418 NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



are planting seeds from trees that are located to favor cross-fertiliza- 

 tion. In the wild black cherry' they have started with the finest wild 

 variety that they have been able to find, and hope to secure a fruit 

 large enough to have commercial value. 



In the above digest of the results of our Experiment Stations in 

 plant-breeding it has not been the intention to include all the work 

 done along the above line in the United States. Much has been 

 accomplished by persons who were not associated with Experiment 

 Stations and Agricultural Colleges, and, in fact, did their work even 

 before these institutions came into existence. In this connection one 

 first recalls the development of our American grapes and the infusion 

 into them of the European blood, and call to mind the names of Bull, 

 Rogers, Haskell, Ricketts and Moore, of the East, while Rommel, 

 Jaeger and Munson have labored faithfully in the Southwest. These 

 and others have already made America famous for its long list of 

 Tarieties of superior cross-bred grapes. 



Among pears we have blended the blood of the common with the 

 Chinese species, and obtained varieties that have made pear-growing 

 possible, if not very profitable, over a wide region where it was pre- 

 carious before. The names of Keiffer and Leconte will be associated 

 with these excellent results in hybridization. 



The fact that the ordinary varieties of Eastern apples were not 

 hardy in the great, cold Northwest, early led to importation from 

 Russia, and the crossing of the common species with the Siberian 

 Crab, the good results of which are still in store for the people of the 

 twentieth century. For similar reasons the native plums in the West 

 and South have been placed under culture and bred with the European 

 types. Along with this is the advent of the Japanese plums and the 

 formation of a group of hybrids, that places the name of Luther Bur- 

 bank among the word's great horticultural benefactors. 



Less distinct from the Experiment Stations than many of the plant- 

 breeding enterprises included in the above general remarks is the 

 work upon the citrus fruits by Messrs. Webber and Swingle, of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. The "Florida freeze," 

 from which catastrophe the orange growers now date all passing 

 events, aroused the government to the point of seeking for a more 

 hardy orange, and the hybridizers are well on their way to produce it. 



Space does not permit of more than a passing allusion to the hun- 

 dreds of florists who are constantly keeping American floriculture in 

 the van, particularly as to new crosses of carnations, chrysanthemums 

 and roses. 



