IMPROVEMENT OF FRUIT BY CROSS-BREEDING. 



breeding — certainty should be substituted for chance when it can so easily be done. The 

 late Mr. Knight and the Rev. Mr. Herbert, -who have probably made more experiments 

 in cross-breeding and hybridising plants, than any other men — applied the pollen artifi- 

 cially, and invariably removed the stamens from the flowers to produce seed, before their 

 pollen had arrived at maturity, because they knew that the pistil was so likely to be affect- 

 ed by its own stamens, that there could be no certainty as to the result of their experi- 

 ments, unless they were destroyed while yet in an imperfect state. How much less, then, 

 must be the chances of obtaining cross-fertilised seeds, when not only the stamens are not 

 removed, but pollen from another plant is not directly applied. By operating on a few 

 flowers, after the manner of Knight and Herbert, we may be sure that our seeds are 

 cross-fertilised; by trusting to the wind and insects, there can obviously be very little cer- 

 tainty about the matter. The author of the paper referred to being a nurser3'man, I ap- 

 prehend knows perfectly well what is the usual mode of proceeding in this matter, but 

 may have considered that it was of little use recommending the practice generally, many 

 not knowing much about the sexual organs of plants, and the mode of distinguishing 

 them and conducting the experiment being somewhat difficult of explanation on paper, 

 though in the field the easiest thing imaginable. I think, however, that it may be done; 

 and as some readers of this Journal who have not hitherto bestowed much attention on 

 the subject, may possibly be induced to take an active interest in it, a few further remarks 

 on the object of cross-breeding, the mode of conducting the operation, and of cultivating 

 the seel-bearing plants, ma}^ not be devoid of use. 



In all that regards reproduction, a close analogy seems to subsist between plants and 

 animals; and he who is a successful breeder of one, may, by applying the same principles, 

 become an equally successful improver of the other, providing he brings to his task an 

 equally competent knowledge of what constitutes excellence. 



Both plants and animals will only breed within certain limits. As a general rule, two 

 animals of distinct genera cannot be made to breed with each other — and it is doubted by 

 those most likely to know, whether a truly bi-generic mule plant has j'et been seen. 

 x\nimals of two distinct species belonging to one genus, as the horse and the ass, are well 

 known to breed together, and that the offspring are incapable of reproduction. So of 

 plants; the IMorello, for instance, has been made by IMr. Knight to breed with the com- 

 mon cherry, two distinct species, and the progeny were true mules, affording abundance 

 of blossoms, but no fruit. 



Again, a species of animal or plant is capable of being progressively improved by the 

 skill of man, or, in other words, they can be made to assume, by improved culture and 

 judicious selection, through successive generations, various modified forms and qualities 

 which better enable them to minister to man's wants, than the species from which they 

 were originally derived. Now, plants or animals, which culture or domestication have 

 much altered from the normal condition of the species, are not alike in all particulars. 

 Owing to some peculiarit}^ of constitution, some are better adapted to one soil or climate 

 than to another, and those suited to a given location are found to possess various degrees 

 of excellence. These, then, constitute the materials with which the cross-breeder or im- 

 prover has to work; and it is highly desirable if not requisite, that he be well acquainted 

 Avith his materials; he should know what has alreadj' been done, and be a good judge of 

 plants or animals, as the case may be, in order that he may be better able to determine 

 what remains to be accompli.shcd, and what varieties of flowers or fruits, or breeds of ani 

 are best calculated to further his views, 

 advisable at the out-set, to consider well what constitutes perfection. The 



