1878. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



215 



pure science. How often, for instance, have we 

 been told tlaat the honey-bee in California never 

 stores honey, and there have been no end to 

 pretty theories " to account for the fact," built 

 on this report ; yet we find the following quiet 

 paragraph in a recent California paper : 



•'Immense stores of honey were recently 

 found in the fissures of the rocks in the mountain 

 regions in California, by the workmen engaged 

 in blasting a roadway for the Southern Pacific 

 Railroad." 



And we see by it that the story that bees do 

 mot stow away honey in California is all fudge. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



FllUITING OF WiSTAKIA SINENSIS. — Tlus little 



■matter seems to have created considerable 

 interest. We are glad to have the following 

 corroborative experiences that it is not till the 

 vegetative forces have, in a measure, exhausted 

 themselves, that the reproductive follows and 

 fruit results. We have never known of a Wis- 

 taria fruiting while actively engaged in twining. 

 Only when some branches find nothing to cling 

 to, do they seem to think it time to think about 

 seeding. Of course it makes no ditlerence 

 whether these branches hang from a horizontal 

 iron rod or from a self-supporting stem. Branches 

 flower when actively engaged in twining ; that 

 is, when these branches are supported, and it 

 would be interesting to know from our corres- 

 pondents if any have ever been known to seed, 

 and if they have, whether or not some accidental 

 •circumstance, such as an injury to its bark, 

 which interfered with the vegetative force pro- 

 duced it ■? 



In tlie meantime, we are glad to have these 

 •confirmatory notes from our friends. The first 

 is from Prof. Beal : 



" Friend B. W. Steere : Thomas Meehan 

 ■says that Chinese Wistaria, when supported, 

 grows amazingly, but is seedless. On the con- 

 trary, the self-supporting so-called 'Tree Wis- 

 tarias produce seeds abundantly, &c. What do 

 you say? I remember collecting seeds from 

 a vine on your house. Please write a sentence 

 ■or two on this sheet anywhere, in pencil or 

 otherwise, and return. W. J. Beal, 



Agr'l Col., Lansing, Mich." 



B. W. Steere is an old reliable nurseryman of 

 ^Michigan. 



"W. J. Beal, Est. Friend: Our Wistaria, 

 which runs up a column of the verandah and 

 along an iron rod, «&c., in all 20 or 30 feet, has 

 borne seed abundantly for many years ; though 

 my recollection now is, that it did not seed 

 much, if any, for several years at first. Hence, 

 I conclude that mature age has more to do with 

 it than the manner of pruning or training. I 

 have had no experience in training it tree-fashion 

 but am unable to see why that course should 

 cause it to seed more freely. If the question 

 has any bearing on its propagation, I should say 

 the less seed the better, as the pods are not 

 ornamental, and it roots very easily from layers. 

 Very truly, B. W. Steere, Adrian, Mich." 



The next is from Mr. W. C. Strong, of Brigh- 

 ton, Mass. : 



"Your suggestion, as communicated to the 

 Gardener's Magazine, that the luxuriant vege - 

 tative growth of this vine when supported upon a 

 trellis is the cause of its barrenness, is suggestive 

 and worthy of consideration. It certainly seems 

 reasonable to suppose that the self-supporting 

 tree-form of training would check over-luxuri- 

 ance of growth, and give free circulation of light 

 and air, thus tending to fruitfulness. But I 

 should like to inquire how extensive are the ob- 

 servations in regard to fruitfulness in different 

 positions? I suppose we are agreed in the 

 opinion that this vine, as ordinarily trained to 

 porches and buildings, is profusely free-fiowering, 

 but rarely fruitful. Yet I know a vine in New- 

 ton, Mass., trained to a porch and luxuriant in 

 growth, which gives an annual crop of about a 

 peck of pods. Now, I would ask if instances of 

 fruitfulness are numerous when trained in the 

 tree-form ? Not having observed such instances, 

 I had concluded that we were to regard this as a 

 peculiarity of certain seedlingi. It is well- 

 known that many seedlings set their fruit much 

 more profusely than others, c. g-., the Vicar 

 Pear much more than the Duchesse d'Angouleme. 

 Those which are decidedly shy in setting fruit, 

 although profuse in flowering, are rare excep- 

 tions, among which as conspicuous examples 

 may be mentioned the Wistaria sinensis and the 

 Pyrus japonica. And I have thought that this 

 peculiarity tended to its own perpetuation. We 

 are forced to propagate this peculiarity by layers 

 and cuttings and roots. Seeds by which to ob- 

 tain new and fruitful varieties are not to be 

 found, and hence we multiply the individual 

 variety by artificial methods and confirm all its 



