THE CONTRIBUTION OF CARL FRIEDRICH VON 

 GARTNER TO THE HISTORY OF PLANT 

 HYBRIDIZATION 



PROFESSOR HERBERT F. ROBERTS 

 Kansas State xVgricultural College 



In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the ques- 

 tion of the sexuality of plants was still undergoing a cer- 

 tain amount of disputation, despite Koelreuter's investi- 

 gations ; the history of which episode is sufficiently trace- 

 able through the writings of Schelver and Henschel. In 

 order to assist in the settlement of the matter, the Royal 

 Prussian Academy of the Sciences at Berlin, made public 

 announcement in 1819 of an offer of a prize for the solu- 

 tion of the question — ''Does hybrid fertilization exist in 

 the plant kingdom." No response having been evoked, 

 the Academy extended the comi)etition period, and 

 doubled the amount of the prize offered. On July 3, 1826, 

 tile prize was awarded, although not in its entirety, since 

 the Academy did not consider the solution adequate, to 

 Dr. A. F. Wiegmann, of Braunschweig. 



In January, 1830, the question was propounded anew 

 by the Dutch Academy of the Sciences at Haarlem, in the 

 following language : 



What does experience teach regarding the production of new species 

 and varieties, through the artificial fertilization of flowers of the one 

 with the pollen of the others, and what economic and ornamental plants 

 can be produced and multiplied in this way. 



Since, by the termination of the contest period, January 

 1, 1834, no response had been received, the period was 

 extended to January 1, 1836. In October, 1835, Carl 

 Friedrich von Gartner of Calw, son of a distinguished 

 botanist, Joseph Gartner, formerly professor at the uni- 

 versities of Tiibingen and St. Petersburg, and who for a 

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