770 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 30, 1905. 
and increasing it they put it into commerce. 
It is highly appropriate that the discoverers of 
this magnificent Daffodil should place at our 
disposal an illustration of their discovery. 
This, of course, happened about two decades 
ago, and ever since then growers have been 
emulating one another by increasing the 
number of bulbs and the size of the flowers by 
good cultivation. The variety will no doubt 
maintain its position in the garden for many 
years to come, notwithstanding the fine 
hybrid forms which have recently been raised. 
Notwithstanding the size and vigour of this 
variety, it may be used for practically any 
purpose to which N. incomparabilis is applied, 
namely, for cultivation in beds, borders, and 
on the grass. What is more surprising is that 
it should prove so highly suitable for forcing 
purposes. When we speak of forcing, we 
apply the term to a hardy plant which re¬ 
quires only a small amount of heat and the 
protection of glass in order to have it in bloom 
at a much earlier period than it would flower 
out of doors. 
Roman Hyacinths f 
4 = 
AT CHRIST/AAS. 1 
HINTS ON FORCING 
Jj: ^ iji % ^ * Sfc 
Apparently for no other reason than that 
somebody else has previously done the same, 
we find writers in the horticultural Press vear 
after year recommending that Roman Hya¬ 
cinths be potted in August or early September 
to give blooms at Christmas. I cannot help 
thinking that many such writers have had but 
little experience of their subject, or have been 
singularly unfortunate in that experience. 
Personally, I have boxed hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of Roman Hyacinths in August, but that 
was when working under someone else’s direc¬ 
tions. From what I gathered then I was con¬ 
vinced that this extra-early boxing or potting 
is quite unnecessary, and as soon as I had an 
opportunity of doing so I put my theory to the 
test. 
I proceeded cautiously at first, only making- 
up a dozen pots containing five bulbs each. 
These were plunged in the usual way and 
covered with nine inches of ashes on October 
15th, 1897. The whole batch was well rooted and 
showing enough top growth to warrant removal 
to a cold frame on November 5th. November 
10th saw them in a warm greenhouse, where 
they sojourned for ten days, when the stove was 
their home un'il they flowered, the first blooms 
being expanded on November 28th, and the 
whole batch fit to use on December 3rd. While 
blooming they were kept in the conservatorv, 
and were in perfect condition at Christmas, 
each bulb carrying three spikes of flowers. 
Since then I have experimented largely, and 
always with the same results, and as the date of 
every operation in connection with the forcing 
is entered in a notebook I can readily com¬ 
pare and confirm the whole of the experiments. 
From them I am convinced that October is 
amply soon enough to pot or box Roman 
Hyacinths for Christmas bloom, and have 
always, since my first experiments, potted large 
batches about the middle of that month. 
It may be interesting to give another item 
from the same notebook that the above is taken 
from, and that is to the effect that a batch of 
Roman Hyacinths potted on September 1st, 
1898, were fit to use on November 15th, under 
the same treatment as those potted at mid- 
October. 
Sunnyside. 
HYBRIDISING: 
POLLINATION 
and 
FERTILISATION. 
The article on “ Hybridising ” in your issue 
of August 26th contains several mistakes. 
Seeing that no one corrected a few of the more 
glaring of these in your last issue, I feel com¬ 
pelled to do so in the interests of those who 
might not be so well informed on the subject 
as to question the accuracy of your contri¬ 
butor’s article. 
The statement that “ there is a great deal of 
misunderstanding generally between fertilisa¬ 
tion and hybridisation” is correct. The sub¬ 
sequent explanation does not remove the mis¬ 
understanding. Fertilisation is not “the 
transference of pollen from the anther to the 
stigma.” That process is pollination. Thei 
process of fertilisation consists in the fusion 
of the male and female reproductive cells, 
and, briefly, takes place in this way:—Pol¬ 
lination accomplished, the pollen grain, 
excited by the viscid fluid exuded by the 
stigma, puts out one or more long tubes, 
termed pollen-tubes. These are unicellular, 
and usually simple; they penetrate through 
the conducting tissues of the stvle to the 
ovary. The apex of the wall of the pollen- 
tube at this stage is mucilaginous, and 
through it the male cell is forced, the nucleus 
of the male and that of the female approach 
each other and fuse into one, the protoplasm 
of the two also fusing. Fertilisation is now 
completed. This new cell, by repeated divi¬ 
sion (after surrounding itself with a cell-wall) 
develops into the embryo. 
