104 FAMILY RECEIPTS. 



varieties for seed, or by intermixing the pollen and stig- 

 ma of two varieties for the purpose of procuring 

 something of an intermediate nature. The power of 

 obtaining cross-bred varieties at pleasure, has only ex- 

 isted since the discovery of sexes in plants. In select- 

 ing seed from the finest existing varieties, we should, 

 moreover, take care to select it from the handsomest, 

 largest and most perfectly ripened specimens of those 

 varieties; for "a seedling plant will always partake 

 more or less of the character of its parent, the qualities 

 of which are concentrated in the embryo, when it has 

 arrived at full maturity." Now, if the general qualities 

 of a given variety are concentrated in the embryo under 

 any circumstances, it is reasonable to suppose that they 

 will be most especially concentrated in a seed taken 

 from that part of a tree in which its peculiar good quali- 

 ties reside in the highest degree. For instance, in the 

 fruit of an apple, growing upon a north wall, there is a 

 smaller formation of sugar than in the same variety 

 grov.ing on a south wall; and it can be easily under- 

 stood that the seed of that fruit, which is itself least 

 capable of forming saccharine solutions, will acquire 

 from its parent a less power of the same nature than if 

 it had been formed within a fruit in which the saccha- 

 rine principle was abundant. It should, therefore, be 

 always an object with a gardener, in selecting a variety 

 to become the parent of a new sort, to stimulate that 

 variety by every means in his power to produce the 

 largest and most fully ripened fruit that it is capable of 

 bearing. The importance of doing this is well known 

 in regard to melons and cucumbers, and also in preser- 

 ving fugitive varieties of flowers; but it is not generally 

 practised in raising fruit trees." 



Cross-hred varieties. — 'The power of procuring inter- 

 mediate varieties by the intermixture of the pollen and 

 stigma of two different parents is, however, that which 

 most deserves consideration. We all know that hybrid 

 plants are constantly produced in every garden, and 

 that improvements of the most remarkable kind are 

 yearly occurring in consequence. All cases, however, 

 of cross-fertilization are subject to "a practical conse- 



