130 PROPAGATION" OF PLANTS. 



when it is absolutely necessary to effect a desired varia- 

 tion, as may sometimes occur when a person has but a 

 limited number of species or varieties of a genus with 

 which to experiment. 



4, wilding may possess some, very desirable properties, 

 such as vigor, hardiness and exemption from disease, 

 while its domesticated congener lacks one or all of these 

 properties; so, _by comjbinino^the best elements of the 

 two, a new and superior progeny may be produced. 



As yet no very marked improvements among cultivated 

 fruits have been made by hybridizing, although in a few 

 instances, as with the Grape, it may have aided in causing 

 the species to break away from the wild type, and through 

 the wide variation resulting from artificial fertilization 

 some valuable varieties may have^Been secured. Whether 

 the hybrids between the indigenous species of the Grape 

 of North America and the Vitis vinifera of Europe are 

 as well adapted to our climate as the pure native varie- 

 ties is at least questionable ; still, it may be that the in- 

 troduction of a foreign element will yet prove to have 

 been a judicious movement, and in the right direction, 

 for yielding the best possible results. 



The object in all cases should be to introduce valuable 

 properties, and in such a combination that they can be 

 made available. We may, among fruits, secure size, 

 color, texture in fact, all the good qualities known to 

 belong to or exist in a certain species, and still these will 

 be of little value unless the plant itself is adapted tp^ the 

 soil and climate where it is to be cultivated. In fact, 

 adaptation is all that is sought or can be credited to what 

 is termed acclimatizing of plants and animals, for it is 

 scarcely to be supposed that the constitutional characters 

 of the individual plant or animal can be greatly or per- 

 manently affected by a removal from one climate or con- 

 dition to another. One variety of plant may be more 

 hardy, and safely endure many degrees lower temperature, 



