152 
THE FLORISTS JOURNAL. 
Also Marginata, ( Orbea , Haworth,) and several others, vary a 
little in their time of flowering ; so that the stove treatment may 
be safely continued till June ; after which I remove the whole of 
them back to the greenhouse. 
The treatment of Huernia , Piaranthus, and Caralluma , is ex¬ 
actly the same as that recommended for Stapelia. 
R. P. 
The Howe, Halsted. 
VARIETIES OF FLOWERS.-HYBRIDIZATION. 
This is one of the most curious and instructive of all subjects 
within the wide range of the speculations and performances of the 
florist; but it is one of which, in the present number, we can do 
little more than mention the name, and point out the parties by 
whom it should be far more intimately studied, and generally 
practised, than it has hitherto been. So prone are some species 
of plants to hybridize, that they do it naturally, and produce new 
and splendid varieties without any interference of human art; 
and, though the history has not been recorded, and is, therefore, 
very imperfectly known, there seems great reason to believe 
that very many beautiful flowers that appear in nature, and pei- 
haps all double flowers that appear in this way, are naturally 
hybrids. As is the case among animals, it is only in the same 
species that natural and fertile hybrids make their appearance ; 
and whatever may be said about the form, number, and arrange¬ 
ment of the parts, this is the true criterion of what is a natural 
species and what not. If this were properly attended to, we 
suspect that a very great number of those species which botanists, 
in their outrageous love of nomenclature, have established, are 
nothing more than varieties of one and the same species. Though 
hybridizing among animals is rare in comparison to what it is 
among vegetables, yet it appears to follow the same law in both. 
If it takes place between allied species, and not between varieties 
of the same, (and the more close the alliance the greater is the 
tendency to it,) then the hybrid is not exactly a perfect animal; it 
breeds back to the pure blood of either the one parent or the other, 
but it does not remain distinct, and perpetuate itself in its compound 
character. On the other hand, if the hybrid is between varieties 
