HYBRIDISING NARCISSI.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 13, 28 September 1910, Page 36

HYBRIDISING NARCISSI.

Till' following is a very reliable list of seed bearing plants anil all Howers wort h working with. Among older trumpets Emperor. M. .1. Berkley. Mrs.

\\. Ware, Horsfieldii, anti Madame Plenip are good flowers and vigorous plants. Maximins, although rather delicate on some soils, is worth a trial on account of its tine coheir, and because

it is said to be one of the parents of King Alfred. Among newer trumpets Madame de Graaff, Golden Bell, King Alfred, Mrs. Robert Sydenham, Mrs. J. H. Veitch, Weardale Perfection, and Judge Bird are all fairly fertile. Other good seed bearers are Artemus, Lady

Margaret Bosca warn, Crown Prince, Dorothy. \\ eniyss, Maggie May, Minnie Hume, Blood Orange, Oritlanime, Cressit, Incognita. Lady Edith Foljambe, Acme, Cassandra, and Homer.

As pollen plants the poeticus section is the most valuable, and should be extensively used. Generally speaking, the pollen of Incom par? : lis, Barrii. Leedsii, and Burbidgei sections is not so fertile as the trumpet and poeticus varieties. Again, amongst trumpet varieties the bicolours do not give so fertile pollen as the yellow and white trumpets, one outstanding exception being bicolour Judge Bird, the pollen of which seems to have a wonderful effect wherever applied, and practically every flower touched with its pollen produced seed in abundance. The up-to-date hybridist, however, recognises that to get the best results, it is necessary to have good material to work with, and therefor? frequently pays over £2O for a hull) of a good hybridising variety. The actual operation of cross-hybridising is very simple, so I will merely touch on it. The first thing to be done is to remove the anthers, which should he done with .-mail scissors or tweezers immediately the Hower opens and before the anthers burst. Thon in two or three days, according to weather conditions, the stigma should be ready to receive the pollen, vAnch should be applied during the early part of a sunny day with a small camel-hair brush, the flower carefully labelled as crossed. When it is seen that the cross has taken, the seed pod should be staked and tied, the seed carefully watched and gathered as it ripens, then sown broadcast in boxes as as possible after it has all been collected. The boxes should he set in a cold frame and left there for two yeans. At the end of that time the bulblets may be lifted and planted in beds in the open, where a small percentage will Hower at the end of the fourth year from sowing.—J. Gangster, Lissa dell. Sligo. —'’lrish Homes tea d.”