126 NEW VARIETIES 



thousand plum pits without getting remarkable variations among 

 the resultant fruits. The same is true of all other fruits and seeds. 

 So if you propose to raise new varieties in this way, I bid you good- 

 bye, for I consider that a very dull form of gambling. The only 

 reason why some tradesmen still use so blind a method is that they 

 possess one advantage the amateur does not have, viz., plenty of 

 land and facilities for raising seedlings on an enormous scale at 

 little cost. But even then it would be quicker and surer to employ 

 a scientific plant breeder. 



The scientific way to hybridize is this: First, remove the 

 stamens before the flower opens. Second, put a bag over the 

 flower so that bees cannot touch it. Third, when the stigma is 

 ripe, bring to it pollen from a flower of another species. Fourth, 

 record what you have done. Is this asking too much? English 

 amateurs do not think so. It is about as much trouble as playing 

 golf and keeping your own score. Only by studying such records 

 has the world made its recent phenomenal progress in plant breed- 

 ing. For instance, an Austrian priest named Mendel hybridized 

 some garden peas and discovered a law which is of the greatest 

 practical benefit to plant breeders of anything since Darwin's 

 time. You will find all about it in Professor Bateson's paper 

 called "Practical Aspects of the New Discoveries in Heredity" 

 in the "Proceedings of the International Conference on Plant 

 Breeding and Hybridization," published by the Horticultural 

 Society of New York. 



More than half the battle in plant breeding is to find out 

 whether the thing you propose to do is worth doing and whether it 

 has not been already done. However, the amateur plant breeder 

 has one great advantage over other inventors, viz., he can always 

 find out, if he is persistent, what the world needs most. For 



