JULY 28, 1899.] 
sions, freely provided for the entertainment 
of the two Associations by the railroads and 
citizens of California, were much appreci- 
ated by the delegates, who were thus en- 
abled to learn many important things 
regarding the wonderful natural resources. 
and industrial development of California, 
which the ordinary tourist does not become 
acquainted with. 
A. C. TRvE. 
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HYBRID- 
IZATION.* 
Ar the Royal Horticultural Society’s gar- 
dens at Chiswick, on July 11th, an Inter- 
national Conference was opened for the 
purpose of discussing ‘ Hybridization and 
the Cross-breeding of Varieties.’ There 
were present representatives of the govern- 
ment of the United States and of most of 
the European countries, besides a large 
number of British hybridists and botanists. 
An interesting and unique exhibition of 
plants and flowers had been arranged in 
the vinery. All the exhibits were received 
under condition that they were ‘a new 
species or new variety.’ Most of the 
plants bore a card which stated the name 
of the hybrid or cross- bred, the name of the 
female or seed parent, the name of the male 
or pollen parent, and remarks on variation, 
size,formand color. Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
the President of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, welcomed the members of the Con- 
ference, and mentioned that the King of 
the Belgians had conferred upon Dr. Max- 
well Masters, F.R.S., who later on took the 
chair at the Conference, the insignia of an 
officer of the Order of Leopold. 
At the sitting of the Conference Dr. Max- 
well Masters, in opening the proceedings, 
gave an address on the history of hybridi- 
zation. He said they had met to discuss 
the most important problem of modern prog- 
ress in experimental horticulture. Apart 
*From reports in the London Times. 
SCIENCE. 
113 
from scientific experimental horticulture he 
did not think that they had progressed at 
all, as far as the practical details of culti- 
vation were concerned, beyond what their 
forefathers had done. But when they came 
to scientific experimental work their fore- 
fathers were nowhere. If they went into 
present-day gardens they found that nine- 
tenths of the plants were the productions of 
the gardener’s art, and not natural produc- 
tions. There was a time when they took 
an interest in new plants introduced from 
the tropics and elsewhere; but now the 
Horticultural Society’s flower shows at the 
Drill-hall, Westminster, did not produce 
anything new more than once or twice in 
a year. The so-called new plants now ex- 
hibited were the products of the gardener’s 
art. Referring to the discussions in the 
early part of the 18th century as to the 
question of sexes in plants, hesaid that the 
first person in this country or any other 
who formed an artificial hybrid purposely— 
many people must have produced them un- 
consciously before that time—was Thomas 
Fairchild, who must be known to many 
people as the originator of the flower sermons 
now sO common in many churches. The 
hybrid which he produced was a cross be- 
tween a sweet william and acarnation pink, 
and something very much like it was still 
in existence. From that time, however, 
progress was slow until Linneeus was struck 
with the same phenomenon ; while Thomas 
Andrew Knight,a former President of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, and Dean 
Herbert were celebrated for their work 
in the same direction. In their day there 
was a great prejudice against hybridi- 
zation among certain religious people. It 
was said that by the cross-breeding of 
plants people were flying in the face of 
Providence and that the process was wicked. 
But Dean Herbert showed that by cross- 
ing two species of daffodils which he 
found on the Pyrenees he could produce 
