368 FRUITS : Chap. X. 



kernel lies in a roomy cavity surrounded only by the pulp. The 

 climate of North America appears to be singularly favourable for 

 the production of new and good varieties; Downing describes no 

 less than forty, of which seven of first- rate quality have been 

 recently introduced into England. 75 Varieties occasionally arise 

 having an innate adaptation for certain soils, almost as strongly 

 pronounced as with natural species growing on the most distinct 

 geological formations ; thus in America the imperial gage, differently 

 from almost all other kinds, " is peculiarly fitted for dry light soils 

 where many sorts drop their fruit," whereas on rich heavy soils the 

 fruit is often insipid. 76 My father could never succeed in making 

 the Wine-Sour yield even a moderate crop in a sandy orchard near 

 Shrewsbury, whilst in some parts of the same county and in its 

 native Yorkshire it bears abundantly : one of my relations also 

 repeatedly tried in vain to grow this variety in a sandy district in 

 Staffordshire. 



Mr. Rivers has given 77 a number of interesting facts, showing 

 how truly many varieties can be propagated by seed. He sowed 

 the stones of twenty bushels of the greengage for the sake of raising 

 stocks, and closely observed the seedlings; all had the smooth shoots, 

 the prominent buds, and the glossy leaves of the greengage, but the 

 greater number had smaller leaves and thorns." There are two 

 kinds of damson, one the Shropshire with downy shoots, and the 

 other the Kentish with smooth shoots, and these differ but slightly 

 in any other respect : Mr. Rivers sowed some bushels of the Kentish 

 damson, and all the seedlings had smooth shoots, but in some 

 the fruit was oval, in others round or roundish, and in a few the 

 fruit was small, and, except in being sweet, closely resembled that 

 of the wild sloe. Mr. Rivers gives several other striking instances 

 of inheritance : thus, he raised eighty thousand seedlings from the 

 common German Quetsche plum, and "not one could be found 

 varying in the least, in foliage or habit." Similar facts were observed 

 with the Petite Mirabelle plum, yet this latter kind (as well as the 

 Quetsche) is known to have yielded some well-established varieties ; 

 but, as Mr. Rivers remarks, they all belong to the same group with 

 the Mirabelle. 



Cherries (Primus cerasus, avium, &c). — Botanists believe that our 

 cultivated cherries are descended from one, two, four, or even more 

 wild stocks. 78 That there must be at least two parent species we 

 may infer from the sterility of twenty hybrids raised by Mr. Knight 

 from the morello fertilized by pollen of the Elton cherry ; for these 

 hybrids produced in all only five cherries, and one alone of these 



75 ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1855, p. see also Downing's 'Fruit Trees of 

 726. America,' p. 305, 312, &c. 



76 Downing's < Fruit Trees/ p. 278. r8 Compare Alph. De Candolle, 



77 ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1863, p. ' Geograph, Bot.,' p. 877; Bentham 

 27. Sageret, in his ' Pomologie Phys.,' and Targioni-Tozzetti, in ' Hort. Jour- 

 p. 346, enumerates five kinds which nal,' vol. ix. p. 163 ; Godron, ' De 

 can be propagated in France by seed : l'Espece,' torn. ii. p. 92. 



