SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 329 



THE ART OF CROSSING PLANTS. 



There are so many questions brought up each year concerning the cross- 

 breeding of fruits, particularly about the details of the operation, that the 

 following plain, simple directions from the pen of Prof. W. J. Beal are inserted 

 here for ready reference. They are taken from articles furnished the Farmer's 

 Review. 



If we turn back and read the works on horticulture of one hundred and fifty 

 years ago, we shall be surprised to see what little progress has been made in the 

 essentials of the art. We shall see many things there clearly told which have 

 since that time been again and again brought out as new and surprising 

 discoveries. 



The most conspicuous feature during all this time is the improvement by 

 crossing or hybridizing the flowers. Something was known in reference to this 

 more than two thousand years ago, but the knowledge was very crude and 

 imperfect. For the past ten or fifteen years, in some portions of France, Ger- 

 many, Great Britain, and North America, there has been great activity in this 

 direction. The subject is of very great importance to any person who grows 

 plants in field, orchard, garden, or greenhouse. 



Some of us can remember when the belief was quite prevalent that the feed 

 was the breed of our animals. If we fed well, no matter about pedigree. At 

 present no man of any enterprise will maintain that he does not get greater 

 returns for the feed given to fatten a well-bred or grade short-horn, than he 

 would if given to a native or Texas steer. In a similar manner there is the 

 same need of giving attention to breeding the seed for our crops. The same 

 care bestowed upon good seed will often return twice the crop that it would 

 bestowed on common or indifferent seed. Before closing, examples will be 

 given to illustrate and enforce this point. 



To succeed in crossing plants, a person needs some skill and a little knowl- 

 edge of botany. Many persons look on the subject as one involved in great 

 mystery, and hence avoid reading or giving it any thought. It should be fre- 

 quently mentioned, and kept before the people in short articles which plainly 

 show the process and the great advantages which may be gained. 



HOW TO CROSS PLANTS. 



Nearly every person of ordinary intelligence knows that there is something 

 in the flowers of plants that answer to the male and female elements of ani- 

 mals. In the case of willows and poplars, one tree bears flowers all of which 

 are destined to produce seeds ; the flowers of other trees produce the pollen, or 

 fertilizing dust. After flowering, the remains of the latter flowers fall off, pro- 

 ducing no seeds. The same is true of hemp and the hop vine. In the case of 

 oaks, chestnuts, hickories, hazels, walnuts, and many others, the stamens and 

 the pistils (seed-bearing organs) are produced on different parts of the same 

 plant. After shedding pollen, the lax and worm-like clusters of stamens drop 

 off. In case of Indian corn, the pollen is in the tassel at the top, while the 

 silk below represents the tips of the pistils. A thread of silk runs to each 

 rudimentary kernel. Suppose we want to cross one kind of corn with another, 

 for the purpose of getting new kinds ; we will say a white flint with a yellow 

 flint. "VVe mix the seed corn, or plant the kinds in alternate hills, or in alter- 

 nate rows, and the wind and the force of gravity attend to the exchange of 

 pollen : provided the two kinds flower at the same time. The resulting corn 

 will be well mixed. 



