156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



sons. The first is, that I think they make the best food to 

 give to my cows to make beef and to make milk ; and the 

 other is, that I am very confident that they are very much 

 better than meadow-hay to make manure. 



Adjourned to half-past seven o'clock. 



Evening Session, 

 hybridization in plants. 



BY PBOF. GEORGE L,. GOODALE OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



Mr. Chairman^ and Gentlemen of the Board of Agriculture, 

 — The subject upon which I have been asked to address you 

 is very closely related to that presented last night by Presi- 

 dent Chadbourne. Both the topics belong to the depart- 

 ment of physiological botany, and they have much in com- 

 mon. My absence last evening not only deprived me of the 

 pleasure of again listening to an honored teacher, but it has 

 embarrassed me by the fear lest I may inadvertently trespass 

 upon some of the ground over which President Chadbourne 

 has so recently guided you. 



In the present lecture we are to examine some of the 

 more important facts respecting plant-hybrids and their arti- 

 ficial production. As we set out upon our task, the very 

 first step brings us face to face with a few of the peculiar 

 difficulties with which the subject is surrounded. The 

 more serious of these difficulties consists in the confusion 

 which has arisen among writers respecting the very term 

 with which we are now to deal ; namely, the word " hybrid." 

 In a strict and proper sense this word means a cross between 

 distinct species, and it would be well to confine it always to 

 this signification ; but the literature of the subject, particu- 

 larly much of the more popular sort, is crowded with ac- 

 counts of so-called hybrids which prove to be crosses between 

 varieties, instead of between different species. 



A second very grave difficulty, and one upon which that 

 just mentioned largely depends, is found in the wide differ- 

 ences of opinion relative to the limits of particular species. 



