HYBRIDIZING. 
171 
are in a resting state. The young plants should be grown in a 
temperature of about 60° or 65° if they are struck in spring, 
and a trifle more through the summer, observing to shade them 
and maintain a moist atmosphere to induce a vigorous develop¬ 
ment ; they will then grow fast, and to make handsome specimens 
will require to be several times stopped; this is perhaps the most 
important point in their management, for unless attended to 
while the plants are young, no after care will have the desired 
e ffe ct; ^ only one bud appears likely to break into a shoot, the 
branch should be bent between it and the next which will check 
the flow of sap, and cause the lower ones to push forth. By 
following this course, and repotting the plants as they require it, 
neat bushy specimens will be obtained by the autumn, which, if 
allowed to rest through the winter, will produce a copious display 
of flowers in the following spring. 
When the principal portion of the blossoms have expanded, 
the plants should be set in a cool part of the greenhouse, which 
will allow them a rest and preserve their beauty at the same time ; 
and by the time their flowers have declined, new shoots will make 
their appearance, when the plants must be taken back to the 
stove: and by these alternations of temperature they may be 
made to grow and flower four times in a year, observing through¬ 
out to provide them with fresh soil when wanted, and to keep 
them clear of insects. The beautiful appearance of all the species 
loaded with their blueish purple flowers, changing to a clear white 
in age, will then amply repay the attention required. 
HYBRIDIZING. 
As this interesting operation is likely to engage attention at 
the present season, a passing notice of some of the phenomena 
attached to it may prove interesting to those who, for the first 
time, try their skill and fortune in raising cross-bred seedlings. 
The first steps towards a successful issue rests in the selection of 
the seed-bearing parent, for where one can be had with a known 
inclination to sport as it is called, or break forth naturally into 
variations of itself, the chances of stamping its offspring with the 
lineaments of the fecundating parent are greatly increased over 
such as constantly and stubbornly reproduce only their own 
