HOW MAY I DO IT TOO ; BREEDING 



geraniums, petunias, Japanese pinks or violets. 

 These will do to begin on, though there are 

 many others. He recommends for selection 

 alone, the pansy and the sweet pea as offering 

 opportunities of unusual promise. Of course 

 all of the flowers mentioned, and in fact every 

 flower whose life is to be changed in any 

 respect, must come under the most rigid 

 selection, the eternal choosing of the best. 



When a certain flower, say a sweet pea, has 

 been decided on, the pollen from one of the 

 two that are going to be crossed in order to 

 give birth to a third that, it is hoped, shall be 

 better than either parent, is gathered upon a 

 little saucer or a watch-crystal, taken to the 

 flower which has been chosen as a mate, and 

 dusted down upon its stigma. Then this latter 

 flower should be isolated from its fellows and 

 guarded carefully. A paper tag should be 

 fastened to it for identification. Mr. Burbank 

 says to watch the bees, and when they are first 

 a -wing upon their day's work, be sure the 

 flowers are ready to be pollenated. 



He says that it is wholly unnecessary in or- 

 dinary plant-breeding to attempt to cover the 

 flower with a screen of tissue paper or gauze. 



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