NOTICE OF A VISIT TO PITMASTON. 229 



are remarkable. The first may not properly be called an ano- 

 maly, if it should have been observed by scientific gardeners in 

 the germination of other seeds ; but the second is assuredly an 

 anomaly. 1st. The kernel, although sweeter than the sweetest 

 almond before being sown, becomes very bitter as soon as it begins 

 to germinate. 2nd. The fruit, when its kernel is still soft and 

 watery, and not bigger than a large marrowfat pea, is intensely 

 bitter. Other sweet-kernelled apricots that are lusus 7iaturcE, 

 and not a species like this, possess not the same peculiarity. 



As the extraordinary sweetness with which this fruit is endowed 

 begins to be developed ten days before attaining to perfect ma- 

 turity, it bears being transported to a considerable distance. 

 Captain "Wells averred, that when a few years ago he was sta- 

 tioned in a northern province of India, he had it annually sent to 

 him, " packed in cotton," from the incredible distance of a month's 

 journey by caravan ! 



But the most interesting fact remains to be stated. It repro- 

 duces itself from seed, having a sweet kernel and all the other 

 admirable qualities, as certainly as does any vegetable in the 

 kitchen garden. 



[Note. — I have eaten this Apricot in a dried state ; and as far as I can judge 

 from it in that condition, it seems fully to correspond with the forego- 

 ing description. — J. L.] 



XXV. — Notice of a Visit to Pitmaston, near Worcester, May 

 25, 1848. By Robert Thompson. 



The name of John Williams, Esq., of Pitmaston, must be fami- 

 liar to every one who has read the Transactions of the Horticul- 

 tural Society, for to them, and the Journal of the Society, he has 

 contributed many papers. The first was written in 1808, forty 

 years ago, since which period twenty-eight of his comnmnications 

 liave been published in the above-mentioned works. The intimate 

 friend of Mr. Knight, the late President of the Society, he was 

 well acquainted with the physiological investigations and experi- 

 ments which that gentleman carried on. The theories of these 

 physiologists, resulting from long-continued observations made in 

 comparative retirement, on the processes of vegetation, are ad- 

 mitted to have given a great impulse to horticulture, either from 

 their immediate bearings, or indirectly by inducing others to 

 think. We are indebted to Mr. Williams for some excellent 

 varieties of fruits which he has raised. For instance, the Pit- 

 maston Orange Nectarine, a rich melting fruit, standing quite 

 unique in the classification of nectarines, for it is the only melt- 

 ing nectarine with globose glands and large flowers. The Pit- 



