2o8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



some of our fruits, like oranges, can liardly realize how great has 

 been the improvement within historic times in the character of 

 certain pears, apples, and so on. 



The term historic is used advisedly, for there are prehistoric 

 fruits which might serve as a point of departure in the consider- 

 ation of the question. In the ruins of the lake-dwellings in Switz- 

 erland * charred apples have been found, which are, in some 

 cases, plainly of small size, hardly equaling ordinary crab-apples. 

 But, as Dr. Sturtevant has shown, in certain directions there has 

 been no marked change of type ; the change is in quality. 



In comparing the earlier descriptions of fruits with modern 

 accounts it is well to remember that the high standards by which 

 fruits are now judged are of recent establishment. Fruits which 

 would once have been esteemed excellent would to-day be passed 

 by as unworthy of regard. 



It seems probable that the list of seedless fruits will be mate- 

 rially lengthened, provided our experimental horticulturists make 

 use of the material at their command. The common fruits which 

 have very few or no seeds are the banana, pineapple, and certain 

 oranges. Others mentioned by Mr. Darwin as well known are the 

 bread-fruit, pomegranate, azarole or Neapolitan medlar, and date 

 palms. In commenting upon these fruits, Mr. Darwin t says that 

 most horticulturists " look at the great size and anomalous devel- 

 opment of the fruit as the cause and sterility as the result," but 

 he holds the opj^osite view as more probable — that is, that the 

 sterility, coming about gradually, leaves free for other growth the 

 abundant supply of building material which the forming seed 

 would otherwise have. He admits, however, that " there is an an- 

 tagonism between the two forms of reproduction, by seeds and by 

 buds, when either is carried to an extreme degree, which is inde- 

 pendent of any incipient sterility." 



Most plant-hybrids are relatively infertile, but by no means 

 wholly sterile. With this sterility there is generally augmented 

 vegetative vigor, as shown by Nageli. Partial or complete steril- 

 ity and corresponding luxuriance of root, stem, leaves, and flower 

 may come about in <>ther obscure ways, and such cases are famil- 

 iar to botanists.J Now, it seems highly probable that, either by 

 hybridizing directed to this special end, or by careful selection of 



* Carbonized apples have been found at Wangen, sometimes whole, sometimes cut in 

 two, or, more rarely, into four pieces and evidently dried and put aside for winter use. 

 .... They are small and jrenerally resemble those which still ^row wild in the Swiss 

 forests ; at Robenhausen, however, specimens have occurred which are of larger size, and 

 probably cultivated. No trace of the vine, the walnut, the cherr}', or the damson has yet 

 been met with, but stones of the wild plum and the Primus padus have been found." 

 Lubbock, loe. cit., p. 217. 



f Animals and Plants under Domestication (American edition), vol. ii, p. 205-209. 



X Gray's Botanical Text Rook, vols, i and ii. 



