THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 24, I860. 
and five kinds of progeny must be obtained from that 
flower so operated upon. The Hibiscus is the next easiest 
flower to prove that syperfeetation and the explained 
progress of the pollen to the ovary are both on a baseless 
foundation. I believe, from my own experience, super- 
foetation among vegetables is simply impossible; and that 
implies, also the impossibility of the pollen passing in 
grains in tubes of extreme tenuity to the embryo seed, 
which is the way it is explained by scientific men. 
The way I conceive the pollen must act in order to 
give the results with which many are quite familiar is 
this—for there is no other way of accounting for such 
results as we obtain. The pollen dust is in grains, like 
gunpowder; but the grains are inconceivably small. 
These grains swell on the application of moisture, and 
burst at a certain stage of swelling, and the substance 
melts and is absorbed in the moisture as sugar is in tea 
or coffee. In every part of a plant, tree, or flower, from 
the tips of the extreme roots to the farthest-off leaf and 
petal, there is a constant moving of fluid, and the fluid 
is constantly changed in its nature ; and there is a natural 
turn, or condition of the fluid, for every natural require¬ 
ment of the system of which the plant is composed; and 
one condition is the fulfilment of the original mandate to 
increase and multiply by seeds. The viscid fluid on the 
stigma is the last condition required, and in that con¬ 
dition it is incapable of evaporation by the ordinary heat 
of the sun. Like other fluids, it cannot come there by 
chance, only by the usual process of circulation. The 
pollen sticks in that viscid fluid as flies stick in treacle; 
it cannot pass through it, or part from it; but it swells 
and bursts, and its contents are absorbed on the summit 
of the stigma. The passages in the style, from the stigma 
to the ovary, allow of the circulation and the return of 
this viscid fluid, now mixed with the contents of the 
pollen grains. Were the process different, superfeeta- 
tion might be possible. But now see the barrier which 
hindered the influence of the five kinds of pollen on the five 
divisions of the stigma of a Geranium. The five kinds 
gave their contents equally to the fluid, but the fluid is not 
visible in this kind, and the one of the five which had the 
nearest affinity, as a chemist would say, to the mother, took 
the lead, and neutralised the effects of the other four. 
In Nature and in the wilderness it was a wise provision 
for covering the face of the earth, that the anthers of 
flowers should ripen and discharge their contents before 
the stigma was sufficiently ripe to absorb it; thus com¬ 
pelling every flower to be impregnated by another flower 
on the same plant, or from another plant within the degrees 
of consanguinity. The earth was thus very early clothed 
after the dispersions by the flood. The origin of species was 
then specially founded, and their subsistence to the after 
ages of the world has been partly owing to their power 
of selection, as Mr. Darwin says, but in a much greater 
degree by the capacity of the viscid fluid to retain the 
influences of the stronger member of the same kindred ; 
because, as we have seen, and as I have proved in scores 
of instances, and as any of us can now prove in one month, 
that out of five kinds only one kind will ever take the 
lead : so in the preservation of kinds, which is a better 
word than species, its own pollen does not fertilise one 
flower out of one thousand. Another flower from the same 
branch, or truss, which is later in ripening its pollen 
does the business ; and if the stigma is within the in¬ 
fluence of five plants, or five hundred plants of the same 
kind, not one of them is capable of taking the lead but 
the one which is the most perfectly developed and the 
strongest; and I have made use of that very circum¬ 
stance since 1838; and I am perfectly well satisfied that 
the contrary cannot be proved by direct experiments. 
The origin and the power of sustaining species to the end 
of time is just as familiar to me as my own origin, which 
my dear grandmother never ceased to dun into my ears 
while she applied the sustaining power up to the cram¬ 
ming point. D. Beaton. 
BEDDING OUT BEGONIAS—WEATHER IN 
NORTHUMBERLAND. 
I have had thefollowing out about a month— Begonia amabilis , 
argentea, grandis , Griffithii, Prince Tronbelz/cii, Rex , and Queen 
Victoria. All are growing and doing well except amabilis. 
Caladium argyrites, marmoratmn , and hcematastigma were 
planted at the same time. They look rather sulky, having lost 
most of their leaves; but the last few days have done wouders, 
and they are coming away well. 
It has been a trying spring—such a one as I never before 
experienced. On the 18th of June we had hail lying on the 
ground four inches deep. Such a smash it made among bedding 
plants as has cost me £17 to make up the beds again, for my 
reserves were exhausted. 
Fruit has suffered seriously, particularly Apples. All other 
fruits will be abundant, but very late; and, unless the autumn is 
very fine, cannot ripen with us. 
I never had such trouble with Kidney Beans. They will not 
grow, do what I will. 
We have just had twenty-two weeks this winter and spring, 
during which the ground was never free from snow.—T homas 
Shobtt, Baby Castle. 
RAISING GERMAN AND SIBERIAN IRIS, AND 
CANNA COCCINEA EROM ENGLISH SEED. 
In your answer “ To Correspondents,” Vol. XVIII., page 207, 
signed “ G. R.,” you were kind enough to answer an inquiry as 
to the best mode of growing German Iris from seed, adding a 
request that I would let you know the result; and as you are 
always so ready to receive information in so courteous a manner, 
it is with much pleasure I comply with your request. The seeds 
were sown as soon as ripe, in 1857. Several of them came up in 
the autumn, and more in the spring. They were in a shady 
situation, and kept constantly moist. They were left to grow all 
the summer of 1858, and planted out in the spring of 185b, but 
only one flowered that year. I put a good top dressing of 
manure on in the autumn, and this year all the German Iris have 
flowered, but at present none of the Sibirica tribe have done so. 
I am happy to say I had not one bad flower amongst the lot, and 
have marked about eight as being new and distinct, at any 
rate they are different to any I have seen. 
I may mention the flowers were, perhaps, rather smaller than 
usual, which I attribute to their being grown in a town, and 
being the first year of flowering, as I have always found the 
flowers of Gladiolus grown from seed increase in size each year. 
If not taking up too much of your time, I will just mention 
I grew the Canna coccinea vera last year from seed. I succeeded 
in flowering it in the open ground, and seeded it; and as a proof 
the seeds were well matured, I have raised plants this year from 
the seed so saved. 
As there have been some articles and inquiries in your journal 
respecting Cannas, I have written my experience (if it is of any 
use), as I am afraid those who are trying it this year will be dis¬ 
appointed, in consequence of the cold, wet season, as mine at 
present show no sign of flower. 
In sowing Canna seeds, or German Iris, steep them in hot 
water (110°), and keep that heat for ten or twelve hours. It is 
the grand secret for all hard-coated seeds. I may add I put my 
Canna seeds in the hottest bed I can make, no matter how much 
steam.—G. R. 
CULTURE OE THE ROSE IN POTS. 
(Continued from page 249.) 
Foecing. —By forcing is meant the production of blooms 
under glass in winter and spring. As I intend my readers to 
succeed well, I shall describe the best method, drawn from expe¬ 
rience, of complete success. The market-gardeners, who grow 
forced flowers for sale, crowd all sorts of plants in one house set 
apart for this purpose; and, as it is well known some require 
more heat than others, such as only need a moderate heat, just 
above temperate, suffer greatly by having too much heat given to 
them. The Rose is one that so suffers. Grown in too high 
temperature, they become what is technically called drawn, and 
their blooms are pale in colour and few in number. These are 
facts patent to every cultivator. The most effectual plan to 
avoid this evil is to devote a house, however small, to the Rose 
