1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



587 



210. When the calyx adheres to the pistillum. 

 and grows with it, to maturity, the fruit is called 

 inferior; as ilie a[)ple. 



211. But when the pistilkim alone ripens, there 

 beui(T no adhesion to it on the part of the calyx, 

 the fruit is called superior; as the peach. 



212. The fruit is, therefore, in common lan- 

 guaife, the flower, or some part of" it, arrived at its 

 most complete state of existence; and, consequen- 

 Iv, is itself a portion of a stunted branch. C153.) 



" 213. The nature of its connection with the stem 

 is therefore the same as that of the branches with 

 each othi^r, or of leaves with their stem. 



214. A superior fruit, consistin^j; only of one, or 

 of a small number of metamorphosed leaves, 

 has little or no power of formiiiira communication 

 wi'h the earth and of feeding itself^ as real branch- 

 es have. (89.) 



21-5. Ft has also very little adhesion to its 

 branch; so that but slitjht causes are sufficient to 

 detach it from the p'ant, especially at an early age, 

 when all its parts are tender. 



216. Hence the difficulty of causing peaches 

 and the like to sfone, or to pass over that age, in 

 which the vascular bundles that join them to the 

 branch become woody, and secure them to their 

 place. 



217. For the same reason they are fed almost 

 entirely by other parts, upon secreted matter 

 which ihe'y attract to themselves, elaborate, and 

 store up in the cavities of their tissue. 



218. The office of feedin<j such fruit is perfi)rm- 

 ed by youniz branches which transmit nutriment 

 to it through the bark. (69.) 



219. But as yoiiuo; branches can only transmit 

 nutriment downwards, it follows that unless a fruit 

 is formed on a part of a branch below a leaf bud, 

 it must perish. 



220. Unless there is some active vegetation in 

 the stem above the branch on which it grows: 

 when it mav possibly live and feed upon secretions 

 attracted by it from the main stem. 



221. But inferior fruit, consisting at least of the 

 calyx in addition to the pistillum, has a much 

 more powerful communiration with the branch; 

 each division of its calyx having at least one bun- 

 dle of vascular an.i fibrous tissue, passing from it 

 into the branch, and acting as a stay upon the 

 centre to prevent its breakinji off. 



222. Such fruit may be supposed much more 

 capable of establishing a means of attractin'cr se- 

 cretions from a distance; and consequently, is less 

 liable to perish from want of a supply of Ibod. 



223. It is therefore nor so important that an in- 

 ferior fruit should be furnished with growing 

 branches above it. 



224. Fruit is exclusively fed by the secretions 

 prepared for it by other parts; it is therefore af- 

 fected by nearly the same circumstances as 

 flowers. 



225. It will be large in proportion to the quanti- 

 ty of food the stem can supply to it; and small in 

 proportion to the inability of the stem to nourish it. 



226. For this reason, when trees are weak, they 

 should be allowed to bear very little, if any. fruit; 

 because a crop of fruit can only tend to increase 

 their debility. 



227. And in all cases each fruit should be so far 

 separated from all others, as not to be robbed of its 

 food by those in its vicinity. 



228. We find that nature has herself in some 



measure provided against injury to plants by ex- 

 cessive fecundity, in giving them a power of 

 throwing ofi' flowers, the fruit of which cannot be 

 supported. 



229. The flavor of fruit depends upon the ex- 

 istence of certain secretions, especially of acid 

 and sugar; flavor will, consequently, be regulated 

 by the circumstances under which fruit is ripened. 



230. The ripening of fruit is the conversion of 

 acid and other substances into sugar. 



231. As the latter substance cannot be obtained 

 at all in the dark, is less abundant in fruit ripened 

 in diffused light, and most abundant in fruit expo- 

 sed to the direct rays of the sun, the conversion of 

 matter into sugar occurs under the same circum- 

 stances as the decomposition of carbonic acid. 

 (141 and 279.) 



232. Therefore, if fruit be produced in situa- 

 tions much exposed to the sun, its sweetness will 

 be aucrmented. 



233. And in proportion as it is deprived of the 

 sun's direct rays, that quality will diminish. 



234. So that a fruit, which when exposed to the 

 sun is sweet, when grown where no direct light 

 will reach it, will be acid; as Pears, Cherries, &c. 



235. Hence acidity may bo corrected by expo- 

 sure to light; and excessive sweetness, or insipid- 

 ity, by removal from light. 



236. It is the property of succulent fruits which 

 are acid when wild, to acquire sweetness when 

 cultivated, losing a parr of their acid. 



237. This probably arises from the augmenta- 

 tion of the cellular tissue, which possibly has a 

 greater power than woody or vascular tissue of 

 assisting in the formation of sugar. 



238. Asa certain quantity of acid is essential 

 to render fruit agreeable to the palate, and as it is 

 the property of cultivated fruits to add to their sac- 

 charine matter, but not to form more acid than 

 wiien wild, it (bllows, that in selecting wild fruita 

 lor domestication, those which are acid should be 

 preferred, and those which are sweet or insipid re- 

 jerted. 



239. Unless recourse is had to hybridism; when 

 a wild insipid fruit may be possibly improved 

 f204.). or may be the means of improving some- 

 thing else. 



240. It is very much npon such considerations 

 as the foregoing that the rules of training must 

 depend. 



IX. Seed. 



241. The seed is the ovulum arrived at perfec- 

 tion. 



242. It consists of an integument enclosing an 

 embryo, which is the rudiment of a future plant, 



243. The seed is nourished by the same means 

 as the fruit: and, like it, will be more or less perfect- 

 ly formed, according to the abundance of its nu- 

 triment. 



244. The plant developed from the embryo in 

 the seed, will be in all essential particulars like its 

 parent species. 



245. Unless its nature has been changed by 

 hybridizing. (204.) 



246. But although it will certainly, under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, reproduce its species, it will by 

 no means uniformly reproduce the particular vari- 

 ety by which it was borne. 



247. So that seeds are not the proper means of 

 propagating varieties. 



