THE SECKETAKY'S PORTFOLIO. 189 



CULTIVATION AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FRUITS. 



Whatever may be the effect of the temperature of the season and of the 

 amount and distribution of tlie sunlight on the quality of the fruit, we must 

 malie the best of it, for we cannot change the weather, but cultivation of fruit 

 generally improves its quality, at least in regard to its proportion of sugar and 

 acid, by increasing the one and lessening the other, although the Avild fruit 

 may excel in delicacy of aroma. Some wild berries have, however, shown quite 

 as favorable a proportion of sugar and acid as has been found in the best cul- 

 tivated varieties that have beeu analyzed. That the character of the manuring 

 has something to do with the change in the quality of the fruit is shown by 

 some experiments by Dr. Gcessmau at the Massachusetts Agricultural College. 

 By manuring the wild grape liberally with potash and phosphoric acid he 

 changed the ratio of sugar to acid to that of the Concord grape. That the 

 potash may take some special part in the modification of the ratio is indicated 

 by the fact that the cultivated berry contains over twice as large a proportion 

 of tliis substance in its ash as is found in the ash of the more sour wild fruit. 

 Putting all these facts together it seems reasonable to hope that by judicious 

 use of concentrated fertilizers sweeter small fruits might be produced at the 

 pleasure of the gardener. This is a promising and inviting field for experi- 

 mentation, which has been but little occupied, and satisfactory experiments 

 with small fruits can be conducted on a less extensive scale and at less expense 

 than with field crops. — Prof. G. C. Caldivell. 



THE DIFFUSION OF SEEDS. 



Sir John Lubbock is responsible for a concise statement of the relation of 

 the properties of some fruits to the dispersion of their seeds : In a very large 

 number of cases the diffusion of fseeds is effected by animals. To this class 

 belong the fruits and berries. In them an outer fleshy portion becomes pulpy, 

 and generally sweet, inclosing the seeds. It is remarkable that such fruits, in 

 order doubtless, to attract animals, are like flow^ers, brightly colored — as for 

 instance the cherry, currant, apple, peach, plum, strawberry, raspberry and 

 many others. This color, moreover, is not present in the unripe fruit, but is 

 rapidly developed at maturity. In such cases the actual seed is generally jorotected 

 by a dense, sometimes almost stony covering, so that it escapes digestion, while 

 its germination is perhaps hastened by the heat of the animal's body. It may 

 be said that the skin of apple and pear pips is comparatively soft, but then 

 they are imbedded in a stringy core which is seldom eaten. These coloi'ed 

 fruits form a considerable part of the food of monkeys in the tropical regions 

 of the earth, and we can I think, hardly doubt that these animals are guided 

 by the colors, just as we are in selecting the ripe fruit. 



In these instances of colored fruits the fleshy, edible part more or less sur- 

 rounds the true seeds, in others the actual seeds themselves become edible. In 

 the former the edible part serves as a temptation to animals ; in the latter it is 

 stored up for the use of the plant itself. AVhen, therefore, the seeds them- 

 selves are edible they are generally protected by more or less hard or bitter 

 envelopes, for instance the horse chestnut, beech, Spanish chestnut, walnut, 

 etc. That these seeds are used as food by squirrels and other animals is, how- 



