248 
THE FLORIST S JOURNAL. 
the process of fertilization, both in the fertilizable and the ferti¬ 
lizing organs, whether these be in the same flower, in different 
flowers upon the same plant, or in flowers upon separate plants. 
But it is always the fertilizing organs which give way most 
readily, whether to severity of climate or season, or to the high cul¬ 
tivation of the petals ; and, while the one flower or part of a flower 
is still capable of being fertilized, the other part is obliterated, or 
rendered too weak for being able to fertilize it. It is here that 
cross impregnation becomes necessary, not only with a view of 
obtaining varieties, and thus continuing the species, whether the 
seedlings deviate from its characters or not. When the art of 
Floriculture was in its infancy, many of the superior species that 
were introduced from warmer climates, died out, in consequence 
of Florists being ignorant of this fact; and as these were not 
then in such general correspondence and connexion as they are 
now, seeds were procured with much more difficulty. 
When the art of the cultivator has carried the beauty of the 
flower to the utmost extent to which it can be forced, and the 
greater part of the anthers have been changed into petals, the 
plant stands, as it were, upon the very verge of existence. It is 
true that many flowering plants can be continued and multiplied 
by layers, by cuttings, or by buds ; but though these are more 
true to the parent plants, and come sooner into flower, they have 
not the durability of seedlings. It indeed appears that, though a 
long time is required in some cases, all succession plants obtained 
from parts of other plants, and not from seeds, have a final period 
of vegetation, bevond which not one of them can exist; and 
that therefore, if we are to make sure of a continuation of the 
species, we must, at least at intervals, have recourse to seeds ; for 
it is in these, and not in any pieces of old plants, that we have 
the true beginnings of generations. 
For this purpose it is desirable that some at least of every 
desirable species, which can be made to ripen seed in our climate, 
should not be excited above the seeding state, either by forcing 
the individual growth or the petals of the flowers, and that on 
the other hand we should be equally careful not to starve and 
stint them below this stage. It is for this reason that cultivators 
should be well informed respecting the native soil, climate, and 
circumstances of every such plant ; for though these may not 
happen to be the best, either for freedom of growth or for fineness 
