67 



grapes and other plants should be produced for special conditions, and no 

 attempt should be made to develop a variety that would be expected to 

 contain all the desirable qualities and adapted to all regions and climates. 

 A number of examples were cited of desirable parentage for new sorts for 

 special qualities, conditions, and regions. The parentage of a large number 

 of well-known varieties of cultivated grapes was traced at considerable 

 length. 



C. E Saunders, of Ottawa, Canada, read a paper on the Variations in the 

 Second Generation of Berberis Hybrids. In this paper the results of ex- 

 periments in crossing Berberis thunbergi as a pistillate and B. vulgaris pur- 

 purea as a staminate parent, in which a large number of hybrids was 

 obtained, are described. Some of the hybrids were intermediate in the 

 size of the plant, and size shape, and color of the leaves, while in others 

 the different characters were widely divergent. As a result of his observa- 

 tions it was found that these hybrids tended to uniformity in the first ge- 

 neration and wide variation in the second and subsequent generations, 

 as shown by more than a thousand seedlings. In the first generation little 

 or no purple color was observed, but the color of the foliage came out 

 well in many specimens of the second generation. The leaves, thorns 

 habit of plant, &g,, varied widely in the later generations. 



Bud Variation in the Strawberry Plant was the subject of a paper by 

 R. M. Kellogg, of Three Rivers Michigan. This is said to be very common 

 in the Strawberry Plant, and an account was given of 19 years' effort on 

 the part of the writer to produce more vigorous types of strawberry plants 

 by forcing grovi'th through the use of the fertilizers, by tillage and con- 

 tinued selection. The effect of the different kinds of fertilizers in culture 

 was shown, and an excess of nitrogen was used to stimulate vegetative 

 growth and thus induce variation. The individual peculiarities of plants 

 must be considered in producing new forms, and where valuable indivi- 

 dual characteristics appear, as shown by bud variations these should be 

 eagerly sought and propagated. 



G. T. Powell, director of the Briarcliff School, New l^ork, gave the 

 results of 10 years' experiments in propagating bud variations of the Sutton 

 Beauty and Tompkins County King apple, his remarks being illustrated by 

 specimens of fruits. 



H. C. Price, of the Iowa Station, read a paper on Hand Pollination 

 of Orchid Fruits. This is not diffcult, but ordinarily the results 

 obtained are very slow in development. The plan of cooperation 

 maintained by the Iowa Experiment Station with orchardists throughout 

 the State, in which pollen of known varieties is distributed, was described 

 The seedlings resulting from the hand pollination of fruits are grown and 

 carefully examined. In the cooperation it is, so far as possible, desired 

 that the orchardist should produce his own seedlings rather than send 

 them to the station, The effect of different kinds of emasculation of the 

 flowers was described. Low emasculation, in which all the flower but the 

 style was cut away, did not give as favourable results as high emasculation 

 in which only the corolla and anthers were removed. Studies on the time 

 for operation showed that the immediate transfer of pollen after the emas- 

 culation of flowers gave the best results. Pollen applied to the stigmas by 

 a camel's-hair brush gave slightly better results than where transferred by 

 the fingers. Pollen taken from the anthers just before the opening of the 

 flowers seems to be the most potent and gave the best results. 



H. F. Roberts, of the Kansas Station, read a paper on Cereal Breeding 

 in Kansas, in which he briefly reviewed some of the efl'orts that have been 

 in corn and wheat breeding. In breeding wheat for growth in Kansas, 

 hardiness in winter, drought resistance, and inoreasod production are th« 



