66 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



covered, — I say "to stand up in an open situation, exposed to a 

 temperature of fifteen degrees below zero, accompanied by a sharp 

 wind, without injury? It must mean that, if it means any thing, 

 for that state of things will exist every few years. Some may say 

 that they are fine and we can afl^ord to lay them down and cover 

 up ; that we can afford to dust them with sulphur and pet them 

 generally. To such I would say, do a better thing and have a 

 still better grape, build a cheap cold grapery and have something 

 that you can rely upon, and that will prove to be more satisfactory. 



But were I raising seedlings, hardiness sufficient to withstand 

 our climate would be the first requisite, and breeding from a va- 

 riety defective in that respect would seem to be a mistake that 

 should be avoided. Some varieties of the strawberry, grape, and 

 other fruits are very fixed in their character, and seedlings from 

 any of them would be either very much like the parents, or exact 

 reproductions of them. I have found this particularly so with 

 some strawberries, but if a variety has once broken its habits, or, 

 in other words, " sported," there is no limit to what it may do 

 afterwards, and from such varieties we should expect improvements-. 



Need 1 say that the soil, climate, and skill that have produced the 

 Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Porter, Williams, Roxbury Rus- 

 set, Hunt Russet, Foundling, Garden Royal, Hubbardston Nonsuch* 

 Mother, and other apples ; Clapp's Favorite, Dana's Hovey, Seckel, 

 Howell, Sheldon, Tyson, Lawrence, Onondaga, Merriam, and 

 other pears ; Hovey's Seedling, Wilson's Albany, President Wil- 

 der, and numerous other varieties of strawberries ; Crawford's 

 Early and Late, Cooledge's Favorite, Hale's Early, and many 

 other fine peaches ; the Concord and other varieties of grapes, — can» 

 if properly directed, produce any number of new seedling fruits of 

 fine quality adapted to our climate. An intelligent method of 

 procedure, combined with determined and persistent efforts, will in 

 the end accomplish the object desired. 



You may ask, What is an intelligent method? That will be 

 more difficult to answer, and I approach it with much diffidence in 

 the presence of some of our older presidents, men who have made 

 their mark in this direction. 



The old maxim in breeding animals, that like produces like, is 

 just as true in breeding fruits, therefore select for the parents 

 varieties having, in a marked degree, the points you wish to per- 

 petuate. Suppose one of these points is quality ; if a variety has 



