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I HOUSE AND GARDEN 
M A 
I 9 I 
E] 
with the keenest de¬ 
light and apprecia¬ 
tion that yon watch 
the development of 
each successive gen¬ 
eration. 
Nature is full of 
seeming contradic¬ 
tions, and plant 
breeding is no ex¬ 
ception to the gen¬ 
eral rule. At least 
a r u d i m e n t a r y 
knowledge of the 
principles w h i c h 
I'.ave been found to 
apply is necessary 
even for the ama¬ 
teur seeking only 
his or her own 
amusement. Other- 
The lupine is especially fine for cutting, and wise, doing what 
grows easily even in poor soil ma\' seem to be the 
right thing will re¬ 
sult in failure. I will never forget the disappointment of my 
first attempt at plant breeding. Jn a lot of seedling petunias i 
found one of exceptional beauty and symmetry of marking, the 
most lovely single Bower of this sort 1 had ever seen. It was 
carefully separated from all the rest, cared for faithfully, and the 
seed saved and planted in the innocent e.xpectation that a hundred 
like it wculd take its place. They came up most encouragingly. 
A great improvement has been attained in the tuberous begonias, 
especially in the Wundulata type, which has fringed edges 
and grew along- like weeds. One by one they blossomed; all 
sorts, all colors, all kinds of markings except the one I looked for! 
One cutting from the parent plant would have preserved my 
beautiful flower, reproducing it with almost perfect exactness; 
all the seeds I might plant would probably never give it to me. 
In other words, some flowers will "come true” from seed, but 
many others will not; and if one wished to save extra’choice 
specimens of the latter it must be by means of cuttings. There 
is not room here for an itemized list of the two classes, but you 
can tell as a rule by referring to a seed catalog. If tbe seed” of 
the species in question is sold mostly by named varieties, like 
mignonette, sweet peas, or alyssum, that flower probably belongs 
to the first class; if seeds are sold as "choice hybrids” such as 
verbenas or petunias, you will be pretty safe in assuming that 
the only way you 
can propagate indi¬ 
vidualized strains of 
these flowers is by 
cuttage. 
New varieties are 
obtained in one of 
three ways: by de¬ 
velopment or "selec¬ 
tion.” by cross- 
breeding, or “hy¬ 
bridization,” and by 
‘‘sports” ( m u t a - 
tions) . 
All three of these 
agencies of evolu¬ 
tion are active in 
Nature, unassisted 
by man — in fact, 
most of the im- 
])rovements in flow¬ 
ers, up to a compar¬ 
atively recent date, 
were the result of 
accidental causes. 
The science of 
plant breeding has, 
however, taken great 
strides during the 
last few decades, and there is no reason why it should not prove 
a healthy and interesting avocation for hundreds of amateurs. 
Improvement by selection is the easiest and the surest method 
of building up the personnel of your garden. This may be made 
to operate in two ways; that is, you may aim simply to grow 
extra fine specimens of types that already exist, or you may at¬ 
tempt to emphasize some particular feature of form, size, color 
or habit of growth. This work will require patience and care;' 
but what can be imagined more interesting, more fascinating, 
than to see a living plant, generation after generation, following 
gradually your guidance and coming nearer your ideal. 
To use successfully the second method, hybridizing, you should 
have some knowledge of the relationship of the various species, 
and must be, or make yourself, familiar with the arrangement and 
functions of the sex organs of flower life — information along 
lioth of which lines you can get from any first-class book on 
botany. If you desire to attempt tbe work in an intelligent way. 
vou cannot leave the pollination of your subjects to such chance 
agencies of Nature as the bees or the wind, but carry it on your¬ 
self with care and precaution. 
If you keep your eyes open, as you work in this new and won¬ 
derful garden of yours, you may be fortunate enough to discover, 
some day, and in some unexpected place, a distinct “break” or 
“sport" in some member of the happy familv. I have just suc- 
You can breed new varieties of dahlias by 
fertilizing with the pollen of favorite kinds 
