467 
November  19,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND 
COTTAGE 
GARDENER, 
produced  by  the  other  kind  of  flower.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
.seventeentJx  century.  Grew,  an  Englishman,  indicated  the 
probability, of.  tire  anthers  being  the  organs  which  furnished  the 
means  of  fertilisation ;  and  before  its  close,  C'anierarius,  a 
German,  carried  out  experiments,  and  demonstrated  clearly  the 
existence  of  the  reproductive  organs  of  plants.  Unfortunately, 
he  thought  that  all  hermaphrodite  flowers  were  self-fertilising. 
He  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  suggest  the  possibility  of 
plant-hybridisation.  The.  first  hybrid  plant  we  have  any 
distinct  record  of  was  raised  by  Thomas  Fairchild,  an  Engli.sh 
gardener,  it  being  the  result  of  the  crossing  of  two  species  of 
Hianthus,  and  named  Fairchild’s  Sweet  William. 
The  science  of  hybridisation  was  first  put  on  a  proper  footing 
by  Kdlreuter,  who  published  a  work  on  the  subject  in  1761. 
Before  the  century  ended,  Knight,  after  having  experimented 
in  rearing  domestic  animals,  set  about  crossing  fruit  trees, 
Strawberries,  Peas,  &c.,  so  as  to  find  whether  better  kinds  could 
not  be  got.  Knight  was  a  plant-physiologist  of  great  note,  and 
he  propounded  the  doctrine  that  “  no  plant  self-fertilises  itself 
•for  a  perpetuity  of  generations.”  At  the  beginning  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  centurj’  Knight  was  joined  by  Herbert  in  the  work  of 
producing  garden  plants,  and  during  that  century  an  immense 
amount  of  work,  both  scientific  and  economic,  has  been  done. 
We  need  only  mention  the  name  of  Darwin  in  this  connection. 
He  extended  Knight’s  doctrine  by  adding,  “  that  a  cross  with 
another  individual  is  occasionally — perhaps  sit  very  long  in¬ 
tervals — indispensable.” 
The  earlier  records,  and  indeed  the  great  majority  of  the 
records,  all  along  refer  to  garden  hybrids,  not  to  farm  ones. 
This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  in  gardening  a  far  greater 
variety  of  plants  is  cultivated,  and  also  by  this,  that  a  gar¬ 
dener’s  training  is  such  as  to  be  much  more  likely  to  lead  to 
experimentation  in  crossing  plants  than  a  farmer’s  is.  The  gar¬ 
dener  deals  with  plants  alone ;  the  farmer  has  his  stock  to 
consider  as  well.  The'  hybridist  should  be  prepared  to  cari’y  out 
the  most  delicate  operations;  he  should  understand  the  fine 
details  of  pot  culturei;  he  should  come  to  think  of  his  plants  as 
his  pets,  and  be  lecl  to  tend  thenn  by  something  after  the 
nature  of  that  poetic  instinct  which  tells  us  “how  akin  they 
are  to  human  things.”  He  is  fortunate  if  he  be  possessed  of  a 
disciplined  imagination,  a  scientific  spirit,  and  a  refined  touch. 
Above  all,  he  must  be  endowed  with  the  niaximum  of  patience, 
in  purely  economic 
lines  the  list  of 
workers  is  already 
a  large  one,  and  it 
is  being  added  to 
at  the  present  time 
at  an  almost 
alarming  rate 
A  fortnight  ago 
an  International 
Conference  o  n 
Plant  Breeding  was 
held  in  New  York, 
at  which  fifty 
papers,  by  forty- 
eight  authors,  were 
submitted.  England 
was  represented  by 
three  authors,  Scot¬ 
land  by  one,  Ire¬ 
land  one,  Canada 
two,  West  Indies’ 
one,  France  one. 
Austria  one,  and 
Holland  one,  all 
the  rest  being  from 
the  United  States. 
