August 28, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



349 



from the fruit-rot. This is one of the worst varieties to 

 rot whenever that disease is present. CooUdge's Favorite is 

 one of the best of the free-stones. It increases in size rapidly 

 just at the ripening period. Hill's Chili is another most relia- 

 ble kind. When asked to recommend one variety likely to 

 succeed over the widest area and under the most varying 

 conditions, Mr. Russell named the Wright, but he adds that it 

 is late and rather poor in quality. This is a seedling obtained 

 from W. F. Wright, of Johnson County, Nebraska. It comes 

 true to name from the seed in nearly every case. Many well- 

 known varieties, such as Crawford and Mi.xon, though hardy 

 in wood, are tender in bud and prove a failure in this climate. 

 The firm is testing a number of seedlings, some of which are 

 very promising. One of these, knovi'n as Russell's No. i, is 

 the first free-stone to ripen. It is a seedling of Hill's Chili, 

 grown next to Alexander. It closely resembles Alexander, Ijut 

 ripens about four weeks later. 



The orchards receive the best of cultivation up to the mid- 

 dle of August. Not a weed is to be seen anywhere. The 

 method of training would very likely be the first thing to attract 

 the attention of an eastern grower. The trees are allowed to 

 branch right at the ground, and are headed back moderately at 

 the annual pruning, so that they are not over twelve or fifteen 

 feet high, and in most cases the lower limbs lie directly on the 

 ground, or at least partially rest on it. This thoroughly pro- 

 tects the trunk of the tree or does away with it altogether, and 

 no serious injury comes to these limbs in cultivation, as a 

 casual observer would expect. 



The fruit is marketed in ten-pound grape baskets with raised 

 covers, and at the time of the visit — July 25th — it was retailing 

 at fifty cents a basket. 



Agricultural College, Lincoln, Neb. Frcd IV. Card. 



Plant-breeding. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Opinions may differ as to tlie best work for the experi- 

 ment stations, and while having the utmost admiration and 

 respect for Professor Bailey's horticultural views, yet his reply 

 to Professor Goff's plea for more attention to plant-breeding 

 by the stations (see page 31S of your current volume) should 

 not go unchallenged. My claim is tliat there is fully as much 

 scientific exactness required in breeding plants as in breeding 

 animals, and that the analogy between the two is not super- 

 ficial. 



Professor Bailey's failure to succeed in the combination and 

 fixation of the characters of Squashes, Gourds and Tomatoes, 

 so that they will continue to reproduce themselves from seed, 

 is no criterion for the production of new varieties in perennial 

 species ; for these, when produced by intelligent combining 

 and selecting, can be multiplied practically without further 

 variation. "The tendency in all plants is to vary when placed 

 under new and strange conditions. The best results of these 

 variations, when selected and combined in one individual 

 plant — which is readily accomplished in most cases — may 

 prove of inestimable value ; and in the perennial we have the 

 transcendent advantage that the improved variety may be 

 multiplied by division a million times, each part retaining the 

 unimpaired qualities of the original. 



It may be true that our eyes are dazzled by the reports of cre- 

 ations in plants " through the foresight of the operator," and 

 that "time will discover the merits of all pretensions," but does 

 any one believe that the Munson Grapes, the Carman and Daw- 

 son Roses, the various hybrid Orchids and a thousand other new 

 flowers and fruits were produced in any other way except by 

 " the foresight of the operator," just as truly as in the case of 

 any mechanical or chemical combination ? True, most of the 

 processes of Nature are slow, quiet and unobtrusive, but not 

 necessarily so. An intelligent combination of several forces 

 in one useful direction will often produce immediate results 

 which never could have been obtained otherwise. 



A kernel of corn — if the right variety has been selected — 

 when placed under the proper conditions of heat and agita- 

 tion, is not very slow to unfold into a greatly changed product. 

