THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
47 
A concession of one full fare going and one-third 
returning, has been granted by the Central Passenger 
Committee, The Trunk Line Association and the Western 
Passenger Association. It is hoped that western mem¬ 
bers will make special efforts to attend and show their 
appreciation of the concession which the Western Passen¬ 
ger Association makes this year for the first time in 
several years. 
Special efforts have been made to make the twenty- 
first convention profitable from a business standpoint and 
pleasant socially. Among those who will take part are : 
President Silas Wilson, N. H. Albaugh, H. E. Van 
Deman, J. H. Hale, E. H. Pratt, Robert Douglas, S. D. 
Willard, W. F. Schell, A. Willis, Charles A. Green, George 
W. Campbell, J. Jenkins. 
INBREEDING VERSUS CROSSING. 
The article in the March number of the National 
NURSERYMAN on inbreeding vs. crossing is greatly at 
variance with the universally accepted theory and facts of 
evolution of fruits. The writer of the article takes issue 
with such men as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wal¬ 
lace, two of the greatest scientists in this line of work that 
the world has ever produced ; and not only this, but the 
article reflects upon the character of the experiment work 
of the Iowa Horticultural Society, and the writer of it is 
disposed to ridicule it and call it a fad. He says: “The 
Iowa horticulturists are so engrossed in the crossing fad 
as to neglect entirely the richest field of valuable work.” 
Moreover, he grossly misrepresents the matter by not 
presenting all the facts in the case. This is all the more 
surprising, since he sets himself up as a teacher of the 
people; a servant in horticultural lore, and is supposed to 
be trustworthy in his statements. 
In justice to the horticultural society and its experi¬ 
ment stations a few facts are here given that did not 
appear in the above-mentioned article. 
The writer of the article says that only $4.00 was offered 
at the last state fair as premiums on seedling apples. 
While this may be true he fails to mention the fact that 
the horticultural society is offering probably a larger sum 
than any other state in the Union as premiums on seedling 
fruits. On pages t6 to 19 of the published reports of the 
society will be found a list of these premiums, which in 
the aggregate amount to $3,815. This is a standing 
offer, open to the whole state, including all exhibitors at 
the state fair. The writer could not be ignorant of these 
facts, for he is an officer of this same society offering 
these awards. 
Furthermore, he says that while farmers were offering 
dozens to hundreds of seedlings for examination no mem¬ 
ber of the experimental committee was on hand to report 
on them or to offer encouragement to growers. Whether 
this is true or not, why did not he as a member of the 
society and as a horticultural editor interested in this line 
of work take note of these and direct the attention of 
these farmers to the premiums offered by the horticultural 
society ? 
Again, he says he thinks this neglect was due to the 
tendency to make seedling production a fad. In the fol¬ 
lowing paragraph he advocates seedling production and 
mentions Ben Davis, Jonathan Grimes, Wine Sap and 
other varieties as once being seedlings, which is true; but 
will he tell us if he has ever known of a seedling that was 
not the result of crossing, either naturally or artificially 
produced ? 
The Iowa State Horticultural Society is not running in 
any rut or making artificial crossing a fad, but on the con¬ 
trary, it is seeking by every means possible along all lines 
of experimentation to develop and originate varieties of 
fruit adapted to the soil and climate of the state. The 
experiment cojnmittee has always advocated the planting 
of seeds which is nature’s method of producing new 
varieties, and in my last report on experiment work I 
especially urged this method, because every farmer can 
experiment along this line of work, whereas but few per¬ 
sons can do the crossing artificially. 
Is it not a generally accepted fact that all of our choice 
fruits, with extremely rare exceptions (in cases of bud 
variation) are the results of crossing, either naturally or 
artificially produced? 
The writer of the article under consideration mentions 
the common saying that but one seedling in ten thousand 
is of probable value ; and why is this if it is not because 
the work of crossing is carried on by insects without any 
intelligence to guide it. Therefore, the results are very 
uncertain; whereas, the artificial process of crossing is the 
scientific method, working through known laws for a 
specific purpose or object. This is the method advocated 
by Darwin, who said: “Nature abhors self-fertilization,” 
which is, in fact, inbreeding. It is by this process that 
Luther Burbank of California, has been enabled to give to 
the world his marvelous creations of new fruits in so short 
a time. It was by crossing our native grapes with foreign 
varieties that Mr. Rodgers of Massachusetts, produced 
his wonderful collection known as Rogers hybrids, and 
Professor Munson, of Texas, has in more recent years 
originated many valuable varieties, all produced by the 
process of cross-fertilization, working for definite results. 
These are but a few of the many cases which might be 
mentioned to show the superiority of crossing over in- 
breeding. This work is not confined alone to the evolu¬ 
tion of fruit, but the florists everywhere are producing 
marvelous results in the new creation of flowers through 
crossing. 
We are told by the writer of the article that it is alto¬ 
gether possible that really the most valuable experimental 
work in the origin of vaiieties is going on at the farms. 
This may all be true, and yet it is the result of crossing 
and not of inbreeding. There can be no inbreeding, 
strictly speaking, among fruits or flowers unless the 
blossoms are absolutely protected from the pollen of all 
other varieties, in which case the blossoms are self-fer¬ 
tilized; otherwise it would be crossing. 
Denmark, Iowa. G. B. Brackett. 
