142 WM. SAUNDERS ON EXPERIMENTS IN CROSS-FERTILIZING, ETC. 



In fruits also many additional varieties have been obtained, both by cross-fertilization 

 and selection. Useful varieties of gooseberries have been raised. Many new sorts of rasp- 

 berries have been produced by crossing some of the leading varieties in cultivation, particu- 

 larly the Cuthbert, a large red raspberry, as female, with a large black cap known as the 

 Gregg as male. The progeny are all purple caps of large size, and some of them are very 

 prolific. 



Probably the most interesting of all the new crosses are the hybrids which have been 

 obtained between the black currant Rihes nigrum as female and the white variety of the red 

 currant Ribes rubnim as male, also the black curraut as female with the gooseberry Bibes 

 grossularia as male. Many of these hybrids show the gooseberry and white currant blood 

 very distinctly in their foliage and also in their flowers. Most of those which partake of the 

 gooseberry and white currant types, although raised from seed of the black currant, have 

 entirely lost in their foliage the strong and characteristic odour of the black currant. In 

 two instances only in this class have I been able to detect this odour, and in both of these it 

 is faint. The gooseberry and white curraut blood in these hybrids is also recognized by 

 insects and parasitic plants. The gooseberry saw-fly Nematus ventricosus, which avoids 

 the black currant, feeds freely on these hydrids, and the mildew Sphaerotheca mors-uvœ, which 

 attacks the foliage of the gooseberry but does not aflfect the black currant, thrives on the 

 hybrids. The flower clusters are intermediate in character between the parents, and usually 

 have from three to five and in some instances as many as seven and eight in a bunch, thus 

 resembling the lilack curraut. No thorns have in any instance been found on the wood. 

 Notwithstanding that flowers have been produced on many of the bushes in abundance dur- 

 ing the past season, and careful examination has failed to detect any defect in the sexual 

 organs or the pollen, none of the fruit has set. 



Several hybrids have also been obtained between one of the cultivated red raspberries 

 Rubus strigosus, known as Marlboro, female, and an improved form of the blackberry Riibus 

 villosns, known as Agawam, male. One of these will probably fruit in 1895. 



