226 
HYBRID SHRUBS. 
HYBRID SHRUBS. 
Looking over the recently-issued schedule of prizes to be given 
at the Horticultural Society’s exhibitions in 1848, I have been 
much pleased with one or two very novel additions made to it, 
their tendency being so directly to the encouragement of a por¬ 
tion of the ordinary occupants of a garden that have hitherto, and 
but too generally, been deemed of only secondary value. I allude 
to those offered for the production of new, hardy hybrid shrubs 
and herbaceous plants; of how far the latter will answer expec¬ 
tations of their culture in pots we cannot yet pretend to speak, 
both subjects are so entirely new, at least near the metropolis, 
that few can boast of experience in the matter. The idea of in¬ 
ducing the origination of hybrid shrubs I regard as particularly 
felicitous; coming, too, from a Society evidently desirous of 
adopting the initiative in these matters, and possessed of ample 
power to carry it out to the advantage of those who turn their at¬ 
tention to the subject, it cannot fail of being met in the spirit 
which seems to have suggested the offer. 
Hardy hybrid shrubs, if we except “ azaleas, roses, rhododen¬ 
drons, and the like,” as is done in the schedule, are at present 
rarities, and the Societv or the visitors to the shows must not ex- 
pect they w ; ill form, by any means, a prominent feature, perhaps 
for a series of years; yet, to attain the object so very desirable, 
they must continue to offer these prizes, and should only one or 
two thoroughly good hybrids turn up in even a long period, their 
endeavours will be well repaid, our ordinary garden shrubs being 
so comparatively restricted in number, that any addition possess¬ 
ing hut medium claims to beauty will be highly valued. A fact 
of some consequence, because intimately connected with this 
subject, has been remarked by most who interest themselves in 
the spread of hybridizing : it is, that in inverse proportion to the 
length of time required to determine the result, so is the number 
of those who adopt a particular family ; thus, for instance, we 
may in one year sow and cause to flower, the pelargonium, the 
fuchsia, the pansy, and several others, consequently they are 
adopted by hundreds ; while those which require a longer term 
of attention, as the rose, ranunculus, tulip, &c., find but a com¬ 
parative few who will he at the trouble of growing for so long a 
