466 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 188. 



chairmen of state fruit committees could collect more reliable 

 reports than can be obtained where state and district societies 

 do not exist. Our state reports are in some instances deficient 

 in reliable and practical information. To persons unacquainted 

 with the scope of our state reports and their influence in 

 bringing the most desirable class of citizens to their borders, 

 let me say, that one of the main considerations a prospective 

 settler takes in view is the adaptability to successful fruit- 

 growing of any section where he intends to make his resi- 

 dence. The state which gives the most comprehensive and 

 reliable report as to its advantages in these productions will 

 receive the most intelligent, energetic and desirable addition 

 to its population ; and that community most exclusively de- 

 voting itself to fruit-growing and horticultural pursuits is 

 found to advance more rapidly in everything tending to ele- 

 vate, refine and enrich its citizens. 



In urging the necessity of scientific pomology, Mr. Berck- 

 mans argued as follows : 



While this society has never deviated from its original ob- 

 ject, which is the advancement of the science of pomology, 

 yet the wonderful strides made in the production of fruits 

 make it imperative to give commercial fruit-growing all due 

 attention, inasmuch as the magnitude of that source of pro- 

 duction is, in a measure, the result of the scientific work of 

 this society. When we compare the wonderful array of the 

 various fruits with which our markets are now supplied with 

 those of a generation past, well may we feel amazed at the 

 variety and abundance as well as improved quality of our 

 market products. A few years ago many fruits were offered 

 in such limited quantities that the names of special varieties 

 were almost wholly ignored. Strawberries were all strawber- 

 ries ; the Isabella was the only name used to specify a variety 

 of Grapes that could be found, and among Pears the Sugar 

 Top was synonymous to the Bartlett, and every Orange, good, 

 bad or indifferent, was sold as a Florida Orange. ' Now, on the 

 contrary, the market reports issued by every commission man 

 who values his interests name the varieties of all classes of 

 fruits, and quotations are made according to their value. Pur- 

 chasers have become gradually educated to the knowledge of 

 the best varieties, and thus inferior sorts are driven out of the 

 market. With these facts in view, commercial fruit-growers 

 are interested in improving our popular varieties of fruits by 

 the most careful methods of cultivation, picking, sorting and 

 packing, and they can increase their pecuniary returns by pro- 

 moting the advance of scientific pomology. 



THE HYBRIDIZATION OF PLANTS. 



Professor Charles E. Bessey began a paper on this subject 

 by saying that in the lowest forms of vegetable life the pro- 

 cess of reproduction is exceedingly simple — that is, one plant 

 divides itself into two ; each new plant divides again, and so 

 on indefinitely. But when conditions are not so favorable, 

 reproduction takes place in a general way as follows : Two of 

 these free-swimming aquatic plants come together and merge 

 their substance into one another — that is, fertilization consists 

 simply of two entire plants, or parts of plants, which fuse into 

 one, and lose their previous identity. This means the simple 

 union of two individuals for the sake of strength and produc- 

 tion. The united plant is able to live and resist adverse in- 

 fluences, which otherwise would have destroyed the single 

 plants. The two plants after union become one round body, 

 and this covers itself with a protecting shell,. and since the 

 larger the mass is, the smaller, proportionally, is the exposed 

 surface, the united plant needs less covering than the two 

 did before the union, thereby saving both material and force. 

 Thus the union of the two into one mass has saved the life of 

 the individual and has perpetuated the species. This is essen- 

 tially what takes place in all plants where there is anything like 

 fertilization. The law is, that fertilization is the union of two 

 masses of living matter. 



In the fertilization of flowering plants we have the same 

 coming together of individual masses, and as a consequence 

 of the union of the male and female cells, there begins a 

 growth in the young seed which results in the formation of 

 the embryo which is to be found in every seed. 



This fertilization — that is, the joining of the substance of the 

 pollen-cell with that of the seed-cell — does not differ in any 

 essential respect from that which takes place in the simplest 

 plant. 



The old distinction between crossing and hybridization is 

 one which has nothing like as much importance as at first 

 sight it would seem to have. If varieties differ from species 

 only in degree, then crossing of varieties differs from hy- 

 bridization of species also only in degree. Furthermore, it is 

 well known that no two animals are ever exactly alike. No 



two plants are ever exactly alike, even where they belong to 

 the same variety ; and therefore when the pollen is taken from 

 the flowers of one plant and carried to those of another there 

 is a slight crossing of kinds. .It is not as great as when the 

 pollen is taken from a flower of one variety to that of another, 

 nor by any means as great as when it is taken from the flowers 

 of one species to those of another, but all these differ only in 

 degree. 



