How to Make New Varieties— By M. J. ioms — 



JUST WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT TO MAKE NEW PLANTS IN YOUR OWN BACK YARD— EXPLICIT 

 DIRECTIONS WITHOUT SENTIMENTAL GUSH OR SHAM MYSTERY — WHAT ANYONE CAN DO 



Photographs by the author 



[Editor's Note. — The joyful news that Mr. Burbank has been "endowed" by the Carnegie Institute, so that he may go ahead with his creative work for the next ten years 

 without worrying about the financial side, has called forth a flood of newspaper and magazine articles which are mostly "bosh." These articles have made all sorts of preposterous 

 claims^ — such as Mr. Burbank himself would, of course, never defend. To say that a thornless cactus good for forage, or any other plant, will flourish from the Tropics to the 

 Arctic regions is manifestly absurd. Moreover, the reporters have invested the whole subject with a most alluring but quite unnecessary mystery. Plant breeders are not " wizards." 



As a matter of fact, the mystery exists only in the minds of the reporters. No harm has been done — it is merely amusing — but none of these articles has ever given anyone a 

 definite idea of how to make a variety or what varieties are worth making. 



We therefore announce a new department of The Garden Magazine, to be called "Making New Varieties." The following article is the first of a series. It will be followed by 

 such articles as: "How an English Minister Made the Shirley Poppies"; "What Kinds cf Lilies the World Really Needs"; "Wild Flowers Worth Improving"; "Important Types of 

 Grapes We Lack"; "Who Can Give Us an Early Sweet Corn with a Long Cob ?" "The Possibility of a Perennial Sweet Pea," etc.] 



HPHERE are two distinct phases of plant 

 A breeding. The first and fundamental 

 one is "hybridization" or "cross-breeding." 

 This is the process by which we cross two 

 different species or varieties so as to produce 



248. Be careful to exclude all but the pollen of 

 the selected, plant by removing the stamens. These 

 open flowers are too old. Any of the buds will do. 

 Open, and remove the stamens. (See Fig. 249) 



new plants having some of the characters 

 of both parents. The second phase is 

 "selection," the choosing from new plants 

 those that approach nearest to the ideal 

 we are seeking. Most of the improved 

 forms of plants have been produced by 

 selection alone, without any hybridizing 

 at all. 



In order to cross two plants you have 

 to put the pollen of one flower on the 

 pistil of another. Everybody ought to 

 know what petals, sepals, stamens and 

 pistils are, but I will take nothing for 

 granted. 



The stamen has three parts — the thread- 

 like stalk, or filament, the anthers at the end 

 of the stalk, and the pollen which is borne 

 in the anthers. The pollen is the vital 

 element and, when ripe, is fine, dust- 

 like and often highly colored. Without this 

 pollen no seed can be formed. Fig. 253 

 shows some typical stamens and their parts. 

 The stamens are usually located just inside 

 of the petals, but in double flowers they 

 are intermingled with the inner rows of the 

 petals if present at all. 



The pistil or group of pistils occupies the 



very centre of the flower. Like the stamen, 

 it is composed of three parts. The essential 

 part where the seed is borne is at the base, 

 and is called the ovary. Above the ovary is 

 a stalk called the style, and at the end of 

 this style is the stigma or place where 

 the pollen grain must fall in order to 

 form seeds. The stigma is usually knob 

 shaped. 



Pollination is the placing of the pollen 

 from one plant upon the stigma of another 

 plant. 



Fertilization takes place when the contents 

 of the pollen grain unite with the ovule 

 or contents of the ovary. Until this 

 takes place no seed is developed, no 

 matter how much pollen may be pres- 

 ent. Furthermore, only one pollen grain 

 can act. 



In order to be sure that its own pollen 



249. Removing the stamens before they shed pollen 

 is an imperative first step. Select only young flowers 



does not act you must remove the stamens 

 from the flower you wish to bear seed. 

 Of course this must be done before any 

 pollen has been shed. 



THE PLANTMAKER'S TOOL KIT 



The necessary tools are few — a pair of 

 forceps or common tweezers, or, lacking 

 these, a common steel hairpin, a pair of 

 small scissors, a pocket knife, some twine and 

 some white paper for tags, or the little 

 price tags your dry-goods merchant uses. 

 170 



A little hand magnifier (shown in Fig. 252) is 

 very useful, and, in some cases, almost 

 necessary. 



IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD START 



The choice of the plants you are to use is 

 a matter of personal taste. Some people 

 will wish to work with flowers, others with 

 fruits, others with garden vegetables, and 

 some will wish to try various plants. Any 

 simple form will answer. 



After the plants are chosen decide what 

 you wish to breed for. Here the field is so 

 broad that the question becomes a purely 

 personal one. In flowers, quantity of bloom, 

 length of blooming period, color, hardiness 

 and such characters are generally considered. 

 The important thing is to have some definite 

 ideal of what you wish to obtain and then 

 work toward that ideal. Indiscriminate 

 breeding may give you some interesting 

 results, but the chances are that nothing of 

 value will be obtained. Don't try to cross 

 plants too far apart botanically. Let the 

 freak hunter try to cross the corn with the 

 milkweed to obtain mush and milk, but 

 don't you so waste your time when there is so 

 much good work to be done. Choose 

 your plants from the same botanical family 

 and, if possible, the same genus. Take some 

 common flower like the geranium to start 

 with. Enough interesting things can be 

 developed in that one flower to occupy 

 you for years. 



If the flowers of the plant chosen have 

 both stamens and pistil developed, the 



250. When the pistil of the flower selected as the 

 seed bearer is ripe the pollen from the anther of the 

 other selected flower is shed over it 



