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THK ORCHID WORLD. 
57 
THE APPLICATION OF GENETICS TO ORCHID 
BREEDING.* 
By MAJOR C. C. HURST, F.L.S. 
(Director of the Burbage Experiment Station.) 
T 
HE new Science of Genetics has been 
built up during the past decade on 
the firm foundations laid by Mendel 
nearly years ago. The Royal Horticul- 
tural Society, through its far-seeing secretary, 
the Rev. W. Wilks, took a leading part in the 
introduction of Mendel's work to English 
readers some lo years ago, and in the mean- 
time the Society has in many ways helped to 
advance the new Science of Genetics. 
The word genetics was first used by Pro- 
fessor Bateson at the time of the International 
Hybridisation Conference held by the Royal 
Horticultural Society in London in \go(), and 
was used by him as a convenient word to 
express the modern science of breedifig on 
Mende'.ian lines. Technically, the word 
genetics covers not only the primary 
principles of heredity, as understood and 
expounded by Mendel himself, but also all 
the secondary developments of Mendelism 
that have taken place during the past decade 
in consequence of the experiments and 
observations of Mendelians in all parts of the 
world, not only with cultivated plants, but 
also with domesticated animals including man 
himsei. 
Perhajis the most remarkable feature in the 
progress of the modern Science of Genetics is 
the extraordinary way in which experiments 
with plants have led to the solution of 
important problems in animal breeding, while, 
on the other hand, experiments with animals 
have in their turn led to the solution of many 
difficulties m plant breeding. As experiment 
follows experiment, and discovery succeeds 
discovery, the word "genetics" will still 
cover the ground, and its influence and utility 
will become increasingly marked as time 
rods on. 
■^Abstract from the Paper read at the Orchid 
Coufereiire, November, 1912. 
Orchids are trul}- regarded as the aristo- 
crats of the plant world, and the results 
achieved by Orchid breeders during the past 
20 years constitute one of the seven wonders 
of the world of horticulture. No other 
natural order of cultivated plants has yielded 
so many beautiful hybrids in so short a time 
as the Orchidaces. At least 40 genera 
and 300 distinct species have been already 
utilised by Orchid breeders in the making of 
their hybrids. About 2,000 of these are 
primary hybrids, while no less than 300 are 
generic hybrids. Besides these botanical 
hybrids there are on record some thousands 
of horticultural secondary, tertiary and mul- 
tiple hybrids, to say nothing of multitudinous 
varietal and individual forms which no man 
can number. 
When one remembers that most of these 
remarkable results have been achieved in less 
than a generation (one might almost say, 
since the last Orchid Ccnfereiice was held 
here), and that the raising of such delicate 
exotics from seed, under purely artificial con- 
ditions, IS by no means an easy matter even 
for the expert, one cannot but admire the 
practical genius of British and Continental 
Orchid breeders that has brought about such 
a consummation. Those who had the good 
fortune to see the remarkable display of 
Orchids at the International Exhibition at 
Chelsea last May, must have been impressed 
by the leading part played by hand-raised 
hybrids in the various groups. 
In face of such an imposing array of beau- 
tiful hybrids, it may seem presumptuous on 
the part of a student of genetics to offer to 
the Orchid breeder any suggestions as to the 
advantages that might be derived from an 
application of the Science of Genetics to 
Orchid breeding, for where practical Orchid 
breeding has been so successful the applica- 
tion of the Science of Genetics might 
VOL. III. 
