512 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



combined carpels or carpellary leaves, — the nut (Hazel, Acorn, 

 Sweet Chestnut) ; the berry (Gooseberry, Currant, and Grape) ; hes- 

 peridium (( Irange) j pome (Apple) ; pepo (Cucumber). The Holly is 

 ;i drupe of four carpels combined with four seeds. The fruit of 

 Hippophae is achenes in a large coloured berry-like perianth. Mul- 

 tiple or compound fruits are the Sorosis (Pine-apple), a metamor- 

 phosed flower-spike with fleshy bracts and perianth ; and the Mul- 

 berry, a spike of fruits ; the Scyonus a hollow club-like receptacle 

 formed out of the peduncle, as in Ficus carica (the Fig), lined with 

 flowers inside it, seldom both barren and fertile in the same fig. The 

 ovules at the base of pistil in each flower have been fertilised by 

 small flies belonging to the genus Cynips, which resort thither to lay 

 their eggs. It is said to be a trioecious plant — that is, to have either 

 stamens or pistil, or stamens and pistil, in three different flowers in 

 same Fig ; and the strobilus or cone of the Pine, a spike with woody 

 bracts. To revert to the ovule or seed-bud, or seed, as it is generally 

 called, it is a mono- di- or poly-cotyledonous plant, according to its 

 parentage, in miniature, made up of nucleus and integument : it con- 

 tains in the embryo state its proper compliment of cotyledons, a 

 plumule and radicle. The embryo differs in mono- and di-cotyle- 

 donous plants ; its position, formation, and mode of attachment, the 

 presence or absence of albumen, have all been utilised for the pur- 

 pose of assisting in framing accurate diagnoses of plant-structure. 



Whatever the structure of the fruit may be, it will be the main busi- 

 ness of the gardener to learn how to produce it, how and when to gather 

 it, and how to keep it for use. He will find that the Pear is a bag of 

 cellular tissue in its early stage containing protoplasm ; afterwards 

 starch and sugar are supplied to it by the leaves of the parent tree ; 

 probably the cells on the rind contain chlorophyll, and assist in decom- 

 posing carbon dioxide (carbonic acid). After the Pear is gathered 

 from the tree, there is so much life in it that it does not die, but 

 resists decay. With its surface exposed to the air, however, chemical 

 changes still go on in it, which result in the decomposition of the 

 sugar in it, and the formation of alcohol and then ether, which gives 

 to it its flavour and aroma ; and as the process goes on the outside 

 skin softens, spores of fungi soon penetrate into the inside of the 

 fruit, and finding there suitable food, grow and induce fermentation, 

 and the Pear loses its flavour, and the tissues are restored back again 

 to their original elements, out of which the Pear was formed. 



The young gardener will soon observe that some fruits — such as 

 Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Pine-apples, Melons, &c. — are gathered 

 some days, and Strawberries two or three hours, before they are 

 considered to come to their flavour, or rather before the flavour 



