PLANNING A NEW PLANT 201 



separated habitats and with their widely diversi- 

 fied traits and habits. 



But of course in making practical studies for 

 the development of the mental blue print with 

 its forecast of qualities of our new cherry, we 

 must perforce be guided largely by the observed 

 qualities of the parent stock with which we deal. 

 Precisely what were the qualities of the remote 

 ancestors we can only infer. But we can see 

 for ourselves what are the qualities of the fruit 

 before us. 



We know, then, pretty definitely what we may 

 expect as to one-half the traits of a hybrid that 

 will result when w r e cross two varieties of cherries 

 in our orchard. The other half must be some- 

 what a matter of conjecture, to be revealed by 

 the actual product or, as is practically the case, 

 by succeeding generations. 



What we actually do, then, in practice, is to 

 take pollen from a variety that has been observed 

 to bear fruit somewhat earlier than neighboring 

 trees, and with this pollenize flowers of other 

 varieties that have been observed to produce 

 fruit of exceptionally good quality. Pollination 

 accomplished, by the method elsewhere described, 

 we can only mark the branch and the individual 

 fruits so pollenized for future identification, and 

 await results. 



