NOTES ON SEEDLINGS. 1 33 



after long- breeding and selection come the ones which are not onlv 

 to unite the desirable qualities of their forbears but which are to be 

 fitted for their new environment." 



Speaking of crossing and selection in general, Air. Burbank 

 says : "There is no barrier to obtaining fruit of anv size, form or 

 flavor desired and none to producing plants and flowers of any 

 form, color or fragrance ; all that is needed is a knowledge to guide 

 our efforts in the right direction, undeviating patience and a cul- 

 tivated eye to detect variations of value." 



Exact fixed rules for making crosses for special purposes have 

 not, as yet, been fully determined ; new ideas are brought forward 

 each year to help the plant breeder. A vast amount of experiment- 

 ing is being done, both by the scientist and layman in horticultural 

 art, and whoever formulates fixed laws governing plant breeding. to 

 a nicety will confer great benefits on mankind. 



To grow a seedling apple combining all the qualifications re- 

 quired by the exacting growers, middlemen, merchants and consum- 

 ers will require time and concentrated effort on the part of the pro- 

 ducer; nevertheless there is a certain fascination about producing 

 new seedlings or creating new varieties that enlarges with every one 

 whose mind is led in that direction ; the onlooker, of average in- 

 telligence, uneducated in the art of growing seedlings, sees but little 

 attractiveness, but to those who have placed the seed in the ground 

 and watched its development into plant life through all the adverse 

 conditions of weeds, insects, fungous diseases and the adverse ele- 

 ments, from infancy to mature fruitage, there is something more 

 than simple fascination. 



The planting of seed from which to raise new and improved 

 varieties by old people like myself, seems like planting, not for 

 our own profit but for posterity ; yet if by our example any younger 

 horticultural members shall partake of our zeal we shall not have 

 spent our time and efforts in vain. 



An Acre for the Boy. — I believe in giving the boy pr girl an acre 

 or two* of good land close to the house upon the understanding 

 that I am to furnish trees, plants and seeds to stock the plot, and 

 that he or she is first to supply the family with all the fruit and 

 vegetables the family can use. and then have the balance to sell 

 to best advantage, the proceeds to be his or her own. This will 

 serve to center the children's interest in the farm, and the con- 

 viction will soon follow that there is no place where a person can 

 live as independent and pure a life as in the country. — O. J. Farmer. 



