112 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



to produce plants that will rapidly revert to 

 their former state when the care is relaxed. 

 For permanent results he must rely on 

 crosses and sports. By a cross he means 

 a plant which has for its parents two plants 

 that while nearly allied are not alike, each 

 one of which has qualities he would like to 

 fix. In this way the Kiefer pear was made 

 by crossing the gritty Chinese sand pear 

 with the fine-flavored and juicy Bartlett. 

 This resulted in a pear which, while lacking 

 the splendid table qualities of the latter, 

 had some of the firmer consistency of the 

 sand pear, thus producing a fruit firm 

 enough to handle and ship in bulk. 



On the other hand, the Sharpless seedling 

 strawberry was a sport, a plant genius, 

 that in one generation immediately shoved 

 ahead of its parents, and has since main- 

 tained its place. It is plants such as these 

 that are the gardener's hope. Hundreds 

 of them turn out worthless, but now and 

 then his efforts are rewarded by a new seed- 

 ling that repays him for his seemingly lost 

 labor. 



