EXERCISE

With the help of your teacher try to cross some plants. Such an experiment will take time, but will be most interesting. You must remember that many crosses must be attempted in order to gain success with even a few.

SECTION XVII. PROPAGATION BY BUDS

It is the business of the farmer to make plants grow, or, as it is generally called, to propagate plants. This he does in one of two ways: by buds (that is, by small pieces cut from parent plants), or by seeds. The chief aim in both methods should be to secure in the most convenient manner the best-paying plants.

Many plants are most easily and quickly propagated by buds; for example, the grape, red raspberry, fig, and many others that we cultivate for the flower only, such as the carnation, geranium, rose, and begonia.

Fig. 41.

Brighton pollinated by 1, Salem; 2, Creveling; 3, Lindley; 4, Brighton; 5, Self-pollinated; 6, Nectar; 7, Jefferson; 8, Niagara