IMPROVEMENT OF FRUIT BY CROSS-BREEDING 



had also marked defects, providing the defects of one were opposed to the defects of the 

 other, so that if he could blend the two together a more perfect plant would be obtained 

 than either, these two might be suited to his purpose; he might cross them in the hope 

 that the defects of one parent would counteract the defects of the other, and enable him to 

 unite their two good properties in one individual, without the plant being otherwise ob- 

 jectionable. If, in the same season, two other plants, possessing two other good points, 

 were crossed, and with a like result, the best of the seedlings obtained from each of these 

 crosses, might be crossed, and it is probable that in the next generation a seedling would 

 be raised in which the four good points would be combined. At the present day, howev- 

 er, the experimenter, instead of having to commence operations with an original species, 

 has to deal chiefly with varieties already considerably improved. The Seckel and Louise 

 Bonne de Jersey Pears, for instance, which it is proposed to cross, possess to begin with, 

 many desirable qualities. They are both hardy, adapted to the climate, good bearers, 

 and yield fruit of first rate excellence. But the fruit of Louise Bonne de Jersey is larger 

 and handsomer than that of the Seckel; while the fruit of the Seckel is superior in quali- 

 ty to that of the Louise Bonne. If, therefore, seeds of Louise Bonne were fertilised by 

 the Seckel, and the fruit, bearing these seeds, made by superior management to attain a 

 greater size and higher flavor, than by ordinary culture they ever attain to, it is likely a 

 variety would be raised whose fruit would rival the Seckel in quality, and Louise Bonne 

 in size and beauty. I need not pursue this further; it must be sufiiciently apparent that 

 cross-breeding when properly conducted, is a short cut to perfection — it enables one to ef- 

 fect in a few generations, what the former practice would have taken many generations to 

 accomplish; hence, the truly marvellous improvement which has been made within the 

 last twenty years, in plants whose seedlings require a comparatively short period to arrive 

 at maturity, as the rose, pelargonium, fuschia, calceolaria, strawberry, &c. 



Next, as to the mode of cross-breeding plants. The apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry, 

 raspberry and strawberry, all belong to the natural order Rosacea^ and their flowers have 

 an indefinite number of stamens, about twenty or more. But as one not previously ac- 

 quainted with these organs, may be somewhat puzzled to distinguish them from the pistils, 

 if the study is commenced with the flowers of these plants, it will be well to examine first 

 some flowers which have a certain and fewer number of stamens. Take the currant, for 

 example, one of the earliest plants in blossom, and found in almost every garden. With 

 a pen-knife slit carefully down one side of a full bloom flower, so as to spread it open for 

 examination. There will be found an outer covering, or envelope, divided at the edge into 

 five small parts; this is the calyx of the flower; next are five small leaflets — the petals, 

 situated alternately with the segments of the calyx; then we have five small bodies alter- 

 nate with the petals, and seated like them, on the throat of the calyx; these ai-e the 

 stamens, or male organs, which produce the yellow fertilising dust, called pollen. In 

 the center of the flower is the pistil, or female organ, a small, greenish, thread-like point, 

 more or less two-cleft at the summit, and which is seated directly on the miniature berry 

 containing the embryo seeds, and not on the calyx, as the stamens. Having well exam- 

 ined these flowers, there will be no difficulty in distinguishing similar parts in the flowers 

 of other plants. In the pear, there is the green calyx outside, divided at the edge into 

 five small segments; then there are five large distinct petals, next numerous stamens, each 

 tipped with a little head or anther, producing the yellow pollen grains; and lastly two to 

 five pistils in the center. Now, all that requires to be done to cross between two varieties, 

 the flowers to produce seed must be carefully opened just before they naturally 



pand — before any pollen is visible, and the stamens must be removed with a pair of 



