120 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Leland asked if we might always expect, as a result of crossing, an 

 influence upon theseed that would go down through the generations thereafter. 



Prof. Bcal : I suppose we may bo as sure of this influence in plants as in 

 animals, only we are, on account of dilliculties, more liable to make mistakes. 



J. N. Stearns, Kalamazoo: It is generally supposed that the fruit is imme- 

 diately afifecteil. In my own experience with melons, I find ample proof of 

 this. 1 planted a particularly good kind of watermelon away from all other 

 melons, but directly ending a row of Hubbard squaj^hes. The influence upon 

 the fruit of the melon vines nearest the squashes was quite noticable in 

 flavor and appearance, and I must say the melons were not improved. 



Prof. Cook : I suppose wo ought all to recognize the belief among the most 

 careful scientists that the honey in plants is secreted for the highest good of 

 the plants, and any ideas that are based upon the pretty conceit that the honey 

 is placed there for the support of the bees is mere sentiment. Honey in plants 

 is not always confined to the flowers, but is found upon other parts of plants, 

 as illustrated by the glands on the side of ti)c cotton plant and cow-pea of the 

 south. 



P. C. Dempsey, Newton, Ontario : I have experimented a good deal in glass 

 houses with crossing, and find it far more e;isy to obtain satisfactory results, 

 because of the absence of wind and insects to perturb the experiments. I 

 have made very careful observation concerning the work of bees upon grapes, 

 and am .satisfied that in our vicinity the Oriole, with its sharp bill, is the 

 destroyer. He sucks the juice and leaves the pul-ji. and is never satisfied. 



Secietary (jarfield : We sometimes see the results of crossing when we least 

 ex[)ect them, and we can never know from the ap|)earance of seed that it has 

 not been so affected by its parentage, as to produce in its progeny great sur- 

 prises to the gi'ower. As an instance of this, let me relate a bit of experience. 

 Two yeai's ago I had given me by a friend in this county of Genesee, a beauti- 

 ful ear of po[)corn. I thought for a snnill corn it was the most nearly perfect 

 of any specimen I had ever seen. I planted it the following season awiiy from 

 all corn that blossomed at the same season, so thei'C was no possibility of 

 crossing, but when I harvested the crop I found tliat there was in its progeny 

 an exhibit of the influence of certainly three distinct parents. There were 

 ears of Ssveet corn, Dent corn, and Smut-nose corn, and all grades between 

 them, and rarely an ear that had any likeness to the ear from which my sued 

 was shelled. 



Mr. Dempsey related a ludicrous incident of the fertilizing of a watermelon 

 by a piim[)kiii, and the progeny was improved so much in size and general 

 appearance, that when entered as melons at the faiis they universally took 

 first premium. [The viewing committees evidently "guessed the pulp before 

 they cut the peel." Seo'y.] 



(J. B. Stowell, Hudson: I have had cucumbers influence muskmelons the 

 first year, and the muskmelons were no better for it either. Occasionally in 

 my Hubbard squash field I find a specimen that has every appearance of some 

 otiier named variety, although I have taken great pains to maintain the purity 

 of my stock. Have thoui,Mit that possibly some insect had come from a long 

 distance with a bit of foreign pollen hitched to his carcass that did the mis- 

 chief. I planted rice and yellow [)Opcorn near each otiier last season, and saw 

 no effect, but from the seed planted this year I have all the gradations 

 between the two that can be well imagined. 



C. L. Hoag, Lockport, N. Y. : I had an illustration of immediate influ- 

 ence upon the fruit last year. Carefully saved seeds from pure Cuban Queen 



