*22 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



much on the power the blossoms possess of bearing 

 cold ; and this power is observed to vary in the dif- 

 ferent varieties, and can only be ascertained by expe- 

 rience. Those which produce their leaves and blos- 

 soms early are preferable, because, although more ex- 

 posed to "injury by frosts, they are less liable to the 

 attacks of caterpillars. It is also to be observed, that 

 even after a seedling tree has begun to produce fruit, 

 the quality of this has a tendency to improve as the 

 tree itself becomes stronger and approaches maturity ; 

 so that if a fruit possess any promising qualities at 

 first, great improvement may be expected in succeed- 

 ing years. 



A precaution is suggested, by the honourable T. 

 Pickering, that apple trees, bearing bad or ordinary 

 fruit, should not be suffered to grow with those which 

 bear fruit of a superiour quality. It is a fact, with 

 which gardeners are familiar, that the blossoms of cu- 

 cumbers will greatly injure the flavour of melons that 

 grow near them ; and it is reasonable to suppose that 

 fruits, while forming on the trees, are liable in like 

 manner to suffer deterioration. The result of the 

 following experiment would seem to strengthen the 

 above conjecture. The experiment, it is said, has in 

 numerous instances succeeded, without a single failure. 

 In an orchard, containing a great variety of apple 

 trees, bearing sweet, and some very acrid fruit, and 

 others partaking of both these properties, in the ver- 

 nal season, when the trees are in full blossom, the 

 pollen (or impregnating dust) was taken from one 

 tree, (for example, where the fruit is very sweet,) and 

 deposited on the flowers of a particular branch of a- 

 nother tree, whose fruit is extremely acrid. The ap- 

 ples of that particular branch were found to combine 

 these two properties for that season ; and by this sim- 

 ple process, the experimenter asserts, he can easily 

 provide himself with apples, for that season, perfectly 