To minutely describe the various processes 
from pollination to fertilisation would occupy 
much space, but if such details-would be of 
interest to your many readers they can be. 
given in a subsequent issue. The time that is 
occupied between pollination and fertilisa¬ 
tion depends partly on the distance of the 
pollen-grain from the ovule, and partly on 
the specific peculiarities of the plant. Thus 
in a Crocus the pollen-tube traverses the style 
m from one to three days, whilst in Orchids 
several days, weeks, or even months are 
needed. Experiments made recently by takino- 
sections daily from flowers of Cattleya Mossiae 
that were all pollinated at one date, showed 
f vom 100 to 112 days elapsed before fer¬ 
tilisation took place. 
The statement that “the cross must be be¬ 
tween different species of the same genus” is 
a \ my hasty generalisation when we consider 
tne numerous bigeneric hybrids that have 
been raised. An instance occurs so low in the 
scale of plant life as mosses—between Funaria 
eiometrica and Physcomitrium pyriforme, 
m addition to such as Brassica x Raphanus 
m Cruciferae, Galium x Asperula in Ru- 
biaceae, Campanula x Phyteuma in Cam- 
panulaceae, Epipliyllum x Cereus and x 
Phyllocactus in Cacteae, Kalosanthes x 
Rochea in Crassulaceae, Yerbascum x Celsia 
in Scrophulariaceae, Uroeolina x Eucharis 
in Amaryllideae, and Philesia x Lapageria 
in Liliaceae. Numerous bigeneric hybrids also 
occur in the natural order Orchideae, prob¬ 
ably a score, including Odontoglossum x 
Cochlioda, Phaius x Calanthe, Tetramicra 
x Laelia, Aganisia x Zygopetalum, Epiden- 
drum x Cattleya, Laelia and Sophronitis, 
etc. 
The species of certain genera in an order 
hybridise much more freely than others, e.g., 
in Geraniaceae the species of Geranium and 
of Erodium rarely hybridise, those of Pelar¬ 
gonium do so readily. In Irideae we are all 
aware of the work done on Gladiolus ; the 
species of Crocus, however, do not lend them¬ 
selves to hybridisation. 
Concerning the quantity of pollen require! 
to secure fertilisation, it is not necessary to 
use the contents of one anther. The contents 
of one pollen-tube’ only unite with the female 
cell, the remainder furnish another example 
of Nature’s prodigious waste in certain 
directions to secure her ends. It is practi¬ 
cally useless to cover the bloom with muslin 
after pollination, any pollen deposited a short 
time afterwards being too late to do any mis¬ 
chief. It should be covered before pollina¬ 
tion. In selecting Carnation flowers for hy¬ 
bridising, the character of the calyx should 
be considered first. Many otherwise superb 
flowers are useless, owing to possessing a de¬ 
fective calyx. ARCTOSTArHTT.OS. 
Kew. 
Diary of Shows and Meetings. 
Abbreviations used. 
A.—Association / G.—Gardening or gar Jeners 
Am.—Amateurs ; H.—H >rtic ltural 
Chy.—Chrysanthemum ) M.I.—Mutual Improvement 
c.m.—Committee meeting ) m.m.—Monthly meeting 
Cott.—Cottage or co.tagers ) S.—Society 
Ih—District ) w.m.—Weekly meeting 
Thus:—The Templeton G. Am. and Co‘t. M. I. H. S — 
(Gardeners, Amateurs, and Cottagers' Mutual Improvement 
Horticultural Society.) 
October. 
2nd. — Horsforth G.M.I.S. (w.m.); Mansfield 
H.S. (m.m.); Four Elms G.A. 
(m.m.); Alyth H.S. (m.m.); Walsall 
Florists’ S. (m.m.); Walsoken and 
Wisbech H.S. (m.m.). 
3rd.—Croydon and D. H.M.I.S. (m.m.); Car¬ 
diff G.A. (m.m.); Sevenoaks G. and 
Am. M.I.S. (bi-m.m.); West London 
H.S. (m.m.); Seaton Delaval and 
New Hartley Floral and H.S. (m.m.); 
Rotherham Chy. S. (m.m.); Prof. 
Gardeners’ Friendly Benefit S. 
(m.m.); Addleston and D. G.M.I.A. 
(m.m.); Dulwich Chy. S. (m.m.); 
Barking and Ripple Chy. S. (c.m.); 
Harrow and Roxeth Allotment S. 
(annual show); Bournemouth and D. 
G.M.I.A. (bi-m.m.). 
4th.—National Chy. S. (exhibition at tlm 
Crystal Palace, two days); Sheffield 
Floral and H.S. (annual meeting); 
Wood Green and D. Am. H.S. 
(m.m.); Bradford and D. Chy. S. 
(c.m.) ; Bideford and D. H.S. (m.m.); 
Lewes and D. City. S. (m.m.); War- I 
grave and D. G.M.I.A. (bi-m.nO; 
Terrington and Marshland TJ S 
(m.m.); Wargrave and D. G.A. L 
(m.m.); Ipswich and D. G. and Am. - 
A, (bi-m.m.). 
