100 HOETICULTURAL XAXUAL. 



and texture of flesh a true Fameuse. This is now known 

 as the Striped Fameuse. 



103. Crossing and Hybridizing. — The florists have not 

 neglected the interesting and profitable work of crossing 

 and hybridizing. Indeed, by crossing and selection a 

 large part of our beautiful flowers and flowering shrubs' 

 have been developed. But aside from the noble work of 

 Luther Burbank, of California, little has yet been done in 

 this country in improving the orchard fruits by crossing. 

 This does not come from the difficulty of performing the 

 work, but mainly from the fact that it requires longer time 

 to test the value of the seedlings produced. 



In Nature the bees and other insects perform the work 

 of crossing, but not in a methodic way. In artificial 

 pollination we are able to select the parents that promise 

 the most useful and desirable combination of hardiness on 

 one side and best fruits on the other. 



104. Advance Planning of the Work. — Professor Bailey 

 says in his book on " Plant Breeding": "It is necessary, 

 on account of the indefiniteness of the term 'variety, 

 to remember that only varieties true to seed, or races and 

 sub-species, can bequeath their characteristics with any 

 degree of certainty; inconstant species often designated as 

 varieties are not considered in the theory of hybridiza- 

 tion." 



The development by crossing and selection of our native 

 grapes, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and goose- 

 berries has been quite rapid and satisfactory, but much 

 remains yet to be done. The possibilities are shown by 

 one test with the gooseberry. The blossoms of the wild 

 species of Manitoba were pollinated with the pollen of 

 Champion and Industry; over one hundred seedlings 

 resulted, all of which were more vigorous than the wild 

 species, with larger, thicker leaves, and some of them bear 



