28 NEW VARIETIES BY CROSSING. 



success by Knight. Selecting two varieties, while yet ear- 

 ly in flower, and before the anthers had 

 J ) burst and discharged the pollen, he cut 

 " out with a fine pair of scissors all the 

 stamens, leaving the pistils untouched, 

 (fig. 2.) When the stigma became 

 sufficiently mature, which was indica- 

 ted by its glutinous surface, he trans- 

 ferred the pollen of the other sort, on 

 the point of a camel's-hair pencil. The fruit, thus yielded, 

 was unchanged ; but its seeds partook variously of the nature 

 of both parents, and the trees growing from them bore new 

 and intermediate varieties. 



For the success of such experiments, several precautions 

 are requisite. The flower must be deprived of its stamens 

 before it has fully expanded, or before the anthers have 

 already burst and scattered their dust ; the pollen must be 

 procured from a bursting or fully matured anther, when it 

 will be dry and powdery ; the stigma must be inoculated 

 as soon as it becomes adhesive or glutinous, otherwise it 

 may be fertilized from another source, and then the intend- 

 ed pollen cannot possibly take effect. For a stigma once 

 inoculated, cannot be inoculated again. It is safest, where 

 practicable, to force the trees by artificial heat into flower- 

 ing a few days earlier than others, so as to be secure from 

 accidental inoculations of pollen floating in the air ; and to 

 prevent its spread by bees, to apply a temporary covering of 

 gauze. A want of attention to these minutia?, has led some 

 experimenters to fancy they had obtained crosses, when 

 they had only natural seedlings.* 



To obtain new varieties of certain desired qualities, select 

 two which possess those qualities separately, and seedlings 

 from crossing will be likely to exhibit these qualities com- 

 bined. Thus, a very early pear deficient in flavor, as the 

 Amire Joannet, might furnish one of superior quality *by a 

 cross with a better and later sort, as Dearborn's Se'edling. 

 Or, a small and very rich pear, as the Seckel, might give 

 us one of the larger size by fertilizing the Bartlett. A slow- 

 growing and tender peach, as the Early Anne, might be 

 rendered hardier and more vigorous by an intermixture with 



* Pollen may be kept without injury for months, if sealed air-tight in a small vial. 



