The stigmas which have 
not received the pollen remain for a long time green aud vigorous. 
By the aid of the Stanhope lens Captain Thurtell thought he 
could discover the seed of the Pelargonium being closed over in 
the space of four hours after impregnation. 
11. When double flowers are desired, if a double flower should 
chance to have a fertile anther or two, these should be employed 
for fertilisation, as their offspring are almost sure to be very 
double. 
12. Many analyses of the pollen of various plants have been 
made by chemists without throwing any fight upon hybridising. 
M. Grotthus found the components of twenty-six grains of the 
pollen of the Tulip were :— 
Vegetable albumen .... 
. 20'25 
Malates of lime and magnesia 
. . 3-50 
Malic acid. 
. 100 
Malate of ammonia 
• • 1 
Colouring matter .... 
. 1 1-25 
Nitrate of potash 
• • • j 
26-00 
— (Selmeigger’s Journ. xi. 281.) 
13. Superfoetation has been doubted, but as it occurs in the 
dog, we see no reason for disbelieving its possibility in plants. 
Captain Thurtell thinks it may be done by the bee introducing 
mingled pollens at the same instant. Then why not, if a similar 
mixture is inserted by the camel’s-hair pencil of the cultivator ? 
We think it quite possible that different seeds in the same peri¬ 
carp may be fertilised by pollen from more than one different 
male species ; but nothing but the strongest evidence will con¬ 
vince us that the same seed can be effectually fertilised by more 
than one pollen. M. Poulard asks us to believe that his Rosa 
perpetuosissima had four male parents—the Bengal, the Tea, the 
Hundred-leaved, and the Noisette ! 
14. Plants nearly related—that is, closely similar in the structure 
of their various parts, are those only which will immediately 
impregnate each other; but it is impossible at present to say 
what families of plants may or may not be brought into fertile 
union through intermediate crosses. A very short time ago the 
Azalea and Rhododendron were thought incapable of such union, 
but this opinion is now exploded; for Rhododendron Ponticum 
has been fertilised with the pollen of Azalea sinensis , and the 
progeny between that evergreen and this deciduous shrub is 
the previously unknown phenomenon a yellow Rhododendron. 
Though such union may be effected, we entirely agree with Mr. 
Knight in anticipating that the progeny will be mules, incapable 
of producing offspring. It is quite true that many plants, said 
by botanists to be distinct species, have between them produced 
fertile seeds, but we incline decidedly to the opinion that this 
fact demonstrates that they are not distinct species, but only 
deviations from a common origin. For example : the Peach and 
Almond are considered distinct species by botanists, yet the fruit 
of both and of the Nectarine have been borne spontaneously by 
the same tree. “ I cannot,” says Mr. Knight, “ by any means 
admit that plants ought to be considered of originally distinct 
species merely because they happen to be found to have assumed 
somewhat different forms or colours in an uncultivated state. 
The genus Prunus contains the P. Armeniaca , P. verasus , 
P. domestica, P. insititia , P. spinosa, P. Sibirica, and many 
others. Of these I feel perfectly confident that no art will ever 
obtain offspring (not being mules) bet ween the Prunus Armeniaca 
P. cerasus, and P. domestica; but I do not entertain much 
doubt of being able to obtain an endless variety of perfect off¬ 
spring between the Prunus domestica , P. insititia , and P. spinosa; 
and still less doubt of obtaining an abundant variety of offspring 
from the Prunus Armeniaca and P. Sibirica. The former (the 
common Apricot*) is found, according to M. Regnicr, in a wild 
state in the oases of Africa. It is there a rich and sweet fruit ot 
a yellow colour. The fruit of Prunus Sibirica , seeds of which 
came to me last year from Dr. Fischer, of Gorenki, is, on the 
contrary, I understand, black, very acid, and of small size : but, 
nevertheless, if these apparently distinct species will breed toge¬ 
ther, and I confidently expect they will, without giving existence 
to mule plants, I shall not hesitate to pronounce these plants of 
one and the same species, as I have done relatively to the Scarlet, 
the Pine, and the Chili Strawberries. Botanists may, neverthe¬ 
less, if they please, continue to call these transmutable plants 
species ; but if they do so, I think they should find some other 
term for such species as are not transmutable, aud which will 
either not breed together at all, or which, breeding together, give 
existence to mule plants. 
“ if hybrid plants had been formed as abundantly as Linnaeus 
and some of his followers had imagined, and such had proved 
capable of affording offspring, all traces of genus and species 
must surely long ago have been lost and obliterated ; for a seed- 
vessel, even of a monogynous blossom, often affords plants which 
are obviously 7 the offspring of different male parents ; ^ and I 
believe I could adduce many facts which would satisfactorily 
prove that a single plant is oiten the offspring of more than one, 
and, in some instances, of many male parents. L T nder such cir¬ 
cumstances, every species of plant which, either in a natural state 
or cultivated by man, has been once made to sport in varieties, 
must almost of necessity continue to assume variations of fornn 
Some of these have often been found to resemble other species of 
the same genus, or other varieties of the same species, and of 
permanent habits, which were assumed to be species; but I have 
never yet seen a hybrid plant capable of affoidmg offspring 
which had been proved by anything like satisfactory evidence 
to have sprung from two originally distinct species ; and I must, 
therefore, continue to believe that no species capable of propa¬ 
gating offspring, either of plant or animal, now exists which did 
not come as such immediately from the hand of the Creator. J. 
(To be continued.) 
COMMON FLOWERS. 
Plants with small flowers of lowly growth often please the 
eye and enlarge the mind more than tall plants with flowers of 
far more gorgeous pretensions. The Veronica repens (more 
commonly called V. tenella), is an especial favourite with me. Its 
* The early period at which the Apricot unfolds its flowers, leads me to 
dieve it to be a native of a cold climate; and I suspect the 1- rench word 
bricot, the English Apricock, and the African Berrmokka, to have been 
ike derived from the Latin word praecocia, which the Romans ftheie is 
7 ery reason to believe), pronounced Praikokia and which was the term 
mlied to early varieties of Peaches, which, probably, included the Apricot, 
he Greeks also wrote the Latin word as I suppose the Romans to have 
■onounced it.— Aarduoin’s Td. of Pliny , lib. 15, see. xi. 
