582 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



regia) and the California black walnut {J. calif ornica). Burbank 



says: 



The hybrid grows twice as fast as the combined growth of both parents. 

 The leaves are from 2 feet to a full yard in length. The wood is compact, with 

 lustrous, silky grain, taking a beautiful polish, and as the annual layers of 

 growth are an inch or more in thickness and the medullary rays prominent, the 

 effect is vmique. 



Another of Burbank's walnut hybrids detained by crossing the black 

 walnut with pollen of the Californian black walnut, produces fruit of 

 very much larger size than either parent. When we come to plant large 

 areas to trees, as we are rapidly coming to do, imagine the immense 

 value to the world if we could plant hybrids of rapid growth such as 

 Burbank's walnuts. 



Who has tried to produce hybrids of maples, oaks, hickories and 

 pines to get quick-growing hybrids for planting purposes? Who has 

 hybridized such trees to get larger and better fruits ? The world should 

 not be compelled to wait much longer for such improvements. We 

 need the improved stock for planting. Some trees live a century before 

 they reach young manhood. 



Persimmons, pawpaws, huckleberries, elderberries, hawthorns and 

 hosts of other native fruits are well worth improvement and might be 

 utilized not only for human food but for hogs, sheep and poultry. 



Mr. Frank Bal)ak, of the Department of Agriculture, has recently 

 shown that the black sage {Ramona staclioides) , a wild California 

 plant, and the swamp bay tree (Persea pubescens) of the southeastern 

 United States, both contain a fairly high percentage of camphor and 

 could be utilized for the manufacture of this valuable product. Doubt- 

 less these plants could, by breeding, be adapted to cultivation and the 

 percentage of camphor increased. 



The value of improving native plants has been strikingly demon- 

 strated by the amelioration of our native grapes. The attempts of our 

 early ancestors in America to grow European grapes uniformly met 

 with failure, and finally, as a last resort, attempts were made to culti- 

 vate the native wild types. The marvelous success achieved, which has 

 resulted in the production of a large number of fine varieties, and es- 

 tablished vine growing in the eastern and central United States, is one 

 of the important achievements of our many-sided national history. 



The same was time in the ease of the gooseberry. The European 

 varieties failing to succeed here because of the mildew, the small fruited 

 native species were introduced into cultivation, and the size of the 

 fruits has been more than quadrupled in the improved sorts. Plums, 

 raspberries, blackberries and the like furnish other illustrations of in- 

 terest. 



The native wild beggar weed {Desniodium tortiiosum) has been 

 introduced into cultivation in Florida, and, without breeding or im- 



