nstrument, it may be
placed upon the stigma. A brush is very wasteful of pollen and often
becomes a source of contamination to future crosses, so that the
scalpel is the better implement of the two. When pollen is plentiful,
as will usually be the case when a man is working with vines in his
own vineyard, by far the best method is to take the cluster from the
male vine and apply the pollen directly to the stigma of the flower to
be crossed, thereby making certain of fresh pollen and an abundance of
it. The stigma, if pollen suffice, should be covered with pollen.

Grape pollen does not keep well and an effort should be made to have
it as fresh as possible. The work of pollination is best performed in
bright, sunny weather when the pollen is very dry. As may be seen from
the foregoing statements, tools and methods are of less importance
than care in doing the work. The only tool absolutely necessary is a
pair of forceps, although a hand-lens is often helpful. Bags for
covering the flowers should be just large enough and no larger. A bag
to cover the pollen-producing flower may well be an ordinary manilla
bag sufficiently large to amply cover the flower-cluster. It is
helpful, however, to have a light transparent oiled bag through which
one can see the condition of the anthers. It is desirable that the bag
for the female flower be permitted to remain until the fruits ripen as
a protection against birds and fungi. It must, therefore, be of larger
size. While the bags are still flat, a hole is made near the opening
through which a string is passed which can be tied when the upper end
of the bag is squeezed about the cluster.

_Choosing the parents._

Very much depends on the immediate parentage in hybridizing grapes.
Some varieties when crossed produce much higher averages of worthy
offspring than others. There is so much difference in varieties in
this respect that to discover parents so endowed should be the first
task of the grape-breeder. Fortunately, considerable work has been
done by several experiment stations in breeding grapes, and their
accumulated knowledge, together with that from such workers as Rogers,
Ricketts, Campbell and Munson, furnishes beginners with good starting
points. There is no way possible of discovering what the best
progenitors are except by records of performance. Very often varieties
of high cultural value are worthless in breeding because their
characters seem not to be transmitted to the