FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
65 
mature fruit this winter. The seeds from these fruits will be 
planted, and the hybrid plants will be forced into bearing as 
soon as possible. It is of advantage to have a number of seeds 
from each cross, since the offspring from a given cross are not 
by any means all similar. Often, on the contrary, they are 
often all different, combining in every possible way the quali¬ 
ties of the parent varieties. 
By having enough crossed plants it would doubtless be pos¬ 
sible to obtain any desired blending of the qualities of two 
varieties. By crossing the hybrid offspring with a third va¬ 
riety or with another cross bred sort, the possibilities of vari¬ 
ations in the offspring are greatly increased. By planting 
large quantities of seed from such multiple crosses there is 
every probability that entirely new sorts will be obtained, 
some of great value. Aside from increased variability of 
cross-bred plants, there is much more chance of their produc¬ 
ing valuable sports than with ordinary seedlings. In fact, 
sports are simply enormous variations, and are more often 
found among variable plants than among stable ones. It might 
be interesting to note that Luther Burbank, the great Cali¬ 
fornia hybridizer, depends wholly on these chance sports in 
originating new varieties by crossing. 
It is our intention to cross in various ways all the best va¬ 
rieties of citrus fruits, and to attempt to obtain valuable new 
sorts in all these ways. Of course it will require some time 
to obtain results. At any rate, the work is started and will 
be pushed as rapidly as possible. 
1 have with me a few of the crossed fruits that you are wel¬ 
come to examine. I have so far been unable to detect any dif¬ 
ference between the cross-pollinated fruit and others growing 
on the same mother tree. 
Discussion On Citrus Fruits. 
C. B. Bacon—I would like to ask Professor Webber what 
he calls the St. Michael’s blood orange. We have a St. Mich¬ 
ael’s orange on the east coast that is almost entirely seedless, 
but I understand that in the interior they have a St. Michael’s 
that is as full of seed as any other orange. 
Prof. Webber—I am not informed as to this. Yerv likely 
