PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES. 29 



che Early York or Cooledge's Favorite. But it must be 

 remembered, that there is a tendency in such highly im- 

 proved sorts to deteriorate, and that out of a large number 

 3f seedlings, perhaps only one or two may be equal in fla- 

 vor to the original. 



Some of our best fruits have resulted from artificial cross- 

 ing. Coe r s Golden Drop plum was obtained by planting 

 seed of the Green Gage, impregnated with pollen from the 

 White Magnum Bonum ; the Elton cherry, from the Graffion 

 )T Bigarreau, fertilized with the White Heart ; and Knight's 

 Early Black and Waterloo, from the Mayduke and Graffion. 



The first crop of a young seedling is not always suffi- 

 :iently developed to exhibit its true character. Some years 

 jf bearing are often essential. Thus, the Black Eagle, one 

 jf the finest cherries, when exhibited the first time before 

 the London Horticultural Society, was pronounced worthless. 



When a cross is obtained between two different species, 

 instead of between mere varieties, it is termed a hybrid. But 

 while varieties of the same species intermingle freely, the 

 Dperation rarely succeeds between fruits of different species. 

 The gooseberry, currant, and black currant, species of the 

 same genus, and nearly related, have never produced a hy- 

 brid. Neither have any ever been obtained between the ap- 

 ple and the pear, or the pear and the quince. But different 

 species of other plants, as the Heaths, and some of the Cacti, 

 intermingle freely. The Rhododendron will fertilize the 

 Azaleas, and the Red Cedar has been made to inoculate the 

 American Arbor-vitae, though both these examples are be- 

 tween plants of different genera. Hybrids are frequently, 

 sterile ; or if they possess the power of reproduction by seed, 

 the progeny returns to the state of one or the other of its 

 parents. 



