276 
Garden Work 
to it as possible. We must never be discouraged in this 
work, even if after three or four generations of crossing, 
when we have got well on our way towards the ideal, we 
find that a considerable portion of our seedlings revert to 
the characteristics of one of the former parents, and we 
apparently have to start all over again. However, this 
mav not be so, as the next generation may take a long 
step in advance again. 
Even when we have reached our ideal, we must not 
be content with that. We must fix our characteristics, at 
least if our plants are annuals or biennials, and require 
to be raised from seed. This is done by sowing year after 
year, taking away all plants which are not true in all detail 
to our perfected plant. The seed must be sown in places 
well away from any other plants of the same kind, to 
prevent any possibility of the flowers being cross-pollinated 
by insects from other and inferior flowers. Even when the 
characteristics are fixed, this precaution is necessary when 
growing plants for seed to keep the stock pure. Perennial 
plants, however, do not require such an amount o: work 
and attention when once the ideal is reached, for these 
may be propagated in various ways, by cuttings, layers, 
budding, and grafting, &c., and will usually remain quite 
true. A branch, however, may sometimes revert to the 
old type, when it is termed “sporting”. These “sports” 
are sometimes quite distinct in their characteristics, and 
are propagated again as new varieties. 
Hybridization is generally effected between plants of 
the same species: for example, one variety of Raspberry 
may quite successfully be crossed with another kind of 
Raspberry. It is often possible to cross two different 
