DELIGHTFUL BERRIES 347 



The progress already attained makes it cer- 

 tain that we shall soon be able to educate these 

 elders to a condition that will make it highly ac- 

 ceptable as a productive fruit, especially for arid 

 regions. The elder grows from cuttings and will 

 thrive in moist or dry climates. 



I have under way also a series of hybridizing 

 experiments in which the different elders, no- 

 tably the progeny of the Mexican elder, and the 

 California species already referred to, Sambucus 

 glauca, and the hardy Dakota elders are com- 

 bined. To produce still further variations and 

 facilitate progress, I have also crossed the new 

 elder with species from Arizona, one of which is 

 a very large tree for an elder. 



From a second generation cross I got prob- 

 ably one individual in forty that bore black ber- 

 ries, but from the third generation not a single 

 one out of several thousands was black. One 

 was secured, however, that bore berries of a gray 

 or mulberry color and two or three having a 

 tendency to a mixed color. All the rest were 

 white or amber. 



It will appear, then, that a race of elders has 

 thus been produced that bears fruit of an attrac- 

 tive white or amber color and of such quality as 

 to commend it highly, as a fine substitute for 

 other berries, in regions where the garden fruits 



