634 SOME OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF ECONOMIC BOTANY. 
apples have been found, which are in some cases plainly of small size, 
hardly equalling ordinary crab-apples. But, as Dr. Sturtevant has 
shown, in certain directions there has been no marked change of type; 
the change is in quality. 
In comparing the earlier descriptions of fruits with modern accounts 
it is well to remember that the high standards by which fruits are now 
judged are of recent establishment. Fruits which would once have 
been esteemed excellent would to-day be passed by as unworthy of 
regard. 
It seems probable that the list of seedless fruits will be materially 
lengthened, provided our experimental horticulturists make use of the 
material at their command. The common fruits which have very few 
or no seeds are the banana, pineapple, and certain oranges. Others 
mentioned by Mr. Darwin as well known are the bread-fruit, pome- 
granate, azarole or Neapolitan medlar, and date palms. In comment- 
ing upon these fruits, Mr. Darwin* says that most horticulturists “look 
at the great size and anomalous development of the fruit as the cause 
and sterility as the result,” but he holds the opposite view as more 
probable; that is, that the sterility, coming about gradually, leaves free 
for other growth the abundant supply of building material which the 
forming seed would otherwise have. He admits however that “there 
is an antagonism between the two forms of reproduction, by seeds and 
by buds, when either is carried to an extreme degree, which is inde- 
pendent of any incipient sterility.” 
Most plant hybrids are relatively infertile, but by no means wholly 
sterile. With this sterility there is generally augmented vegetative 
vigor, as Shown by Nigeli. Partial or complete sterility and corre- 
sponding luxuriance of root, stem, leaves, and flower may come about 
in other obscure ways, and such cases are familiar to botanists.t Now, 
it seems highly probable that either by hybridizing directed to this 
special end, or by careful selection of forms indicating this tendency to 
the correlated changes, we may succeed in obtaining important addi- 
tions to our seedless or nearly seedless plants. Whether the ultimate 
profit would be large enough to pay for the time and labor involved is 
a question which we need not enter into; there appears to me no reason- 
able doubt that such efforts would be successful. There is no reason 
in the nature of things why we should not have strawberries without 
the so-called seeds, blackberries and raspberries with only delicious 
pulp, and large grapes as free from seeds as the small ones which we 
call “currants,” but which are really grapes from Corinth. 
wild in the Swiss forests; at Robenhausen, however, specimens have occurred which 
are of larger size and probably cultivated. No trace of the vine, the walnut, the 
cherry, or the damson has yet been met with, but stones of the wild plum and the 
Prunus padus have been found.” Lubbock, loc. cit., p. 217. 
* Animals and Plants under Domestication (Am. Ed.), vol. 11, p. 205-209. 
tGray’s Botanical Text Book. , 
