HYBRIDISM vs. SELECTION. 23 



produdecl in gardens by ordinary seminal variation, and without any hybrid- 

 izing operation whatever. 



We are apt to attribute too much to hybridism as a motive power in pro- 

 ducing variations, and even in the blending of characters among cultivated 

 plants. 



Before we can be sure of what hybridism effects, we must know exactly 

 how far the parent species themselves can vary as self-pollinated. It is 

 self-evident that some species which so far as we know have never been 

 hybridized can and do vary infinitely as cultivated. In a word, cultivation 

 and the inter-crossing of varieties yield results at times almost, even if not 

 quite, as great as does hybridism. The Chinese Primula, Cyclamen latifolium, 

 the Gloxinia or Sinningia, many root crops and cultivated vegetables, which 

 so far as we know have never been hybridized, yet vary as much as those 

 plants which have been so originated. We have only to look at the immense 

 variations in apples, pears and other domestic fruits in order to recognize the 

 great central fact that cultivation the crossing of seminal varieties and 

 human selection are quite as potent as, or even more so than, hybridism alone. 

 Of course, hybridism as confined to so-called species and the cross breeding of 

 varieties differ only in degree, both being sexual and physiological processes. 

 Many of our type species even as wild plants are extremely variable from 

 seed, just as many seminal garden varieties come practically true from seed! 

 As a matter of fact the distinction between species and varieties is an arbi- 

 trary one, but it is for the present a convenience to keep up the nominal 

 distinction. Some day it will be recognized universally that garden species 

 artificially reared are quite as distinct botanically and often a great deal 

 more useful than the native or wild ones. Hybridism often, it is true, gives 

 us a splendid starting place a spring board, or a new field of variation as it 

 were, but that field must be further improved by cross breeding and selection 

 or the highest and best of practical results are lost, or in any case not 

 actually realized. 



We must clearly grasp the fact that the three great factors in the making 

 of plant products more useful or suitable to our daily wants are cultivation, 

 the cross breeding of varieties, and a careful selection of the most suitable or 

 desirable seedling kinds. Even cultivation and selection alone from wild 

 plants, as in the carrot and parsnip of Vilmorin's and Buckland's experi- 

 ments, will work wonderful transformations in only a few generations. 



The fourth factor, viz., hybridism, is potent in the origination of new 

 races, as illustrated in the Tuberous rooted Begonias, the large flowered 

 Cannas, the Gladiolus, Marliac's colored Water Lilies, and many other things ; 

 but the initial gain still depends on the other three factors for its full 

 development. 



I doubt very much whether the newly discovered "Mendel's law" will be 

 of much practical service to the ordinary hybridist, or whether it will lead 

 to a more precise and exact system of working among hybridists or breeders 

 in the future. In conclusion, I may put forth the following suggestions to 

 those who live in this country, fertile as it is in experimental stations and 

 gardens of all kinds. As a rule, I know the best practical results in hybrid- 

 izing and cross breeding have been obtained by going direct to the point, 



