Angnst 28, 1873. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



159 



coherent. The former kind is found almost exclusively in 

 those plants whose fertilisation is effected by the agency of the 

 wind. The quantity of pollen is in these eases enormous ; the 

 anthers are frequently attached very slightly to the end of 

 elongated filaments, so that the poUen is shaken out of them 

 by the least breath of wind ; the flowers grow on the most ex- 

 posed parts of the plants, frequently appearing before the 

 leaves, so as to give greater facility for the dispersion of the 

 poUen, and are not provided with a brightly-coloured corolla, 

 powerful scent, or nectar, for the purpose of attracting insects. 

 Plants, on the other hand, whose pollen is coherent, are de- 

 pendent on insect agency for its dispersion and transport to 

 the stigma. It is therefore absolutely essential in these cases 

 that some means should be provided for its protection from 

 moisture, whether rain or dew, which would immediately de- 

 stroy its efficacy, until such time as it may be carried away by 

 insects. A variety of contrivances is actually found in nature 

 for effecting this end, which may be classified under the foUow- 

 iug heads : — 



1. Protection by portions of the pistil or stamens themselves, 

 as in the petaloid'stigmas of Iris. 2. By portions of the calyx 

 and corolla ; this occurs in an immense variety of forms. 

 ii. By sheaths, bracts, or foliage leaves. 4. By periodic move- 

 ments of the leaves of the perianth, as in the closing of flowers 

 at night or in rainy weather. 5. By curvature of the axis, as 

 in those numerous flowers the opening of which is always 

 turned towards the ground at the period when fertiUsation takes 

 place. From the examples adduced Kerner draws the general 

 conclusion that the protection of the pollen against the injurious 

 effect of premature moisture is the more perfect the smaller the 

 number of flowers and of pollen grains in the individual, the 

 greater their degree of coherence, and the more exclusively the 

 flower in fertilised by insect agency. In those plants where 

 the flowering extends over a great space of time, where the 

 anthers in the same flower vary in the period of their dehiscence 

 to allow the escape of the pollen, and where the number of 

 flowers in an inflorescence is very large, the protection of the 

 pollen against the influence of the weather is reduced to a 

 minimum, as in Umbellifer^ and many species of Crucifene 

 and .Saxifraga. 



Finally, Kerner draws the conclusion that those plants whose 

 coherent pollen renders insect agency necessary for their fer- 

 tiUsation can only have existed in very recent geological periods ; 

 and those new species or varieties must necessarily have the 

 advantage, and tend to become perpetuated, which possess 

 superior advantages, in respect to the cUmate in which they 

 grow, for the protection of theh' pollen from all injurious in- 

 fluences. The plants, the remains of which are found in the 

 oldest geological formations, are generally of that class which 

 do not require insect agency for their fertilisation. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 TiTEBE is a very long account of the Pise Apple Ncksery, 

 Maida Vale, in a recent number of the MornirKj Post. The 

 Nursery, it is stated, was originally founded for Pine Apple 

 culture, but gradually included all kinds of nurserymen's and 

 florists' produce. It is now in the hands of a company, who 

 are carrying out extensive improvements. 



We understand that the Snow of the Metropolitan 



Floral Societv at the Sarrey Gardens has been abandoned, 

 in consequence of a stipulated contribution of £1()(J towards 

 the expenses not being forthcoming. 



TnE increased consumption of Foreign Potatoes is 



remarkable. In the last seven months the value was .£l,82'.t,1.53, 

 against £35.S,0O;j in the same period last year. 



The Grape Harvest in France promises to be un- 

 usually fine this year. How large a share th» vineyards take 

 in the produce of the country, and to what an extent they 

 form the wealth of all classes, we may judge from the fact that 

 there are '2,300,000 \ineyard proprietors in the Republic. In 

 all the sunny land of France there are only eleven departments 

 which do not grow the Vine ; twenty cultivate the Grape for 

 home consumption, and fifty-eight for export. Most of the 

 fruit is intended for the wine presses ; but the best dessert 

 Grapes also come from France. The famous Chasselas of 

 Fontainebleau [Royal Muscadine" are grown in the two little 

 townships of Thomery and Champagne, both in the neighbour- 

 hood of Fontainebleau. The vineyards there produce an 

 annual crop of about 2,000,000 lbs., of which the capital con- 

 sumes about 800,000 kilogrammes, while the rest is exported 



to England, Austria, and even Russia. The trade in Grapes, 

 foreign and home grown, amounts in value to several million 

 francs a-year. This, of course, does not include Grapes used 

 for wine. — (Globe.) 



