114 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[April, 



though we have never known anything of the kind 

 before, it accords with what we have placed before 

 the public in regard to the laws which regulate 

 the production of the sexes in plants, and also in 

 relation to fertilization. We have shown that in 

 regard to fertilization, what is known as the doc- 

 trine of " cross fertilization by insect agency " is 

 defective in this : that it assumes an actual pur- 

 port or design, a practical separation of the sexes 

 in order to obtain some supposed benefits from 

 cross fertilization. Thus the first crop of ciover 

 produces few seeds, but the second many, and the 

 assumption is that the plant can only seed by 

 cross fertilization, and the insect necessary to 

 this act is not abundant till the second crop is in 

 flower; but the truth in all probability is, as has 

 been shown by the writer of this, that it is from 

 some peculiarities of nutrition which at some 

 seasons, or at some times in some seasons, now 

 favors the male organs at the expense of the fe- 

 males, or the females at the expense of the males, 

 or now makes an exact balance of advantages 

 which results in a hermaphrodite flower truly 

 perfect in all its functions. Thus we see why 

 clover may fail in one month, and succeed in 

 another, and after its first course of nutrition has 

 been interfered with by the mowing. 



We note further how nutrition interferes with 

 the sexual organs of plants, in what has been 

 written by the writer of this on the laws of sexes, 

 and putting all these facts together, it is perfectly 

 explicable how a persimmon, seedless on one 

 stock, should perfect seed on another. Nutrition 

 and the root system of a tree are intimately con- 

 nected, and one tree may easily communicate to 

 a set of branches an impulse favorable to the 

 perfection of pistils— conditions necessary to per- 

 fect seeds — which another set of tree roots would 

 be unable to do. Ed. G. M.] 



Pe.\ch Seedlings.— B. W. H., Bloomingdale, 

 Ind., writes : " I have seen in catalogues refer- 

 ence to peach seedlings and grafting. What are 

 they grafted on ? How are weeping trees propa- 

 gated?" 



[We are not clear that we quite understand 

 our correspondent. We will, however, say that 

 peaches in nurseries are raised first from the 

 stones, and when four months old are budded. 

 That is, the sprouting kernel of April is budded 

 in August. In the case of weeping peaches the 

 stock is, however, suffered to grow two years, so 

 as to get it 6 or more feet liigh, so that the 

 branches may have room to hang down. In the 



Southern States peaches are crown grafted in the 

 winter time, and stowed away in boxes till spring* 

 as we do apple grafts, and this is more popular 

 than our Northern systems of summer budding. 

 Peaches are often grafted on plum stocks, and 

 do very well on some kinds, especially on the 

 Mirabelle, but do not do well on the Myrobalan. 

 There are often discussions on these points, some 

 praising, some discouraging plum stocks, but the 

 kind of stock makes all the difference. 



Perhaps our correspondent is referring to the 

 use of seed of seedling trees for stock raising, 

 about which there is some difference of opinion 

 among nurserymen. The question, per se, we 

 should decide in favor of seedling seed. We be- 

 lieve that seeds of fruits of any kind are more 

 likely to be better from ungrafted trees than 

 from grafted ones, but there are many practical 

 circumstances to interfere with this abstract 

 good. In the case of the peach it is liable to 

 many diseases arising from culture, and it can 

 transmit disease to its progeny. This is the case 

 with seedling as with grafted trees, and one will 

 have more success with seed from healthy 

 grafted trees than from unhealthy seedlings. In 

 fixct no nurseryman finds any diffimilty in getting 

 as good trees as any one wants, in spite of the ab- 

 stract question, if the seed be only from healthy 

 trees, grafted or not. On the other hand much 

 injury results from this seedling idea in this that 

 it opens the door to frauds. There are some few 

 places where people are satisfied with small, infe- 

 rior peaches, which, of course, have small stones, 

 and the impression has become general that a 

 seedling peach must have a small stone. There 

 are some kinds of peaches that will reproduce 

 themselves tolerably pure from seed. Of these 

 we may mention the Columbia and the Smock. 

 We believe that orchards are once in a while 

 planted with seedlings of these, and they would 

 make excellent vigorous stocks, but no purchaser 

 of "seedling" stones would touch them, because 

 the stones are not small. To cater to this im- 

 pression, seeds of Early York, Hale's Early, and 

 similar kinds, are saved, and passed off for "seed- 

 ling." But they are really worse than the ave- 

 rage of good grafted seed, because they are less 

 vigorous, and, as is well known, more liable to 

 disease. The quantity of seedling orchards in 

 the country is very small, but there are stones 

 enough of "seedling" sold every year in the 

 United States to an astonishing extent. This is 

 where the practical evil of a good abstract idea 

 comes in. — Ed. G. M.l 



