258 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



November, igii 



Practical Plant Breeding 



H. J.'Moore, Queen Victoria 



IN writing this article, 1 feel that I 

 am treading on dangerous ground, 

 seeing that my profession is not that 

 of plant breeder entirely, but that of 

 horticulturist. However, I may be able 

 to overcome the difficulty by approach- 

 ing the matter from a practical stand- 

 point and dealing: only with that phase 



Fig. 1 



connected with practical horticulture. 



No matter whether we are intefested 

 in the subject for practical or scientific 

 purposes we must approach it systemati- 

 cally. We must discriminate in order to 

 get the best results from our labors, or 

 much valuable time wil be lost in beat- 

 ing around the bush. There is no rea- 

 son whatever why every trained horti- 

 culturist should not become a practical 

 plant-breeder, and the pleasure he would 

 derive from associating himself more in- 

 timately with and understanding more 

 fully the fundamental laws on wnich me 

 science is based would amply repay him 

 for the time sp)ent in its pursuit. There 

 is something indescribably fascinating 

 about plant breeding, as one never 

 knows what to expect; although, if we 

 understand Mendel's Law of Inheritance 

 and its relation to the particular group 

 of plants with which we are working, 

 we can predict pretty closely as to re- 

 sults. 



The life of the man who is engaged 

 in plant breeding is full of hope. This 

 has a tendency to make him look more 

 cheerfully upon the sterner duties which, 

 as a horticulturist, fall to his lot. Even 

 for the amateur, plant breeding has its 

 charm, and there is no occupation more 

 edifying, more instructive, or more 

 worthy of man's best efforts than the 

 production of something better than al- 

 ready exists, or the creation of some- 

 thing new, which will either aid in the 

 beautifying of our home surroundings 

 or be of some utility in the economy of 

 life. 



Although it is impossible to make two 

 blades of grass grow where one grew 

 hitherto, it is quite possible to produce 

 a better blade of grass, a better ear ol 

 corn, or a sweeter-scented flower, which 



Park, Niagara Falls, Ont. 



will occupy only the same space as its 

 less worthy progenitor. There is room 

 for improvement not only in our fruits, 

 but also in our flowers and vegetables. 



There are essentials which are neces- 

 sary in order to become a skilled breeder 

 or improver of plants, the chief of which 

 is an intelligent mind to grasp a know- 

 ledge of the subject to be dealt with. 

 Before a doctor can diagnose the case 

 of a patient he must have a thorough 

 knowledge of human anatomy and 

 physiology. He must know the various 

 organs which constitute the body, and 

 understand their functions. Thus it is 

 with the hybridizer. He must know at 

 least something about the other branch 

 of biology, viz., botany, without which 

 it is useless to attempt any discriminate 

 work, because the operator, although 

 having eyes, sees not; that is, he lacks 

 the knowledge to intelligently carry out 

 his desires. 



EEQUIEBMENT8 



A good course in First Stage Botany 

 is the first requirement. When a per- 

 son has studied the morphology, and 

 physiology of plants, he or she under- 

 stands at least what the various organs 

 of the flower, the calyx, cololla, stamens 

 and pistil, were intended for. Secondly, 

 a course in Systematic Botany will be 



Fig. 2 



found invaluable, because of the know- 

 ledge of the families or natural orders 

 of plants that is obtained. Why is Sys- 

 tematic Botany necessary? Because it 

 has been long known that plants of 

 different natural orders will not hybrid- 

 ize, but plants of the same order may. 

 Thus, when a person knows the charac- 

 ters of the plants which constitute an 

 order, his chances of success in plant 

 breeding will be greatly enhanced. It 

 would be absolutely useless to attempt 

 to hybridize a plant belonging to the 

 natural order Ranunculacae with ano- 

 ther belonging to the order Compositae. 

 Different species of an order may cross ; 

 species of different genera ot tne same 

 order occasionally cross, but rarely ; bi- 

 generic hybrids are uncommon. From 

 the above remarks the value of Syste- 



matic Botany will be readily undcrstooil 

 Where is it possible to obtain thesr 

 courses of instruction? At the agricul- 

 tural and various other colleges of the 

 country and at high schools. As some 

 idea of the requirements of plants is 

 great value to the hybridizer, the pr;.. 

 tical horticulturist has the advantage 

 over his less fortunate neighbor who has , 

 never had facilities for work in this di- I 

 rection. A knowledge of soils, tempera- ' 

 ture, humidity, and other environmental 

 conditions is essential in order that we 

 may bring any class of plants to full 

 maturity by giving them conditions as 

 nearly natural as possible; otherwise ; 

 our chances of success will lie limited : 

 to the extent of our knowledge in this < 

 respect. 



OHOIOE OP BTTBJECTS 

 Now, suppose we are through with all 

 preliminaries, the next step is the selec- 

 tion of suitable subjects for hybridizing 

 The operator must have some defin; 

 purpose ; there is very little to be gained 

 by indiscriminately pollinating every- 

 thing which appears likely to hybridize. 

 The inevitable result of lack of fore- 

 thought is disappointment. Some sp>e- ' 

 cial type of plant should be selected, ^ 

 such as the primula, the lily, or any 

 plant with flowers easy to manipulate at 

 first, as plants possessing flowers more 

 intricate should he left severely alone 

 until the simpler flowers are mastered. 



It would be well at this stage to men- 

 tion the intruments which are required 

 for plant breeding. They are not 

 numerous, but should be of good quality. 

 A pair of forceps, a sharp scalpel, a 

 good pocket lens, a camel's hair brush, 

 and a quantity of alcohol, or other steril- 

 izing medium, in a bottle, alone are re- 

 quired. The forceps, brush, and scalpel 

 must be kept scrupulously clean, and im- 

 mediately after use should be sterilized 

 It may be found necessary to cover all 

 pollinated flowers, and for this purp>ose 

 small paper sacks are used, the dimen- 

 sions of which will depend upon the size 

 of the flower operated upon. 



POLLINATION 



Not having space in this short article 

 to give the details of pollination, I may 

 say that it simply consists in transfer- 

 ring pollen from the anthers or male 

 organs of one plant to the stigma or 

 female organs of another. As flowers 

 are in most cases perfect, that is, pos- 

 sessing male and female organs, it is 

 sometimes necessary to pollinate a 

 flower with its own pollen or with pollen 

 from another flower of the same plant. 

 The primrose is a good example. In 

 the case of "monoecious" plants, which 

 possess both staminate and pistillat' 

 flowers, the only course to pursue is to 

 transfer the pollen from the staminate 

 flower to the pistillate one, or, if the 

 staminate and pistillate flowers are 



