HYBRIDIZING AND CROSSING. 75 



nounced by nine out of ten casual observers to have been 

 a perfect success in crossing these two varieties. But as 

 the facts are, I know that no such causes did exist, and 

 that the production of the fac-simile, in outward appearance, 

 of the fruit of the Delaware was only the result of the in- 

 herent variableness of the parent variety. 



To convince us that hybridization has actually taken 

 place, we need to see more than one of the prominent 

 characteristics of both parents mixed in the offspring. 



Again, if the offspring should appear to be only a repro- 

 duction of the mother plant without variation, it would 

 not prove that the hybridizing process had not been 

 effectual. But it would only show that there was a pre- 

 dominant power in the mother plant to reproduce itself, and 

 the influence which the artificial fertilizing had produced 

 was entirely hidden in the present generation of seedlings, 

 but in the next generation it might show itself distinctly. 



A good test to determine whether a plant is a true 

 hybrid or a mixture of two species is to plant a quantity 

 of its seeds ; a portion of the seedlings thus produced will 

 be pretty sure to show more prominently than others some 

 of the characteristics of one or the other of the parents ; or, 

 in other words, the mixture will again separate, and a part 

 will return each to its original progenitor. 



There are at the present time several varieties of grapes 

 under cultivation which are called hybrids ; the most noted 

 are Allen's Hybrid, and a number of varieties under the 

 name of Rogers' Hybrids. These are said to be the result 

 of fertilizing one of the varieties of the Vitis Labrusca 

 with one of the Vitis vinifera, the former being a native 

 species, and the latter a foreign one. By growing a quan- 

 tity of seedlings from these sorts, we may ascertain if 

 they are true hybrids, as claimed, for, if our position is 

 correct, a portion of the seedlings will be more like the 

 Vitis Labrusca than their parents, while others will show 

 more of the characters of the Vitis vinifera. 