Peach Colture on the Delaware Peninsula has de- 

 veloped with such rapidity in five years that it is unequalled 

 in magnitude by any of the fruit sections of the world. The 

 number of Peach trees now on the peninsula, as gathered from 

 last reports, is 5,000,000 — representing fifty thousand acres. 

 The value of laud devoted to Peach orchards averages §50 per 

 acre, and the average annual income does not exceed $50, al- 

 though in many cases ^200 or $300 per acre are realised. 

 Estimates from most reliable sources indicate that the Peach 

 crop of 1873 wUl be about 2,500,000 baskets ; half of the trees 

 of Delaware, in the northern half of the State, have had their 

 buds entirely killed the past winter. Were the entire number 

 of trees on the peninsula to bear a full crop once, it would be 

 fairly enormous. We sincerely hope these enthusiastic Peach- 

 growers may have a most abundant crop, and then, after it is 

 all over, sit down and reflect : Does Peach culture pay when 

 everybody is going into it ? We have felt so for several years, 

 that too many trees were being planted, and Peach-growing tor 

 the next five years would not be even as profitable as devoting 

 the same ground to Potatoes. The Peach crop also effectually 

 spoils the sale of other fruits which ripen at the same time — 

 so much so that growers of other fruits often wish there 

 never was a Peach. It seems as if the Peach-growers did not 

 make much money themselves, and did not allow others to 

 make any also. Peach culture in Delaware is effectually over- 

 done. — (American Horticulturist.) 



A German florist, in a high state of irritation, related 



his troubles in this way. He said : — " I have so much drouble 

 not de ladies, ven dey come to buy mine rose dey vants him 

 hardy, dey vants doubles, dey vants him fragrand, they vants 

 him nice golour, dey vants him abery dings in von rose. I 

 hopes I am not vat you calls von uncallaut man, but I have^ 

 somedimes to say to dat ladies, Madame, I never often see the 

 ladies dat vas beautiful, dat vas rich, dat vas good temper, dat 

 vas youngs, dat vas clever, dat vas perfection in one ladies. I 

 see her much not !" 



• Ajieeican newspapers have been discussing the question, 



Which of the earth's products employs the greatest amount of 

 capital? The New York Journal of Comwierec thinks the in- 

 quiry may be limited to three products — hay, cotton, and tea. 

 The'Philailelphia Ledr/er, not admitting this limitation, main- 

 tains that if it be just, hay, or rather grass, is the most im- 

 portant product. Cotton and tea are grown only in a few 

 countries, but grass is universal. According to the census, 

 the value of the farms in the United States in 1870 was, in 

 round numbers, $9,263,000,000; of the live stock on farms, 

 $1,525,000,000; of farm implements, $337,000,000 ; the year's 

 wages, $310,000,000 ; making in all $11,435,000,000 capital 

 employed in agriculture. Now, how much of this is devoted to 

 the grass crop ? The hay crop of 1870 is reported at over 

 twenty-seven million tons ; and this, at half the selling price 

 in the large cities, would be worth more than four hundred 

 million dollars, a far gi-eater sum than the aggregate home 

 value of the cotton or any other crop. But a large portion of 

 the grass crop is used on the ground. Live stock of the value 

 of above 1500 million dollars were fed from it in that year, 

 and, averaging their lives at five years, we have one-fifth of 

 that sum as representing the grass fed to them in the year ; 

 the value of the animals slaughtered for food in the year was 

 four hundred million dollars ; the butter crop of 1870 was over 

 five hundred million pounds, which at twenty-five cents 

 amounted to 128 milUon dollars ; 235 million gallons of milk, 

 at only ten cents a gallon, add twenty-fivo million dollars to 

 the value of the grass crop ; one hundred million pounds of 

 wool, at twenty-five cents, add twenty-five milUon dollars 

 more ; and fifty-three million pounds of cheese, at ten cents, 

 over five million dollars more. We have thus a grand total of 

 nearly 1300 million dollars for the hay crop and the products 

 of grass consumed on the ground in 1870. But, as the animals 

 producing the meat, butter, milk, cheese, and wool consumed 

 other food besides grass and hay, the entire value of the 

 " corn " and oats crop of 1870, estimated at 270 milUon 

 doUars, is deducted ; and this leaves one thousand million 

 dollars to be credited to the hay and grass in that year, in 

 which the reported aggregate of all farm products was 

 $2,467,538,6.58, this last sum being probably too high, as it 

 includes additions to stock, "betterments," &c. According 



