32 CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



" I have often noticed that the anthers have shed their 

 pollen before the corolla, or cap, comes off: this is not al- 

 ways the case. But, to make sure work, it should always 

 be removed, although some judgment must be used as to 

 the right time of doing it. My usual practice has been 

 to choose those clusters that are the farthest advanced, 

 and cut away all but four or five of the flower-buds, 

 and, when the buds are nearly ready to open, to remove 

 the corolla, or cap, and apply the pollen of the kind 

 we have chosen for the male parent, covering the cluster 

 at the same time with a small bag, and also enclosing a 

 cluster of the male parent in full bloom ; and usually I 

 retouch the pistil the next day, as it may not have been 

 in the state to receive the pollen at first. I have not the 

 least doubt now as to the certainty of raising new 

 grapes by this process." 



Mr. Rogers has raised his numerous " first-class seed 

 lings" from hybridized seed of the Mammoth Fox. One 

 proof that they are true crosses is in the fact, that the 

 Mammoth has an imperfect flower, while the seedlings have 

 perfect flowers, like their male parent. His " second-class 

 seedlings" are from seed of the first class, again hybridized 

 with foreign kinds. Some of these certainly show marked 

 foreign characteristics ; too much so, in the opinion of Mr. 