Whenever crossing takes place the offspring will partake of 

 the character of both parents. This follows as a necessity 

 from the nature of the act. We have seen that in any fertiliza- 

 tion there is a union of two plants, or two parts of plants, and 

 in crossing the male organ belongs to one variety or species, 

 while the female organ belongs to another. When these two 

 organs are joined the result is a union of the character of die 

 two varieties or species. In this way the offspring must par- 

 take of the nature and characteristics of its parents. It is im- 

 possible for it to be otherwise. Now, it has been noticed in 

 the breeding of animals, and to a certain extent in the breed- 

 ing of plants, that the two parents do not always exert the 

 same influence upon the offspring. In the case of many 

 natural crosses which take place between the wild species of 

 plants, noticeably in the Verbenas, the Oaks, the Willows and 

 others, we have been able to detect this difference with such 

 certainty that it is not at all a difficult thing to tell whether, in 

 the case of any particular cross, the pollen comes from this or 

 that species. 



In nature, crossing is accomplished largely through the 

 agency of insects, but when we bring this matter within the 

 domain of horticulture we cannot afford to depend upon such 

 precarious aid. The time is coming when the grower of fruits 

 will as carefully select the parents for his crosses as the grower 

 of fine animals now does. The grower of plants, however, has 

 one advantage over the grower of animals. He need not pen 

 up his plants, he need not grow them in different greenhouses 

 or in different fields. As the pollen of our fruit-trees is always 

 yellowish, there is no difficulty in handling it upon the black 

 point of a hair-pencil. The pencil should be slightly moist- 

 ened, so that the pollen will adhere to it, and then, when 

 loaded with pollen from one flower, it can be gently brushed 

 over the ends of the pistils of the next one. In order to be 

 sure that the stamens of the flower to which the pollen is 

 brought do not themselves drop pollen to the pistils, it is well 

 to remove them at once by clipping them out by means of a 

 delicate pair of scissors. 



This operation is not difficult. It simply requires care in 

 watching for the exact time of the maturity of the flower, and 

 then a very little skill will enable one to place the pollen. The 

 maturity of the flower may be told in the following way. The 

 stamens are matured when they are dropping the pollen. 

 This can be seen by any one at a glance. The pistils are matured 

 when the top stigma has a moist appearance. This moisture 

 is what makes the pollen adhere, so that any attempt at cross- 

 ing before the maturity of the pistil would be ineffectual. 



There can be no question that horticulture will be greatly 

 benefited when horticulturists begin to breed varieties scien- 

 tifically. It is a well-known fact that the seeds of apples, 

 taken from any particular tree, will produce all sorts of varia- 

 tions. Now, the secret of this is, that the flowers which pro- 

 duce these seeds had been crossed with pollen taken by 

 insects, perhaps, from a dozen different kinds of trees. Fur- 

 thermore, all our Apple-trees are now of mixed blood, and we 

 know very well what that means, especially in the animal 

 kingdom. Now, careful experiments should be made by mem- 

 bers of this society. Suppose that you select two Apple-trees 

 which are not far from one another, and which, for conven- 

 ience, are not very large. It will be best to select trees of 

 marked varieties. If they are trees which have characters 

 about them which would indicate that they were likely to 

 reproduce their kind and their characters, it would be better 

 still. Now, when these trees are just about ready to flower, 

 cover each one with mosquito netting which has been care- 

 fully sewed together, so as not to leave any opening to admit 

 insects. When the stamens on the one tree are just bursting 

 open so as to shed their pollen, take a soft camel's-hair brush, 

 wet it slightly, and carry some of the pollen from certain flow- 

 ers on the first tree to certain flowers on the second tree. 

 Then carry pollen from the second tree to certain flowers on 

 the first tree. If you remove the stamens from the fertilized 

 flowers it will add much to the certainty of the results. Mark 

 the flowers which you have experimented upon ; keep the 

 trees covered with the mosquito-netting until the flowers 

 wither, and then remove it. Carefully note the growth of the 

 apple during the season. Notice whether the flesh of the apple 

 has been changed in any way, and when the fruits are finally 



