FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 451 



from a cross. From the Gardener's Magazine I learu that "Mr. Keynes, of 

 Salisbury, sows every year and has done for many years past, 30,00U dahlia 

 seeds, and has averaged about ten named llowers for the last twenty years or 

 more — a small per centage, equal to one-thirtieth per cent.'' The late Mr. 

 John Salter estimated that seedling chrysanthemums worth naming, averao-ed. 

 one in every 2,000 phints, or one-twentieth per cent. 



I now come to wliat I consider the most vahiable portion of my lecture, — the 

 crossing with foreign stock. The particular topic is fully treated in a work by 

 Charles Darwin. Although some regard him as a mere theorizer, such is not 

 the case, lie lias done a great deal of valuable work by way of good exper- 

 iments. The book touching this topic is called "Cross and Self-Fertilizatiou 

 of Plants." A review of the book, bringing out the leading points of value to 

 farmers, was printed in the Scientific Farmer, of Boston, and afterward in the 

 Michigan Pomological Report for 1877. Some hints on the subject were given 

 by others previous to Darwin's experiments. As early as 1837 Dean Herbert 

 said : "I am inclined to think that I have derived advantage from impregnat- 

 ing the flavor from which I wished to obtain seed with pollen from another 

 individual of the same variety, or at least from another flower rather than with 

 its own, and especially from an individual grown in a different soil or aspect." 

 He adds, "It seems to me that this circumstance may be analogous to the 

 introduction of a male from another flock or herd." I will now undertake the 

 very difficult task of trying to give you the best ideas of Darwin's book referred 

 to, introducing some of the experiments which were made. 



CHARLES DARWIN Oif FERTILIZATION. 



There is weighty and abundant evidence, says Darwin, that the flowers of 

 most kinds of plants are constructed so as to be occasionally or habitually 

 cross-fertilized by pollen from another flower, produced either by the same 

 plant, or generally, as we shall hereafter see reason to believe, by a distinct 

 plant. Cross-fertilization is sometimes insured by the sexes being separated, 

 and in a large number of cases by the pollen and stigma of the same flower 

 being matured at different times. It is also insured, in many cases, by mechan- 

 ical contrivances of wonderful beauty, preventing the impregnation of the 

 flowers by their own pollen. Again, there is a class in which the ovules abso- 

 lutely refuse to be fertilized by pollen from the same plant, but can be fertilized 

 by pollen from any other individual of the same species. There are also very 

 many species which are partially sterile with their own pollen. Lastly, there 

 is a class in which the flowers present no apparent obstacle of any kind to self- 

 fertilization ; nevertheless, these plants are frequently intercrossed, owing to 

 the prepotency of pollen from another individual or variety over the plant's 

 own pollen. There are, however, some cases which seem especially contrived 

 for self-fertilization. The number is much smaller than would be supposed by 

 a hasty observation. 



SOME CURIOUS EXPERIMENTS. 



Many of Mr. Darwin's plants were raised from seeds which were sown at the 

 same time near each other. U'he best young plants from the seeds of crossed 

 flowers, and tlie best whicli came from self fertilized-flowers, were planted on 

 opposite sides of the same pot, where tlie soil was well mixed. " In comparing 

 the two sets the eye alone was never trusted." Fifteen plants of Indian corn 

 from crossed seed exceeded in height fifteen others from self-fertilized seed, as 

 100 exceeds 84. He experimented witii plants of the common morning glory 



