50 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGHST. 
[ March 
open weather continue, they will soon be in full bloom. All spring-flowering 
plants are coming on very rapidly this season. A ring of Crocus susianus and 
C. bijiorus , mixed together, is now in full bloom, and a very pretty sight it is. 
Aubrietias are fast unfolding their flowers.—Quo. 
ON CROSS-BREEDING PELARGONIUMS.—No. III. 
iAVING- given verbatim my method of proceeding in fertilizing and pro¬ 
pagating the Pelargonium by seed, the next question that arises is,—What 
have I gained by my careful notation ? I must here remark that it requires 
the accumulated data of many years, and the results of many observing 
and accurate workers, to obtain any certain bases from which reliable conclusions 
can be drawn. 
However, the information I have derived from my records, as far as they go, 
I consider valuable, inasmuch as they indicate a mode of procedure in several 
respects the exaGt reverse to my preconceived notions, which were derived from 
books. 
My essay in cross-breeding was made with the sole object to solve for my own 
satisfaction u the influence of parentage,” and my experience satisfies me that the 
male or pollen parent has— provided the two parents are of equal strength —much 
the greater influence over the progeny than the mother in all respects, in colour, 
in form of flower, in habit and constitution of plant, and in the variegates in 
colour of the foliage also. 
I had been taught that the colour of the flower followed the male parent, but 
that the form of the flower, the habit and constitution of the plant, followed the 
mother. Bear in mind I state that the preponderance in favour of the father 
is “ provided the two plants are equal in constitution,” because upon this point 
it seems to. me that much depends; for were it not for an inequality in vigour, 
according to my theory, we should have no new varieties, but the offspring would 
invariably resemble the father. To this is doubtless due the immutability or 
stedfastness of our annuals, and all flowers where the seed is the result of self- 
fertilization ; the tendency to degeneration that occurs in flowers under these 
circumstances, is where the flower has been cultivated by artificial means up to a 
state of perfection beyond its normal character. 
To illustrate what I mean as regards the Pelargonium, suppose the pollen of 
a weakly-constitutioned plant, which bore a brilliant and novel-coloured flower, 
but of bad form, applied to the stigma of a robust-constitutioned plant, which pos¬ 
sessed a fine-formed and tliick-petaled flower. Much the greater majority of the 
offspring would resemble in all respects the father, but a few would, perhaps, 
resemble the father in colour, but at the same time present a somewhat improved 
form of flower and constitution of plant, showing the influence due to the 
increased vigour which the mother possessed. Reverse the order of things, and 
the mother’s influence in that case would be found to be almost nil. 
Again, where the pollen of a variegate is applied to the stigma of a powerful 
