1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



207 



pollen from the blossoms of one variety to those 

 of another, till perhaps each of the blossoms of 

 the entire hundred varieties would become fruc- 

 tified, in some degree, by the pollen of every 

 variety in the bed. 



Next, we will suppose that a thousand of these 

 so-called chance hybrids are growing, will any 

 of them be exactly like the one hundred parent 

 plants? Not one, but all will be different in 

 some respect; and the entire lot will be one 

 thousand neiw varieties, the nature of which can 

 never be changed by the art of man. 



Again, we set a variety by itself, say a stami- 

 nate that is self-fructifying; no other variety 

 within a mile, if you please ; no possible cross, 

 in this case, and we sow the seed of this isolated 

 plant and produce another thousand new varie- 

 ties, with not one exactly like the purer sort nor 

 any other known to exist. How do these plants 

 correspond in their fruits with the one thousand 

 varieties first spoken of above ? The fruit is 

 about the same in size, color and quality, some 

 small, some large, some good and some pooi, 

 and so far as appearances go, they seem to be as 

 good in all respects as the first-named thousand 

 varieties, not following the parent plant as re- 

 gards size of berries, unless it be by mere chance. 



Now "W'e will come to what is said to produce 

 the real hybrids. We take a choice staminate 

 and also a good pistillate plant, and set them by 

 themselves, about a foot apart, with no other 

 varieties so near that there will be any danger 

 that the pistilate variety can become, in any de- 

 gree, fructified by any sort, but by the selected 

 male staminate set by it ; and when this pistillate 

 plant fruits, we plant the seeds fi'om it, and the 

 result is claimed to be perfect hybrids with 

 the good qualities of both parent sorts. Are they 

 so ? I say no — only chance seedlings, like the 

 two thousand varieties previously introduced. 

 Let any one take the largest two varieties, male 

 and female, that exist in the world, say each 

 producing berries twelve inches in circumfer- 

 ence, as it is now claimed that one or two do 

 produce, and let them be set one, five, or ten 

 miles from every other variety, would the seed 

 of the female plant produce plants that would 

 bear berries a.s large as those of the parent 

 plants? Only by chance; and in one thousand 

 such plants perhaps not one would produce ber- 

 ries over half the size of those yielded by the 

 parent varieties. If this is "hybridization," so 

 be it. I shall call it simply chance crossing. 



lit may be proper to note that Mr. Miner uses 



the term "staminate" in the sense of hermaphrO' 

 (lite. No pure staminates are grown now. What 

 he says of crossing is correct. A hybrid is a 

 mixture of two distinct species. A cross is a 

 mixture of distinct forms of one species, but, 

 practically, the distinction is not of much im- 

 portance, for botanists themselves disagree as 

 to what is a species, and what is but a distinct 

 form of one. Yet as the matter stands, if we 

 could get progeny between an Alpine stravvber- 

 r}', called botanically, Fragaria vesca, and the 

 common garden strawbeiTies — F. Virginiana, 

 they would be considered hybrids ; but progeny 

 between Hovey's Seedling and Albany Seed- 

 ling, would be regai'ded as but a cross. But 

 we are glad Mr. Miner has introduced the ques- 

 tion. Instances are gettuig ridiculously common 

 for people to talk of their new seedlings as hyb- 

 rids or crosses between this and that, when there 

 is no evidence whatever that they are more than 

 natural variations . — Ed. G. M.] 



ANOTHER WORD ON RASPBERRIES. 



BY G. WRIGHT, ROCK FALLS, ILL. 



The question of the identity of Elm City and 

 Highland Hardy is in a fair course of final settle- 

 ment. Mr. Charles Downing sent me plants of 

 H. Hardy to plant beside my Elm City, and I 

 sent him the Elm City to test beside the H. 

 Hardy, so have patience for a year or two. I 

 presume the adaptation of soil to the different 

 varieties has more to do with the success of 

 Raspberry culture than most persons are aware. 

 I have found that the Elm City will completely 

 run out on dry land which is adapted to Phila- 

 delphia, while on low, moist ground Philadel- 

 phia will produce nothing, and Elm City is in 

 its glory. We should not condemn a variety of 

 fruit because of one failure. If any one succeeds 

 with it, let us look for the element of success. 

 I am certain the failure of H. Hardy, referred to 

 by J. A. D., was due to dr}' soil or southern ex- 

 posure. 



CULTIVATING WHORTLEBERRIES. 



BY L. S. BUKBANK, WOBURN, M^VSS. 



Several years ago I tried the experiment of 

 transplanting some shrubs of the High Blue- 

 berry, Vaccinium corymbosum, into a rich and 

 not very damp garden soil. The two specimens 

 that I planted did so well that I have often 

 thought of trying it as a hedge-plant for moist 

 soils, selecting plants which produce the largest 

 and best berries in abundance, and so securing a 