 Unless, however, we have some knowledge of the proper 

 combinations, the desired result would be very uncertain ; 

 exactly the same rules apply to the creation of new forms 

 throughout the vegetable kingdom. Not only can distinct 

 varieties of superlative value be produced "by the foresight 

 of the operator," but, as I believe, distinct and permanent new 

 species which will reproduce themselves from seed, genera- 

 tion after generation, with as little variation as is the case with 

 original wild ones.* A careful study of the matter, combined 



* Fur a more complete elucidation of the subject, see paper on " New Fruits and 

 Flowers," read at the last meeting ot the American Pomological Society. 



with field practice, will convince the operator that there are 

 fixed laws in the breeding of plants as in other natural forces, 

 and that the more we learn of these laws the more certainly 

 we can control results. 



Santa Rosa, Calif. Luihcr Blirbank. 



Plant-breeding Once More. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — ^Professor Bailey, in some comments on an article of 

 mine (page 318), says that " man does not have it in his power 

 to summarily produce a new variety with any degree of cer- 

 tainty." In dealing with wild plants in which we have no well- 

 marked varieties to begin with it is true that we must wait 

 patiently for chance variations ; but in plants of which we 

 already have more or less distinct varieties, I believe it is pos- 

 sible, by making use of the same kind of tact employed by the 

 breeders of animals, to produce varieties possessing special 

 qualities. I have done this in two instances myself. In both 

 cases I had a definite idea at the outset of what I desired to 

 accomplish, and though the immediate results of the crosses 

 made were far from what I aimed at, continued planting and 

 selection through several years have developed the varieties 

 'I sought with as much of fixity as the average vegetable 

 variety possesses. 



It seems to me that Professor Bailey's plea, " we must make 

 more of the varieties we have," is really a plea for more plant- 

 breeding. Of course, we ought to develop and improve the 

 varieties we already have, but if we " make the most" of them 

 we must also form new combinations of desirable qualities 

 through cross-fertilization. It is my conviction that some of 

 our experiment station workers can do much better service 

 for horticulture in this line than in the simple testing of the 

 varieties already in our catalogues. 



Experiment Station, Madison, Wis. E. S. Gojf. 



Recent Publications. 



Wayside and Woodland Blossoms. By Edward Step. 

 Frederick Warne &. Co., London and New York. 



This is a pocket guide to British wild flowers, constructed 

 somewhat on the plan of Mrs. Dana's popular manual. It 

 contains descriptions of about four hundred species, and 

 colored figures of one hundred and seventy-five species. 

 Neither drawing nor coloring is in the highest style of art, 

 but the pictures will certainly serve to identify the plants 

 described, and the text is rather more accurate, and con- 

 tains less irrelevant inatter than that of many books of this 

 kind wliich have been published on this sid« of the water. 

 Americans with little knowledge of botany will probably 

 find this a helpful guide when they wander through the 

 mother country if they wish to know the names of the 

 wild flowers they encounter. They may be surprised to 

 find that many flowers with which they are familiar at 

 home, such as the Marsli Marigold, the Wood Sorrel and 

 the Harebell, are figured in this little book as inhabitants of 

 Great Britain also, and it ought to interest them to know 

 tliat many of our commonest weeds, such as Shepherd's 

 Purse, Chickweed, Ox-eye Daisy and Bittersweet, which 

 are also figured among British wild flowers, are not natives 

 of America, but emigrants from Europe. 



Notes. 



Mr. William Scott, of Buffalo, was elected President of the 

 Society of American Florists at its late meeting in Pittsburg 

 last week. 



All the blossoms dropped from the trees of Osbeck's Su- 

 mach, Rhus semialata, var. Osbeckii, hereabouts ten days or 

 a fortnight ago, but many of the Sophora trees in Central 

 Park are still covered with flowers, altliough they came into 

 bloom before the S^-imachs did. This long season of flower- 

 ing is a strong point in favor of the Sophora. 



Mr. J. H. Hale writes to the Fruit Trade Journal that there 

 are more than half a million fruiting Peach-trees in Connec- 

 ticut this year, and since this has been a favorable season for 

 northern orcliards the output in that state will reach three- 

 quarters of a million baskets of fancy fruit, and one-third of 

 tills is enough to supply the local den'iand. A few peaches of 

 the Mountain Rose variety are now ready for market. Early 

 Crawfords are just ripening, but the great bulk of Oldmixon, 



