84 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



plant, 3"0u ma}' do it by fertilizing from its own pollen, or from that 

 of any other plant of the same stock ; but j^ou must not allow 

 cross-fertilization. Some maintain that permanent varieties are 

 identical with species. In hybridizing between species 3'ou produce 

 mules. Mr. Wetherell asked whether pigeons of the forest did not 

 perpetuate their kind. Those in domestication show great variation. 

 In the former case man has not interfered ; in the latter he has. It 

 is the same with the robin and the squirrel. You can propagate a 

 deformity as well as a beauty. In some instances it is for the 

 interest of the farmer to produce variations. In corn it is not the 

 want of cross-fertilization, but of fertilization, that produces imper- 

 fect ears, as shown by a plant standing alone, to which reference 

 had been made by a previous speaker. 



E. W. Bus well remarked that the row of corn on the windward 

 side of a field is more deficient in ears than those in the centre of 

 the field, the pollen being blown to leeward. 



The Chairman understood the experience of the breeders of 

 fancy pigeons to have a direct bearing on the subject. Darwin 

 claims that he can produce monstrosities in animals, and the prin- 

 ciple is the same with plants. 



Mrs. J. W. Wolcott asked whether Mr. Wilder had not shown 

 that in almost every instance cross-fertilization is brought about by 

 the aid of man. 



Mr. Wilder replied that it was not ; the pollen floats in the air, 

 which is so filled with it that if there is a stigma anj'where, the 

 pollen will seize on it as quickly as fire on gunpowder. 



M. H. Merriam said that there was much confusion in regard to 

 the original types of plants and animals. His view is that there is 

 a feral type, towards which there is alwa^'S a tendency to return. A 

 flock of pigeons left to breed in-and-in returned to the feral tjqje in 

 a comparative^ short period of time. This, however, is not incon- 

 sistent with individualit}', but each may have distinct characteristics. 

 Circumstances, known and unknown, produce peculiar characteris- 

 tics, and hence we have varieties. In the ordinary operation of 

 natural causes, plants will be fertilized both ways, for widely dis- 

 seminated influences are always in operation to produce this effect, 

 unless special measures are taken to prevent it. There can be no 

 question that self-fertilization does occur, and cross-fertilization 

 does also, ])ecause the causes are so universal. The cultivator 

 should guide the process of cross-fertilization so as to produce the 



