NEW CREATIONS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



removing all the an- 

 thers from that flow- 

 er before they are 

 mature, and by pre- 

 venting it from being 

 af t e rwards brought 

 from other flowers, 

 on air - currents or 

 insects, by covering 

 the flower with fine 

 gauze. Sometimes 

 it is necessary to re- 

 move the anthers and 

 Fig. 1361. -Pistil of cover with gauze be- 

 wheat magnified, fore the flowers open, 

 as in the case of 

 wheat, etc. Having secured a pistil free 

 from pollen, it is pollinated by applying 

 to its stigma pollen grains taken from 

 the plant selected for that purpose. 

 The hand- pollinated flower is again 

 covered to exclude any possible inter- 

 ference with what has been done, and 

 the operator waits for the ripening of 

 the seed. 



From seed obtained in this way we 

 may expect plants combining in some 

 proportion the several qualities of each 

 parent. Sometimes the seedlings show 

 such combination, or only some of them, 

 or all may appear like one of the par- 

 ents, or a part like the one and a part 

 like the other ; yet when plants are 

 raised from seed of these seedlings they 

 " often break away into various forms 

 and combinations" ; or such break may 

 not take place until the third or even 

 some subsequent generation. In ex- 

 perimenting with the progeny of hand- 

 pollination, it is important to so isolate 

 them that their flowers shall not be fer- 

 tilized by pollen of ancestors. Often 

 the desired result is secured, when the 

 seedlings manifest the characteristics of 

 one of the parents, by pollinating flow- 

 ers of such with pollen from the other 

 parent. 



Here as elsewhere success is not 

 achieved without labor, patience and 

 skill. Mr. Burbank says, " sometimes 

 hybridized or crossed seedhngs " (when 

 the progeny of two species, they are 

 called ' hybrids ' ; when of two varieties 

 of the same species, * cross-breds ') 

 "show considerable or even great varia- 

 tion for weeks and then change at once 

 to one or the other of the original types ; 

 or they may show no change from one 

 or the other parent forms until nearly 

 ready to bloom or bear fruit, when 

 they suddenly change in foliage, growth, 

 and general appearance." 



It is to the enthusiastic lover of 

 Nature that she reveals her secrets. 

 His eye catches her slightest hints, his 

 patience never tires with her seeming 

 waywardness ; from unexpected results 

 he often learns his most valuable les- 

 sons. The beginner will find more 

 encouragement if he selects pure species 

 for his experiments. Our cultivated 

 plants are largely the result of selection, 

 cross-breeding or hybridization, or a 

 combination of all three ; hence the 

 result of working with them is often a 

 return towards primitive forms. Hand- 

 pollination between species as they 

 exist in nature will eventuate in due 

 time in new forms ; when this occurs, 

 then with wise selection and careful 

 isolation patiently carried out, satisfac- 

 tory results will reward patient perse- 

 verance. Many of the forms will not 

 be of any use ; Mr. Groff's seedling 

 gladioli of 1897 gave him 150,000 new 

 varieties, and he expects some 200,000 

 more this year from the material now 

 in hand. Not very many of these are 

 likely ever to find a place in florists' 

 catalogues. 



Mr. Saunders, speaking of his new 

 grain creations, says, " after selecting 

 the most desirable type or types from a 

 cross, all other forms are discarded, 



223 



