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HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



untouched until harvest time, when any kernels which have been formed will 

 be mature and may be safely gathered. Each kernel, when sown the following 

 season, will form the starting point of a new variety. 



In crossing different sorts of barley the head should be worked before 

 it is fully out of the sheath, as natural fertilization takes place earlier with 

 this grain than with wheat. 



In cereals, the single plant grown the first year will produce heads all 

 alike, and these will usually resemble closely the variety on which the kernel 

 has been produced. Occasionally, however, it will, to some extent, take after 

 the plant from which the pollen has been gathered. If the cross has been 

 successfully made, the grain obtained from the plant of the first year's growth, 

 when sown the next season, will usually produce several different forms, some 

 resembling one parent and some the other, while other plants will produce 

 heads more or less intermediate in character. After selecting the most de- 

 sirable type or types from a cross, all other forms are discarded, and only 

 those retained from year to year which are true to the type or types selected. 

 After several seasons of careful selection the type usually becomes fairly per- 

 manent. Variations will, however, in some cases still occasionally occur, and 

 such should be separated whenever they appear, if the new grain is to be 

 preserved true to the chosen type. 



In efforts to cross cereals many failures may be looked for, and with all 

 the skill which trained hands can bring to bear on the work the ripened 

 kernels are always few, compared with the number of flowers operated on. 

 A partial record of the crossing which has been done on wheat at the 

 Canadian Experimental Farms shows that from 1,650 flowers carefully worked 

 only 220 kernels were obtained — about one in eight. 



In all efforts at cross-fertilizing paper bags are recommended for cover- 

 ing the flowers, on account of their closeness of texture. Pollen grains are 

 frequently blown about by the wind, and are in many instances so very 

 minute that they would pass readily through the meshes of the finest gauze. 

 With grain, the paper bags have been allowed to remain on until the close 

 of the season ; but with fruit and flowers, after the fruit or seed is so far 

 advanced as to be beyond the possibility of further influence from pollen, the 

 practice has been to replace the paper bag with one of fine gauze, which will 

 give free access of air and light, and thus promote healthy growth. 



GOOSEBERRY CROSSES. 



In my own work the first crosses were made in 1868, and were with 

 the gooseberry. These were made with the object of improving the size and 

 quality of what are known as the American gooseberries, by introducing strains 

 of some of the best English sorts, and at the same time obtain varieties less 

 liable to gooseberry mildew {Sphacrothcca mors-uvae) , which usually aft'ects 

 all the English gooseberries grown in this country so badly, in fruit and 

 foliage, as to discourage their cultivation. Those which are known as Ameri- 

 can sorts are generally said to have sprung from the wild species, with 

 perhaps more or less mixture of European strains. They are noted for their 

 hardiness, productiveness and freedom from mildew. They lack, however, 

 the size and quality of the English sorts. 



