340 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



The artificial method of hybridizing, though ever so carefully 

 practiced, is liable to mar the exquisitely tender pollen grains or 

 the stigma, or in it the pollen or stigma is under or over-ripe, and 

 thus, at the very starting of the variety sought, constitutional 

 weakness is induced, while by my method this is avoided, I may 

 have to plant more seed and grow more seedlings to fruiting age, to 

 get the hybrids desired ; yet my method saves in one way what is 

 lost in another ; it produces a perfectly natural and healthy hybrid 

 or cross, and a great multiplicity of these to select from, so nothing 

 weak or indifferent need be taken, as is usually done in the artificial 

 method with scissors, brush and magnifier ; this process being so 

 tedious, comparatively few vines can be grown. 



For the benefit of those who wish to know my method I give 

 it here : For the female parent I select a variety which blooms a 

 few days later than the one chosen for the male parent (the jjollen- 

 furuisher;, unless I design to grow varieties from both, then 

 blooming- together or a few days apart ; either way will do, as many 

 fruits on either will contain hybrid seeds. I plant these two vig- 

 orous, young vines, one on each side of the same post, and train 

 them up side by side till they reach their most vigorous bearing- 

 season. A day or two before they begin to bloom, I surround both 

 entirely with thin muslin arms on the post keeping it off the 

 plants ; thus no insects can jDass in or out. Every day, after each 

 l^lant has commenced to bloom till through, about 10 a. m., when 

 most blooms are opening, I lift the bottom of the muslin, intro- 

 duce my hand with a fan, and gently fan, so as to create a 

 circulation of air within the muslin : thus the air will become filled 

 with pollen, and numerous crosses be made, while there is no pos- 

 sibility of any mixture except that of the two vines used. The 

 muslin is kept closed until blooming is over. The fan is cleaned 

 by brushing, or passing it through a flame, to get rid of any pollen 

 grains that may have adhered to it, so as not to vitiate other exper- 

 iments with other vines on the same plan. [ ^^e have found in 

 some years that the pollen is ripe before the cap falls ; in other 

 years (as during the past season) it was not ripe generally until 

 after. We should suppose by Mr. Munson's method that a very 

 large per centage of seeds would be the result of self-fertilization. 

 —Eds.] 



If it is desired to hybridize kinds which have different seasons 

 of blooming, such as Rupestris and Cinerea (the earliest and latest 

 bloomers,) I pinch off the first growth of the earliest for several 

 days, so that some at least of the new growth will be blooming at 



