1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



>3 



or less until frost. Being a strong grower it re- 

 quires to be planted not less than seven feet be- 

 tween the rows and four feet between the plants. 



Youngstown, O. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Immediate Effect of Crossing on Fruits. 

 ^The New York Independent says of the meet- 

 ing of the American Association for the Advance- 1 

 ment of Science, recently held in Philadelphia : 



" In the regular sessions three of the most eag- 

 erly anticipated papers, on the identification of the 

 plants and animals of the Greek authors, the in- 

 fluence of isolation on vegetation, and the imme- 

 diate effects of cross fertilization on the strawberry, 

 were not read at all. The last was to be by Pro- 

 fessor Lazenby, who, it was understood, had pro- 

 duced the fruit of Sharpless strawberries on some 

 pistillate form, by the direct influence of the pollen 

 of the former variety. The inference would be, 

 that a pistillate variety of strawberry has really 

 no fruit of its own, the fruit being, in all essential 

 points, that of whatever it may have had pollen 

 from. It was very much regretted by many that 

 such a very important physiological paper should 

 not have been reached, in order to follow closely 

 the professor's experiments. If they should be 

 deemed conclusive it would be very strange that, 

 in the past, when it was the custom to grow only 

 pistillate varieties of strawberries, with any good 

 staminate kind as a fertilizer, there never seemed 

 any doubt anywhere, of the identity of the pistil- 

 late variety. Hovey's Seedling, for instance, was 

 always readily identified anywhere, no matter 

 what variety may have been used as the pollen 

 bearing parent. Still, as it is well known there is 

 an immediate effect on Indian corn by crossing, 

 no one can say how far this immediate influence 

 may extend, and hence the desire to hear Pro- 

 fessor Lazenby 's paper." 



To which we may add that it would be well 

 worth while to go over the matter again with some 

 kinds so very distinct that the eye as well as the 

 taste could distinguish the difference. For in- 

 stance, instead of such closely related kinds as 

 Sharpless and IVIanchester, take Lennig's White 

 and Manchester, — or take a long berry like the 

 old Lady's Finger, with a regularly formed round 

 berry, — or even a kind that almost always has a 

 coxcomb form, to be used as a fertilizer, for one of 

 regularly uniform outline. For ourselves, we know 

 of scores of instances where certainly no immed- 

 iate influence has resulted, while, with the excep- 

 tion of corn, there are few unchallenged facts on 

 the other side. 



Forced Fruits in England. — In the old 

 world some of the best skill was employed in 

 forcing fruits, but the introduction of steam is 



changing all this. Fruits from the tropics can be 

 now transported toward the arctics nearly as good 

 and at far less cost than the skilled gardener can 

 raise them, and one of his most fascinating occu- 

 pations is going, if not gone. In England the cul- 

 ture of the pine-apple still engages considerable 

 attention, but last year the West Indies poured 

 into the laps of the Londoner first-class fruit for 

 twenty-five cents apiece. Some of the second- 

 class quality were sold freely at eight cents each. 

 In the United States the steamboats and railways 

 have long since almost destroyed the garden cul- 

 ture of the pine-apple. 



Number of Fruits in the Old World. — 

 The Jou7-nal of Horticulture says that in a con- 

 temporary of recent date some enthusiast has put 

 himself to the trouble of ascertaining how many 

 varieties of fruits are known at the present time, 

 with the following result : — Cherries, 209 ; Apri- 

 cots, 60; Peaches, 239; Pears, 1087 ; Plums, 297. 

 Apples have not been taken into consideration. 



In America we believe the number of apples 

 known exceeds two thousand. 



Culture of the Banana. — The banana is an 

 annual, the fruit coming to maturity about a year 

 from the time that the shoot is planted, the stem 

 of the plant then attaining a height of eight or ten 

 feet and perhaps thirty-six inches in girth. There 

 are a good many Plantian walks in the island of Ja- 

 maica, varying in size from 25,000 to 200,000 trees ; 

 but they are for the most part cultivated by the 

 small settlers in the different parishes, and prove 

 a source of great profit to them. The method of 

 cultivation is simple. The land is cleared by the 

 aid of a primitive and ponderous hoe, a hole is 

 dug in which is placed a " sucker," and Nature is 

 left to do the rest. Unless the season be one of 

 exceeding drought the plant is certain to grow 

 and to bring forth its fruit in from nine to twelve 

 months. In well ordered plantations the trees are 

 usually planted from 12 to 15 feet apart in the 

 form of squares. The bananas are taken to 

 market, not unfrequently a distance of 20 miles, 

 by means of clumsy, springless drays and carts, 

 upon which thirty or forty bunches are indiscrim- 

 inately placed with some attempt at wrapping them 

 in the dried leaves of the plant, and are chafed 

 and scarred by the wheels of the vehicle, and the 

 weight of the driver, who generally makes a com- 

 fortable perch for himself on the top of the whole. 

 The defects do not present themselves until the 

 fruit has been in the ship's hold some days, when 

 they result in unsightly dark patches. 



