Cross- Breeding and Hybridizing. 9 



ciate the term more particularly with marked vigor and productiveness; 

 these are the characters most useful in nature and also in cultivation, the 

 ones which we oftenest desire to obtain. Another type of variation which 

 we constantly covet is something which we can call a new character, which 

 will lead to the production of a new cultural variety ; and we are always 

 looking to this as the legitimate result of crossing. We have forgotten, if, 

 indeed, we ever knew, that the commoner, all-pervading, more important 

 function of the cross is to infuse some new strength or power into the off- 

 spring — to improve or to perpetuate an existing variety rather that to create 

 a new one. Or, if a new one is created, it comes from the gradual passing of 

 one into another — an inferior variety into a good one, a good one into a 

 superlative one. So nature employs crossing in a process of slow or gradual 

 improvement, one step leading to another, and not in any bold or sudden 

 creation of new forms. And there is evidence to show that something akin 

 to this must be done to secure the best and most permanent results under 

 cultivation. The notion is somehow firmly rooted in the popular mind that 

 new varieties can be produced with the greatest ease by crossing parents of 

 given attributes. There is something captivating about the notion. It 

 smacks of a somewhat magic power which man evokes as he passes his wand 

 ■ over the untamed forces of nature. But the wand is often only a gilded 

 stick, and is apt to serve no better purpose than the drum-major's preten- 

 tious baton ! 



Let me say, further, that crossing alone can accomplish comparatively little. 

 The chief power in the evolution or progression of plants appears to be selec- 

 tion, or, as Darwin puts it, the law of ' ' preservation of favorable individual 

 differences and variations, and the destruction of those which are injurious." 

 Selection is the force which augments, develops and fixes types. Man must 

 not only practice a judicious selection of parents from which the cross is to 

 come, which is in reality but the exercise of a choice, but he must constantly 

 select the best from among the crosses in order to maintain a high degree of 

 usefulness and to make any advancement ; and it sometimes happens that 

 the selection is much more important to the cultivator than the crossing. I 

 do not wish to discourage the crossing of plants, but I do desire to dispell 

 the charm which too often hangs about it. 



Further discussion of this subject naturally falls under two heads : the 

 improvement of existing types or varieties by means of crossing, and the 

 summary production of new varieties. I have already stated that the former 

 office is the more important one, and the proposition is easy of proof. It is 

 the chief use which nature makes of crossing— to strengthen the type. 

 Think, for instance, of the great rarity of hybrids or pronounced crosses in 

 nature. No doubt all the authentic cases on record could be entered in one 



