242 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



proven to me that congeniality between paternal and maternal parents 

 is an absolute essential element in growing fruits that are an improve- 

 ment over either parent plant. Many plant breeders overlook the prin- 

 ciple of likes and dislikes among plants. And herein lies the secret of 

 successful breeding of plants. Some one possibly will wonder how I can 

 determine by the young seedling plants which ones have been hybridized 

 under congenial conditions. 



1 will illustrate by using a very familiar case. Suppose we desire to 

 cross the native grape of Nebraska (Riparia) with Concord (Labrusca). 

 The Riparia has regularly intermittent tendrils. The Labrusca regularly 

 continuous tendrils. We cross the plants in blooming season and save 

 the seeds from our cross clusters in the fall. Plant the seeds either in 

 the fall or spring, fall preferred. When the young seedling grapes have 

 grown twelve to fourteen inches the tendrils will appear in their regular 

 order. Now we will begin to cull our plants, pulling up and casting away 

 the unprofitable ones. 



The first vine has regularly intermittent tendrils. It is too near like 

 the maternal parent. Cast it away. The ne.xt plant has regularly con- 

 tinuous tendrils; it is too near paternal parent; cast it away also. The 

 third plant has some canes regularly intermittent, some canes contain 

 three or four or five or six tendrils continuous. Now here is a plant 

 containing nearly equal portions of both parents; save this. This is just 

 what the Elvira grape shows, and is its breeding. Always save the 

 plants that strongly reflect both parents. 



SOME EFFECTS OF THE DROUTH UPON VEGETATION.* 



By Raymond J. Pool. 



The summer of 1913 was exceedingly dry and hot in many parts 

 of the United States, but the combination of climatic and edaphic factors 

 which produces that complex effect included under the term drouth ap- 

 peared to center in southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, northwestern 

 Missouri and southeastern Iowa. Lines of extremely xerophilous con- 

 ditions radiated from this general axis for several hundred miles in 

 nearly all directions. 



During this period there w^ere a number of days when Lincoln, 

 Nebraska, experienced the highest temperature recorded by the eighty 

 or more stations of the U. S. weather bureau which report to the Lincoln 

 office. The dry period began at Lincoln on June 8 and continued until 

 about September 8. According to the director of the Lincoln section of 

 the weather bureau only 2.84 inches of precipitation was recorded for 

 this period. This repret-ents but twenty-five per cent of the normal rain- 

 fall for this time at this station. Almost one-half of this amount fell 



♦This paper appeared in i)ractically its present form in a recent 

 number of "Science." 



