152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURR 



Blossom buds draw heavily upon the tree for nourishment, and 

 they return nothing to it ; therefore flowering as well as fruit- 

 ing is an exhaustive operation. I have noticed with some pears, 

 as the Duchess d'Angoulene for example, that an abundant bloom 

 in spring ushered in a barren season ; while a very moderate 

 bloom has frequently been followed by a plentiful crop. 



There is often, and especially with those just commencing the 

 culture of fruit, a strong desire for early and plentiful bearing, but 

 such persons should remember that unless their trees first attain a 

 suitable degree of strength and maturity, and have, as it were, 

 laid up sufficient capital to honor the drafts made by flowering and 

 fruiting, feebleness, premature old age and deci'epitude will be the 

 sure result. The removal or thinning out of fruit on young trees 

 is often one of the most judicious and best paying operations of 

 the fruit garden or orchard. It would not be practicable to do this 

 to advantage on a large scale, with trees arrived at maturity, but 

 while the orchard is young a regular habit of bearing in some, and 

 a change in others to the years of usual scanty bearing is easily 

 accomplished. 



Floicers consist of floral envelopes, the calyx and corolla ; and 

 of sexual organs, the stamens and pistils. The calyx is the outer 

 covering or lower envelope, usually green, and resembling ordin- 

 ary leaves. The corolla is the inner envelope, of brighter colors 

 and more delicate texture, and form the most showy part of the 

 blossom. The several parts of the corolla are called petals. 



The sexual organs are of two kin(fs ; the outer ones called sta- 

 mens, being the male organs ; and the inner ones called pistils, 

 which are the female organs. A stamen consists of a slender, 

 column or stalk, called a filament, which bears on its top a rounded 

 body or case termed the anther, filled with a powdery substance 

 which it discharges and drops upon the pistil. The pistil consists 

 of the ovary, the hollow portion at the base, which contains the 

 ovules or bodies destined to become seeds ; the style, or erect por- 

 tion, and the sligma, a small glandulous body on its summit, and 

 which receives the pollen or fertilizing powder from the anthers. 



Plants are called hermaphrodite when both stamens and pistils 

 exist in the same flower. This is the case with most of our culti- 

 vated fruits. They arc called Moncecious when the male and fQ- 

 inale flower are separatel}^ borne on the same tree, which is the 

 case with the filbert. They are called Dioecious when the male 



