[17]

Cabbage Light

Light

Cabbage

(Fig. 205)

Right Hand (1)

(1/3 scale 7 sets of lettering)

[17v]

10

Introduction

essential a part insects play in their fertilisation. But he was in advance of his age, and his work was for a long time neglected. since the appearance of my book on Orchids many excellent works on the fertilisation of flowers, such as those by Hildebrand, Delpino, Axell and Herman Müller,* and numerous shorter papers have been published. A list would occupy several pages, and this is not the proper place to give their titles, as we are not here concerned with the means but with the results of cross-fertilisation. No one who feels interest in the mechanism by which nature effects her ends can read these books and memoirs without the most lively interest.

From my own observations on plants, and guided to a certain extent by the experience of the breeders of animals, I became convinced many years ago, that it is a general law, that flowers are adapted to be crossed, at least occasionally, by pollen

[Cross and self fertilisation, pp. 5-6: "Long before I had attended to the fertilisation of flowers, a remarkable book appeared in 1793 in Germany, 'Das Entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur,' by C.K. Sprengel, in which he clearly proved by innumerable observations, how essential a part insects play in the fertilisation of many plants. But he was in advance of his age, and his discoveries were for a long time neglected. Since the appearance of my book on Orchids, many excellent works on the fertilisation of flowers, such as those by Hildebrand, Delpino, Axell and Hermann Müller,* and numerous shorter papers, have been published. A list would occupy several pages, and this is not the proper place to give their titles, as we are not here concerned with the means, but with the results of cross-fertilisation. No one who feels interest in the mechanism by which nature effects her ends, can read these books and memoirs without the most lively interest.
From my own observations on plants, guided to a certain extent by the experience of the breeders of animals, I became convinced many years ago that it is a general law of nature that flowers are adapted to be crossed, at least occasionally, by pollen from a distinct plant."]