110 PBOPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



perfect flowers exist in the same cluster, the bunches of 

 fruit will be equally irregular, as shown in figure 47, from 

 the ' ' Grape Culturist," page 14. But on vines bearing only 

 staminate flowers, or those with fully developed stamens 

 and deformed pistils, no fruit is possible or is ever pro- 

 duced. There are many vines of this kind to be found 

 in different parts of the country, and some very old ones 

 have been preserved more as a curiosity than for intrinsic 

 value. In the Spring of 1860 I saw one of these stam- 

 inate vines in the grounds of T. S. Kennedy, Esq., Louis- 

 ville, Ky., which was then supposed to be over seventy- 

 five years old, and although it bloomed freely almost 

 every spring, it had never been known to produce a fruit, 

 its flowers, like others of this sex, exhaling a fragrance 

 somewhat like that of the Mignonette. 



But while occasional abnoi-mal forms are to be found 

 among wild plants of all classes, orders and genera, they 

 may be considered as exceptions to a general rule, while 

 among cultivated plants it is almost the reverse, for sup- 

 pressed, deformed or enormously developed sexual organs 

 and malformations of the various parts and appendages 

 are to be met with almost everywhere. In a strict botan- 

 ical sense, all such variations from normal types are 

 monstrosities, and yet double flowers, seedless fruits, 

 misshaped and discolored foliage are greatly prized and 

 usually considered in the light of valuable acquisitions. 

 Owing to this wide departure from normal types, as seen 

 in all classes of cultivated plants, it would require far too 

 much of the space at my command to give full and defi- 

 nite directions for crossing and hybridizing the vast 

 number of different species of plants belonging to the 

 various classes, or even the members of some of the larger 

 families. But I may remark, in a general way, that when 

 a person possesses the inclination to perform such opera- 

 tions, he will naturally begin to observe the form, struc- 

 ture and habits of plants, and soon, with the aid of some 



