164 A PLEA FOR THE PRACTICE OF HYBRIDISATION OF PLANTS. 



Royal Horticultural Society, the Americans, ever ready at 

 grasping improved ideas, at once commenced experiments in 

 raising new varieties of apples by means of artificial hybridisa- 

 tion. The result is that at the present day America has the 

 finest collection of apples of any country in the world, and 

 these all raised on her own soil. So local are many of these 

 varieties, that they will not thrive out of the State in which 

 they were raised. As with apples so Tvith grapes. The early 

 American colonists crossed the European varieties with the 

 native grape, Vitis labrusca. This latter unfortunately 

 gives to all the American varieties a slightly " foxy " flavour, 

 but it also gives them a strong constitution and large productive 

 powers, and California is to-day reaping the benefit of the 

 exertions of her early settlers, in both grapes and apples. 



To improve our own grapes I think we could not do 

 better than follow the example of America, and cross the 

 best European or American varieties with one of our native 

 kinds, as a basis for further hybrids. I have been informed by 

 several gentlemen that there is growing around Cooktown one 

 of the tuberous-rooted varieties of grape. I have never seen 

 this plant, but I very much wish to do so, for if it is only half 

 as good as the description given me — which I have no reason to 

 doubt — -here is the very thing to our hands : a plant with a 

 fleshy tuberous root, and consequently capable of withstanding 

 any amount of drought, nature having adapted it to the 

 position it occupies, and from which an endless variety of 

 Australian hybrids might be raised perfectly suited to our 

 climate. 



I am quite aware that there have been in the past tens of 

 thousands of chance seedling fruits such as oranges and peaches 

 raised in this colony, yet we never get a peach equal to the 

 original varieties as grown in Europe, in consequence of all the 

 European kinds degenerating when imported here. The cause 

 of the lack of improvement in these seedlings is that they have 

 been raised from seed produced from flowers left to fertilise 

 themselves., or to chance fertilisation by insect agency, instead 

 of by judicious hybridisation. 



Hyl^ridi'^ation and cross bleeding of plants have now become 

 a science of which the results in either fruit or flowers are 

 made an almost absolute certainty. The hybridist should have 

 a clear conception of what he wishes to obtain, and then 

 operate on the two varieties possessing the desired qualities 

 that he wishes to concentrate in one. For instance, take two 

 varieties of oranges or peaches as the case may be. One is a 

 very hardy and productive variety that can be always depended 



