SOME INTERESTING FAILURES 



dant crop of fruit, and in the ensuing season I 

 raised from these berries between five and six 

 thousand seedlings. 



Never on earth, perhaps, was there seen a 

 more widely varying lot of seedlings that were 

 the immediate offspring of a single plant. The 

 hybrids took almost every possible form that 

 could be suggested as combining the traits of 

 the various parent plants. Most of them were 

 absolutely thornless. Many grew upright like the 

 apple tree, showing nothing of the drooping 

 tendency even of the raspberry, much less the 

 trailing habit of the dewberry. The leaves were 

 generally quite smooth, some resembling those of 

 the pear, others being partially trifoliate, and 

 most of them assuming strange and unusual 

 forms. 



When this motley company came to the time 

 of blooming, there was still another surprise, for 

 the flowers were as varied as the foliage. Some 

 of the blossoms were crimson in color, and half 

 as large as an apple blossom; some were pink 

 and quite small; others were white. A large 

 number of plants, however, did not bloom at all, 

 although they were attentively cared for, and 

 were otherwise normal. 



From these strange hybrids I not unnaturally 

 expected to raise a remarkable variety of fruits. 



[287] 



