AGRICULTURE AT THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 527 



plant breeder is concerned, will lie aiono- the improvement of methods 

 of investigation. 



Mr. Webber discussed the unit character as opposed to species char- 

 acter. In this he held practically to the same view expressed by Pro- 

 fessor Bailey that taxonomic species were without value in the con- 

 sideration of hybridity. The speaker was inclined to believe that the 

 study of the chromosomes would not offer an explanation as to the 

 phenomena of descent. He illustrated some of the moditications and 

 contirmations of MendePs law as shown in his experiments with corn, 

 cotton, and other plants. 



Discussing- these papers W. H. Brewer called attention to the experi- 

 ments in the breeding of animals, and William Saunders pointed out 

 exceptions to MendePs law in the case of crosses of raspberry, bar- 

 berry, etc. Before the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural 

 Science. Dr. Saunders outlined some results of experiments in cross- 

 fertilization conducted at the Canada Experimental Farms. The object 

 sought in cereals was early-ripening sorts which were productive and 

 of good quality. Red Fife wheat was crossed with earh^-ripening 

 sorts from Russia and India. In this way crosses have been secured 

 which are from -t to 10 days earlier, and satisfactory in other i-espects. 

 In experiments in crossing apples, 14 sorts have been secured which 

 are considerecj satisfactor}" enough to be grown for general use. 



In a paper before the section of botany, H. J. Webber gave an 

 account of experiments conducted by himself and W, T. Swingle on 

 the crossing of citrus fruits. The ordinary sweet orange has been 

 crossed with the hardy deciduous Citrus trifoliata., and during the 

 past season a few specimens fruited. Among the h3'brids 2 were 

 described which are believed to possess some merit, the plants being 

 more tolerant to frost than the ordinar}" sweet orange. The fruits, 

 however, are smaller and decidedly inferior to the sweet orange, 

 although a considerable improvement over the fruit of the hard}'^ 

 orange. The}^ are thin skinned, juicy, and nearly seedless, but very 

 sour, the flavor resembling that of the lemon more than the orange. 

 The trees are reported to be evergreen or semievergreen, and capable 

 of withstanding a temperature of 8° F. without appreciable injury. 

 From the seed of these h3"brids it is expected that some better varie- 

 ties ma}' be obtained. The fruits of a cross of the pomelo and tanger- 

 ine were also described, the fruit being nearly intermediate in size and 

 color between the two. 



A paper b}^ Hugo de Vries, on atavistic variations in (Enotliera 

 eruciata^ was read by H. C. Cowles. The author gave the results of 

 his experiments, describing various mutations. In Europe there seems 

 to be a quite common variation of this American plant, and a number 

 of other forms were mentioned which were attributed either to muta- 

 tions or crosses. 



