38 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 
us a specimen that possesses some desirable quality in a 
high degree. Such a specimen, if discovered, is then kept 
and its characteristics perpetuated by propagating from its 
buds. Many choice varieties originated in this way. For 
instance, the Wealthy apple, a leading variety of the upper 
Mississippi Valley, was grown from a seed by Mr. Peter 
Gideon, at Excelsior, Minn., in 1864, and the many thousands 
of Wealthy apple trees now found in the country all descended 
from that one seedling. 
(2) The second method by which new varieties are de- 
veloped is by cross-fertilization. Two varieties are selected, 
each possessing certain characteristics that we should like to 
combine in a single individual. Then, at blossoming time 
we carefully fertilize some pistils on a plant of one variety 
with pollen from the other, and occasionally we succeed in 
getting just the result desired. The Transcendent and the 
Hyslop crab apples are examples of this kind of origin. They 
were produced by crossing the hardy but diminutive Siberian 
crab with a larger species. (See ‘‘ Cross-fertilization,” p. 6s.) 
The development of new strains and varieties, called 
plant breeding, is as important as it is fascinating, and has 
engaged the attention of practical students of plant life for 
many centuries. Some of the productions of such men as 
Mr. Luther Burbank are so different from their ancestors 
that they are often spoken of as new creations; and their 
value to mankind is so great that their originators should be 
ranked among the greatest benefactors of their time. 
Fruit GROWING IN THE NoRTH 
The northern states, for which this book is especially de- 
signed, are not regarded as lying within the fruit belt, and 
yet some fruits of the finest quality can be grown here as 
