MAKING NEW KINDS OF PLANTS 



429 



records a similar experience with Squashes ^ in which 

 the seeds of one plant gave one hundred and ten 

 kinds distinct enough to be named and recognized. 

 Such hybrids represent extremely variable types in 

 which it is practically impossible to fix anything. 



245. Hybrid Poppy leaves. At the left, a leaf of the Oriental Poppy; at the right, 

 a leaf of the Opium Poppy; in the center a group of leaves of the hybrids. 



To successfully combine the qualities of different 

 plants by crossing requires a rare degree of skill 

 and judgment. It might seem, perhaps, as though 

 it would be a comparatively simple matter to make 

 all possible Plum crosses, for example, and select the 

 best. But in practice it is found that the number of 



1 Bailey: "Plant Breeding," third edition, 1904, p. 78. 