Tlie  U.S.  Depart¬ 
ment  of  Agricul¬ 
ture  and  the  State 
experiment  stations 
were  strongly  re- 
pi’csented.  While 
many  circumstances 
tell  against  the 
proportion  of  “  for¬ 
eigners  ”  being 
larger,  it  is  evident 
that  the  American 
has  now  come  to  re¬ 
gard  the  breeding 
of  plants  as  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  the  very 
highest  c  o  u  s  e- 
(jnence.  One  is  led 
to  think  of  the 
princely  endow¬ 
ments  of  most  of 
the  experimental  stations  connected  with  the  American  univer¬ 
sities,  and  one  naturally  asserciates  the  progre>s  made  in  ihem 
with  the  salaries  giVc’ii  to  the  workers.  It  i<  neither  the  jjlaev. 
nor  the  salary,  but  the  man  we  must  look  to  after  all.  If  im¬ 
provement  of  crops  is  called  for  in  a  new  country,  Imw  much 
greater  is  the  need  in  an  old  country? 
By  way  of  illustrating  what  is  being  done  in  the  United 
States.  I  may  mention  that  during  a  recent  tour  there  I  visited 
one  of  the  most  noted  of  American  workers.  Professor  Willet 
Hays,  the  head  of  tiie  agricultural  experiment  stJition  of  the 
University  of  Minnesota.  He  is  well  known  as  the  raiser  of 
Wheats  which  are  expected  to  double  the  haiwest  in  Minne.sota 
and  neighbouring  States.  Another  famous  hybridist  visitenl 
was  Mr.  Luther  Burbank  of  Santa  Rosa,  California.  His  work 
is  chiefly  among  fruits  and  flowei's.  but  he  is  well  known  as 
the  raiser  of  the  Burbank  Potato.  One  of  his  most  inti'resting 
and  useful  “creations”  was  the  “  Plumcot,”  a  cross  between 
the  Plum  and  the  Apricot. 
Passing  to  personal  experiences,  it  may  not  bo  inapirropriate 
to  mention  that  I  worked  for  a  very  considerable  number  of 
3’ea.rs  accumulating  a  mass  of  material  of  scientific  interest, 
which,  for  want  of  time,  has  not  been  elaborated.  The  varieties 
of  plants  produced  were  of  but  little  commercial  use.  On  being 
appointed  to  the  lectureship  in  agriculture  in  St.  Andrew’s  Uni¬ 
versity,  I  turned  tO'  farm  plants,  and  what  is  now  to  be  said 
of  them  is  virtually  the  outcome  of  two  summers  of  experimenta¬ 
tion  at  St.  Andrews.  It  is  well  to  state  that  the  work  has  been 
hitherto  carried  on  at  the  lecturer’s  own  initiative  and  expense. 
In  St.  Andrew’s  University  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  to-  find 
enthmsiasm  leading  to  a  little  self-sacrifice.  Endowment  is  a 
secondary  consideration  in  a  place  where  the  teachers  feel  them¬ 
selves  to  be,  if  not  the  heirs  of  all  the  ages,  of,  at  any  rate,  oOO 
years’  of  educational  progress. 
The  methods  of  work  are  simple  enough.  A  few  plants  of 
each  kind  only  are  recjuired.  These,  are  allowed  to  flower,  pro¬ 
tected  if  necessary,  and  operated  on  in  the  usual  way.  I  con¬ 
sider  a  glazed  case;  of  my  own  invention  to  be.  the  best  means  of 
protection.  There  are  two  classes  of  flowers  to  be  dealt  with, 
those  which  are  fertilised  by  insect  agency,  and  those  which  are 
self-fertilised.  Amongst  the  former  are  cla.ssecl  Turnips.  Cab¬ 
bages,  and  the  like,  and  among  the  latter  the  cereals  and 
grasses.  One  of  the  most  interetsting  points  in  connection  with 
.•i  -'"  ..  -  I . 
Interior,  Philiphaugh  Conservatory.  Hee  page  4(!4. 
