ISO 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[May, 



istence otherwise than by seed. This is called 

 bud-variation. If, therefore, a branch produces 

 a new variety, that is, characters that did not e.\ist 

 before, there is no more reason why pollen from 

 this new variety and the original should not be 

 regarded as cross-fertilization, although the plant 

 was raised from a cutting, than if raised from seed. 

 If there is any immediate effect from cross- 

 fertilization, there should be, as our correspondent 

 suggests, a better crop when the flowers have 

 pollen from an abundant bearer.— Ed. G. M.] 



Immediate Effect of Pollen. — A Leesburg, 

 Fla., correspondent says : " I see in the Garden- 

 ers' Monthly it is considered impossible that an 

 immediate cross can have any effect on the shape 

 of a fruit ; but don't you think that it can on flavor, 

 because Hautbois strawberries will affect a whole 

 bed, and Muscat grapes will give their flavor to a 

 house ?" 



[Is it a well authenticated fact, one plant of a 

 Muscat grape in a vinery will give a Muscat 

 flavor to Black Hamburgs and other grapes in the 

 same house ? The writer of this has had just such 

 houses, and never noticed any such influence ; and 

 so have hundreds of others ; on the other hand, this 

 is the first time we have ever heard such an in- 

 fluence even suspected. 



In regard to the strawberry it has been the im- ' 

 pression that the Hautbois strawberry (Fragaria 

 collina) has never been made to cross at all with the 

 Scarlet strawberry (Fragaria Virginiana), much 

 less influence each other's fruits by the cross. If 

 our correspondent can refer to any experiments 

 that have been made and placed on record, we 

 should be very glad to republish for our readers' 

 benefit.— Ed. G. M.] 



PiNus Banksiana not in Colorado.— a cor- 

 respondent says: " You have made a mistake on 

 page 114 in naming P. Banksiana as one of the 

 trees in the mountains above Denver. P. contorts, 

 or rather P. Murrayana looks very much like P. 

 Banksiana which does not grow in Colorado. P. 

 Murrayana grows up in Montana in countless 

 thousands on burned land, but it does not grow in 

 the Black Hills in Dakota, neither does P. Bank- 

 siana, which runs out in Minnesota 200 miles above 

 St. Paul." 



[Writing Pinus Banksiana, was wholly a slip of 

 the editorial pen, as of course P. contorta was in- 

 tended. It is a good illustration of how long a 

 first impression will endure. When the editor 

 first visited Colorado years ago, his first impression 

 of the young pine trees was, that he saw P. Bank- 



siana. Though he learned better after finding 

 trees with cones, yet we see here that first impres- 

 sion slipping unconsciously from the pen after 

 lying dormant fifteen years. — Ed. G. M.] 



Geography of Cactaceous Plants.— Dr. C. 

 W. Greene notes; "A writer in your excellent 

 Gardeners' Monthly for April, says that all 

 cactuses are American. Le Maout and Decaisne, 

 (Mrs. Hooker's translation,) say that one species 

 of Rhipsalis is both Ceylonese and West African. 

 Not long ago some writer (1 think in the American 

 Naturalist) stated that there were two probable 

 non-American species, one strictly Ceylonese and 

 one probably West African. I can not now lay 

 my hand on this article." 



Immediate Influence of Pollen on Fruit. 

 — A correspondent says : " In the March number 

 of the Monthly you seem to regard it as an im- 

 possibility that, in any case of hybridization, the 

 strange pollen should produce a modification of 

 the ovary. That it does not, at least to a percepti- 

 ble degree, in a majority of cases, must be true, 

 else it could not have escaped the notice of watch- 

 ful eyes. But it is hardly safe to lay down a uni- 

 form rule, and say that it never does, and never 

 can. All pollens do not act alike. No doubt, the 

 ovaries of myriads of plants have their stigmas 

 visited by the pollen cells of other species, flower- 

 ing at the same time, and those often nearly allied, 

 as for instance in the genus Quercus, and yet their 

 ovules are not affected. Here and there they are, 

 and hybrids result. Why may not the modifying 

 influence extend further, though more rarely, to 

 the ovary itself? The puncture of the ovipositors 

 of most insects leaves only a scar on the stalk or 

 leaf, but in some cases, the vegetable forces are so 

 diverted that growths of singular shapes are pro- 

 duced for the accommodation of the ova, each of its 

 own kind, .-\fter all, theory must give way to fact, 

 and one good example is enough. Whilst living 

 in Lancaster, Pa., I planted seeds of the nutmeg 

 variety of the canteloupe, in hills, in a bed at the 

 end of my garden, and, on one side of this bed a few 

 hills of cucumbers. As the canteloupes developed, 

 those lying next the cucumbers assumed a decid- 

 edly oblong shape, and were smooth on the surface ; 

 of a deep green color, and when cut, watery and 

 possessed of a cucumber-like odor and taste. 

 Those on the other border, removed from the 

 cucumbers, were of the normal shape, round, 

 grooved, rough, of a grayish hue, and ripened 

 into fruit possessed of all the qualities of that 

 delicious variety of the canteloupe. Was I wrong 



