BURBANK'S HORTICULTURAL NOVELTIES 187 



duced in the same genus, among them the phenomenal- 

 berry, which may be described as a gigantic red raspberry, 

 and which is now the most noted. It is a hybrid between 

 the Californian wild dewberry and the Cuthbert raspberry. 

 All of them may be reproduced from seed as well as in the 

 ordinary vegetative way. 



The increase of variability which commonly is the aim 

 of hybridization may be induced along definite or indefinite 

 lines. In other words, the combination of characters which 

 is the chief aim of crossing, may be so simple as to be easily 

 calculated beforehand, or it may be so intricate as to pro- 

 duce a chaos of forms among which selection will ultimately 

 become the real factor of improvement. For scientific 

 purposes, the more simple cases are in many respects the 

 most interesting, and for this reason we shall now proceed 

 to the discussion of some of them. 



It is a much discussed question whether new characters 

 may be produced by crossing. Of course, there is no doubt 

 that new varieties and new races may originate in this way, 

 but this is not the same point. It is well known that the 

 larger number of hybrids simply owe their character to a 

 new combination of qualities. It is the combination wilich | 

 is new, not the qualities themselves. Some characters areJ 

 derived from one parent, others from the other. Each of 

 them may simply be inherited in the same way as in the case 

 of pure descent. But by their new combinations they yield 

 varieties of higher practical value, and notable examples are 

 afforded in those cases where one parent has contributed 

 vigor of growth, hardiness in winter, resistance to disease, or 

 productivity, and the other bright flowers, palatable fruit, 

 or nutritious seeds. For the breeder, such combinations of 

 characters have, of course, the same value as single favor- 

 able marks, but from a biological point of view the two prin- 

 ciples must be sharply distinguished. The combination of 



