196 
RAISING APPLE-TREES FROM SEED. 
the fruit, for if delayed till spriftg, the greater part will he found to 
have lost their germinating power, if, however, he is determined to 
keep them, they must he mixed with sand and closed from the air; 
this occasions considerable trouble, if the pippins of different varie¬ 
ties, as they always should be, are to be preserved distinct. 
In practising cross-fertilization, I adopt the following mode:— 
After selecting a few conveniently situated branchlets, in different 
parts of a tree, I remove all the blossoms, with the exception of three 
or four of the most promising, from which, a day or two before their 
expansion, I extract the anthers with a small pair of scissors, or twee¬ 
zers, and cover each branchlet with a piece of thin gauze, taking 
care that no opening be left by which bees, flies, or other insects 
might gain admission, and thereby mar the experiment by bearing 
to the stigma the pollen of some variety, other than the one I may 
desire to employ. The gauze should also be rendered secure, so 
that the wind may not partially open it, or entirely carry it away. 
When the blossoms are fully expanded, and the stigma, by bursting, 
is ready to receive the influence of the pollen ; it must be supplied 
by the application of a dower of whatever variety has been fixed 
upon as the male parent, and the gauze replaced until the fruit is set. 
As the fruit increases in size, if more than one or two remain, judge 
which gives the best promise of attaining perfection, and the rest 
remove ; it will be advisable to distinguish each branch by a label 
affixed. The above, or some such method alone, can determine with 
any certainty which is the male parent; (or indeed there may be 
many, which, in a great measure, accounts for the diversity of the 
products obtained from seed of the same individual fruit) I adopt 
this same method in whatever experiments I undertake on the hy¬ 
bridization of plants, and am persuaded that by its adoption and 
a judicious selection of the parents a much increased probability is 
secured, that the seedling progeny will reward the trouble bestowed. 
Last year I gathered the first produce of some seedling strawberries, 
raised by cross-fertilization in a similar manner, and am looking for¬ 
ward to the result of subsequent experiments, which, from the suc¬ 
cess I have already attained, leads me to believe, will prove highly 
satisfactory. Two or three of the varieties obtained, (but one more 
especially) possess excellent properties of growth, fecundity and 
flavour, differ remarkably from any previous ones that have come 
under my observation :—but, enough, a year or two hence I shall be 
better able to pronounce on the matter. I shall not touch on the 
minor cares, though not less essential to success, that the young seed¬ 
lings will require, as these no one who has dabbed in Horticulture 
