164 Notes and Gleanings. 



pedigree of a fruit through four generations. The Josephine de Binche, we are 

 told, is a seedhng from the Josephine de Mahnes ; the latter was, like many 

 others of Esperen's pears, undoubtedly raised from the Passe Colmar, and the 

 Passe Colmar bears the evidence of having sprung from the Old Colmar. And 

 these four generations are all fine fruits. Bismarck. 



Experiments in Hybridizing the Grape, by Dr. A. P. Wylie, of South 

 Carolina. — We present the following extracts from Dr. Wylie's letter, in the 

 Proceedings of the American Pomological Society, and regret that we have 

 not space for the whole. The discoveries he has made as to the difficulty of 

 hybridizing the Scuppernong grape, and the causes of it, are very interesting as 

 well as curious. 



" I find that all the natives with which I have experimented hybridize freely 

 with the foreign ( Vztis vi/tifera), except the Scuppernong (Bullace). I have im- 

 pregnated successfully with foreign pollen the following, viz. : Vitis cssiivalis, 

 several varieties ; Vitis Labnisca, many varieties ; Vitis cordifolia, four vari- 

 eties ; also successively fertilized Vitis vinifera with each of the above species ; 

 also many hybrids with each other and with pure species, and many natives with 

 each other ; also numerous hybrids with hybrids, and fixed species. The Scup- 

 pernong appears to be a very distinct species, and least capable of all others of 

 hybridizing with other species. 



" My experience goes far to establish the following facts, viz. : First, that we 

 cannot fertilize the Scuppernong with pollen from any other species or their 

 hybrid varieties, as I have repeatedly failed to do so under the most favorable 

 circumstances ; also failed, after numerous trials, to fertilize Scuppernong with 

 male (staminate) hybrid Scuppernong. Second, that we can impregnate the 

 foreign {Vitis vinifera) mi\\ pollen from the Scuppernong; as I have had the 

 plants growing ever since 1861, but none have borne fruit. Third, that we cannot 

 impregnate either Labrusca, ^stivalis, or Cordifolia, as I have repeatedly failed 

 in the attempt. Fourth, that you can fertilize both native and foreign, and their 

 hybrids, with male (staminate) hybrid Scuppernong pollen, as I have often done. 

 Fifth, that no first crop of Scuppernong and foreign will produce a prolific fruit- 

 bearing plant, as those have invariably either proved to be male (staminate) or 

 hermaphrodites, with male and female organs of reproduction (stigma and stam- 

 ina) defective, consequently bearing no fruit. It is true I have seen one of 

 these hermaphrodites bear a few berries, by applying pollen from a grape vine 

 of a different variety. (See Gardener's Monthly, 1868, p. 153). Sixth, that you 

 can produce a prolific hybrid Scuppernong by impregnating the foreign {Vitis 

 vinifera) with pollen from hybrid male (staminate) Scuppernong, as I have had 

 a hybrid thus produced bear perfect fruit, with perfect seed, for the first time, 

 this last Slimmer. I have also plants of Herbemont, Delaware, Lenoir, Clinton, 

 and others, impregnated with the same pollen, which have every appearance of 

 bearing plants, but were not old enough to bear this summer. 



" There appears to be a mechanical difficulty, which limits the production of 

 hybrids with the Scuppernong and other species. Suspecting some difficulty of 

 tliis kind from my repeated failures, I requested my friend Dr. T. T. Robert- 



