Il8 THE HOME ACRE. 



Eventually another process began, taking place 

 either by chance or under the skilful manipulation 

 of the gardener, that of hybridizing, or cross- 

 ing these foreign varieties with our hardier native 

 species. The best results have been attained more 

 frequently, I think, by chance ; that is, the bees, 

 which get more honey from the raspberry than 

 from most other plants, carried the pollen from a 

 native flower to the blossom of the garden exotic. 

 The seeds of the fruit eventually produced were 

 endowed with characteristics of both the foreign and 

 native strains. Occasionally these seeds fell where 

 they had a chance to grow, and so produced a for- 

 tuitous seedling plant which soon matured into a 

 bearing bush, differing from both of its parents, 

 and not infrequently surpassing both in good qual- 

 ities. Some one horticulturally inclined having 

 observed the unusually fine fruit on the chance 

 plant, and believing that it is a good plan to help 

 the fittest to survive, marked the bush, and in the 

 autumn transferred it to his garden. It speedily 

 propagated itself by suckers, or young sprouts 

 from the roots, and he had plants to sell or give 

 away. Such, "I believe, was the history of the 

 Cuthbert, named after the gentleman who found 

 it, and now probably the favorite raspberry of 

 America. 



Thus fortuitously, or by the skill of the gardener, 



