DEVELOPMENT OF FRUIT 



selecting the finest specimens for reproduction. It is by this 

 means that the original wild banana, which is a rather small 

 fruit with very large seeds and very little flesh, has been 

 altered into something like 150 varieties, of which the 

 immense majority have no seed at all. This is a very extra- 

 ordinary fact, because the seed is the reason for the existence 

 of the fruit. Of course, all such varieties must be repro- 

 duced by suckers (like the banana) or by grafts, or in some 

 such non-sexual manner. Seedless varieties exist of the 

 Cucumber, Fig, German Medlar, Diospyros, and Orange. 



In the case of seedless varieties of the Vine, it has been found 

 that it is necessary to carry pollen to the flowers to fertilize 

 them, and the seedless fruit is also very much smaller in this 

 case, not more than a quarter of the size of one that has 

 seeds. 



The following instance is typical of the manner in which 

 many well-known kinds of fruit have been developed, though 

 the perseverance shown by Mr. Gideon is certainly not com- 

 mon. About the year 1855 this gentleman began planting 

 apple trees of about thirty named varieties. For nine years 

 he continued his experiments. He not only planted trees, 

 but also sowed apple seed sufficient to produce a thousand 

 trees every year. Yet the cold winters were so severe that 

 at the end of ten years one small seedling crab apple was 

 the solitary survivor. One seedling of this turned out to be 

 hardy enough for the climate of Minnesota, and this, the 

 " wealthy" apple, has been of great importance to the 

 Northern Mississippi growers. It is to be hoped that the 

 name has been justified in Mr. Gideon's case. 

 I Many other cases could be mentioned of a chance variety 

 produced as a wild plant, and then propagated non-sexually 

 for long periods, e.g. the New Rochelle Bramble, which was 



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