NEW VARIETIES— HYBRIDIZATION. 193 



are wholly destitute of stamens. Mr. Fuller says that, for 

 some reason, they do not originate abroad. It is obvious 

 that, with these pistillates, we can attain a direct cross with 

 some staminate or perfect-flowering variety ; but if our pistil- 

 lates grow openly in the garden, near several staminates, the 

 seeds sown may have been fertilized by the poorest of them, 

 or by pollen from wild strawberries, brought by the wind or 

 insects. It is all hap-hazard work, and we can only guess 

 at the parentage of the seedlings. There is no skilful com- 

 bination of good qualities, such as the stock farmer makes 

 when he mingles good blood. Gathering the seed, there- 

 fore, in our gardens, even under the most favorable auspices, 

 is" the veriest game of hazard, with nearly all the chances 

 against us ; and yet superb varieties are occasionally pro- 

 cured in this way. Indeed, as we have seen, they some- 

 times come up themselves, and assert their merit wholly 

 unaided. By such methods, however, the propagator has 

 not one chance in thousands, as much experience shows. 



We are, therefore, led to isolate our plants, and to seek 

 intelligently and definitely to unite the good quaUties of two 

 distinct varieties. If they have no pistillate plants abroad, 

 they must remove all the stamens from some perfect flower 

 before they are sufficiently developed to shed their pollen, 

 and then fertilize the pistils with the stamens of the other va- 

 riety whose qualities they wish to enter into the combination. 

 There is no need of our doing this, for it involves much 

 trouble and care at best, and then we are always haunted by 

 the fear that the stamens were not removed in time, or so 

 completely as to prevent self-fertilization. With such pistil- 

 late varieties as the Golden Defiance, Champion, Springdale, 

 and Crescent, we have as robust motherhood as we require. 



In order to present to the reader the most approved sys- 

 tems of hybridization, I will give the methods of two gentle- 



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