NE W CREA TIONS. 2 1 7 



at the receiver, get no reply. If now he bring certain parts 

 into contact, either automatically or by an order to central, 

 the vibrant current will work with facility throughout the 

 length of the line, with what were, not long since, considered 

 new and wonderful manifestations. 



One of the most potent practices of the botanists and horti- 

 culturists in the work now under consideration is hybridi- 

 zation the crossing of different species, as the chestnut and 

 peach, the potato and tomato, the tangerine and the pomelo. 

 This breaks up the life habits of the plants, produces greatly 

 modified forms, and opens the way to new creations by addi- 

 tional breeding and culture. 



Another means used is that of cross-fertilization that is, 

 breeding between individuals of the same species, so called, 

 but of different varieties. Selection also plays a most im- 

 portant part; and besides this, there are all the variations of 

 environment, as food, temperature, water supply, and so forth, 

 which plant breeders know so well how to regulate to their 

 purposes. 



It was by selection alone that Burbank bred the fragrance 

 of a sweet Southern flower into the dahlia. By chance he 

 found one dahlia which, instead of having the characteristic 

 unpleasant odor of its kind, bore a faint, indefinable, but pleas- 

 ant fragrance. This flower was isolated ; its seeds were care- 

 fully saved and planted. The second generation was numer- 

 ous, but not one flower in fifty gave promise. Some had al- 

 most no odor, some had reverted to the odor of their more 

 distant ancestors, but a small number had the pleasant odor 

 that was wanted, and a very few had this fragrance in a per- 

 ceptibly greater degree than the parent flower. These latter 

 were then selected and the seeds planted ; the others were de- 



