Methods and Results of Hybridizing Fruits. 141 



METHODS AND RESULTS OF HYBRIDIZING FRUITS. 

 By Theodore Williams of Benson. 



Gentlemen of the American Breeders' Association: I feel hon- 

 ored to be invited to speak before such an eminent body of men from 

 all parts of this and some other countries. With so many noted men 

 to speak, in a limited time, I can only give a few facts from my ex- 

 perience, and not attempt to illucidate them. Upon your program I am 

 assigned to speak on Methods and Results of Hybridizing. It is not 

 of my choice. We do not regard hybridizing as necessarily the best 

 method of getting good fruits from breeding. We made a great many 

 hybrids with stone fruits, apples and a few pears. From the little 

 prairie sand-cherry, pollinated with wild goose and the product polli- 

 nated with Quackenboss, we have the Victor Sand-Cherry plum, one 

 and three-quarter inches in diameter, considerable larger than a silver 

 dollar, a valuable fruit. A dozen years ago we pollinated the Miner 

 with the Canada blue grass (Quackenboss). We got a plum we 

 named Red Glass, and have grown it largely for years. A few years 

 ago we inbred Red Glass to Quackenboss, and we have Red Glass 

 Junior; the three looks like an Americana, is unusually thrifty, ex- 

 tremely large, green leaves. This is surely one of the best hardy 

 plums for the northwest in existence. 



To produce a free-stone plum from the Wild Goose, we used 

 the combined Pollen of Tragedy Prune and Wolf Plum on Wild 

 Goose. The seedling and fruit shows all its parents. The fruit is a 

 free-stone, with the pulp sweet and fine as the little French Prune, to 

 eat. 



With the combined pollen of Jonathan and Martha Crab on Ben 

 Davis, we have a hardy Crab-like tree, fruit size and quality of 

 Jonathan, and so beautiful that the fruit has always been taken by the 

 birds or people, before maturity. 



Last August we took some scions wtih fruit buds and bark- 

 grafted them near the house. It was no use; soon there was but one 

 specimen of Jonathan apple in existence, and that is photographed here 

 with the danger sign overhead, and the string running from apple to 

 shotgun. 



Our Native and the Japanese plums cross as easily as corn, and 

 probably along with the Indian and Chinamen, have had a common 



