458 THE EVOLUTION OP OUE NATIVE FRUITS 



most surely obtained by raising seedlings from the 

 most unlike types, and by the crossing of various 

 types. 



In the third place, we need to secure more inci- 

 dental or minor strains of the most popular and 

 cosmopolitan varieties. The Concord grape, for ex- 

 ample, is a most virile and useful type, and minor 

 varieties of it even if they were still called Concord 

 might adapt the variety more completely to some par- 

 ticular purpose or locality. In many districts, for 

 example, a Concord a week earlier or a week later 

 than the standard variety, might be more useful than 

 a variety wholly new in kind. I introduce this class 

 of facts to show that, while we need more varied types 

 in our native fruits, we also need to increase the use- 

 fulness of regnant types by inducing secondary vari- 

 ations in them. There are two means of securing 

 these minor variations. The surest means is to take 

 cuttings or buds from those particular plants in our 

 plantation which most nearly fit our purposes. In 

 almost every large Concord vineyard, for example, 

 there are some vines which are earlier or later, more 

 or less productive, or otherwise different from the 

 type. In many cases, the cuttings will perpetuate 

 these differences . The second means of securing these 

 incidental forms is by crossing between plants of the 

 same variety. I am convinced that this type of plant- 

 breeding is, in general, quite as useful as that of 

 crossing unlike varieties ; and after a wide range of 

 variation has been secured and when men's ideals 

 have become critical through education and business 

 competition, it will be the more promising field. 



In the fourth place, it should be said that the 



