523 



FARMERS REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



injurious; and that excessive sweetness, by a 

 short transition, degenerates into insipidity. 



It is asserted by Mr. Knight, that generally, the 

 old varieties of fruit begin to decay, first, in the 

 colder latitudes; and that a lruit which there be- 

 gins to decay, may yet be successfully cultivated 

 in a more southern climate, or, what is equivalent, 

 in the confined and warmer atmosphere of cities. 

 Those varieties, therefore, which no longer suc- 

 ceed with us, may yet continue for a while to 

 flourish in the middle regions of the Union, and 

 especially in the interior, beyond the limits and in- 

 fluence of those cold eastern breezes from the At- 

 lantic, which, rising with the diurnal appearance 

 of the sun, vis't us so regularly and constantly at 

 stated seasons. 



There are some, however, who dissent from 

 these opinions and conclusions — opinions, which, 

 the continued experience of the ages, present as 

 well as past, seems only the more abundantly to 

 confirm. They do not, indeed, deny the fact of 

 the destruction; but they deny the cause. In their 

 attempts to sustain the credit of the old fruits by 

 rendering them immortal, they would ascribe 

 their deterioration to any other cause; to some sup- 



Eosed alteration of climate, and not of ours alone, 

 ut of the climate of all those countries where the 

 same proofs of their mortality have appeared. 



JVe await the proofs of such changes; mean- 

 while in their absence, I believe all will agree, thai 

 in adopting this theory, we adopt the safest 

 course. 



Mr. Knight and some others in England, and 

 the Comte de Coloma of Malines, have succeeded 

 in raising some new and valuable varieties of 

 fruit from the seeds obtained by hybrydism orcross 

 fertilization. In describing the principles and 

 modes of practice of this art, I have had recourse 

 to Phillips, to Knight, and especially to Lindley 

 and M. Fries Morel, to all of them collectively. 

 The same principles are alike applicable to trees of 

 ornament, and to flowers. But we are authorized 

 in asserting, that this is not the mode which has 

 been so generally adopted by Dr. Van Mons and 

 others in Belgium — and that the mode by which 

 so many new, and very extraordinary varieties of 

 fruits have been there produced, differs essentially 

 from this which I am now about describing. 



The outer circle of the slender threads or fila- 

 ments, which rise around the centre of the blos- 

 som or flower, are called the stamens, or males, 

 and the central are called pistillum, pointals, or 

 females. 



The stamens bear at their summit a small ball 

 called the anther, which contains the fertilizing 

 powder called the pollen. 



At the summit of the pistillum are the organs of 

 secretion called stigmata, consisting of one or 

 more intercellular passages leading thence to the 

 base, where are situated the cell or cells in which 

 are placed the ovula, or the rudiments of seeds. 



The pollen, when viewed through a microscope, 

 is found to consist of extremely minute hollow 

 balls, filled with a fluid in which swim innumera- 

 ble particles of an oblong or spherical form, and 

 having an apparently spontaneous motion. When 

 the anther is mature, it bursts or opens with an 

 elastic force, by which its contents are dispersed, 

 and a portion of them falling on the stigma which 

 is of lax tissue, the moving particles of pollen de- 

 scend through the tissue of the style, by routes 



specially destined by nature, into the cells, where 

 the ovular are placed, and these being thus vivifi- 

 ed, are converted into the seeds or embryo of a fu- 

 ture plant. 



The operation of hybridizing or cross fertiliza- 

 tion must be performed in a dry day, and before 

 the blossom is entirely expanded; the most favor- 

 able moment is just before the rising of the sun; 

 the pollen being at, that time humid, is closely at- 

 tached to the anthers. The blossoms must be 

 carefully opened, and the anthers extracted by de- 

 licate scissors, care being taken neither to wound 

 the filaments which support them, or any other 

 part of ihe flower. 



About nine o'clock, the blossoms being exposed 

 to the full influence of the sun, the matured pollen 

 from another, variety must be carefully placed on 

 the blossom which it is intended to fertilize, and 

 from which the anthers have been extracted; and 

 this operation must be repeated twice or thrice du- 

 ring the course of the day. By shaking the blos- 

 soms over a sheet of white paper, the time when 

 it is perfectly mature will be ascertained. It is ne- 

 cessary to protect the prepared blossoms from the 

 bees and other insects with thin muslin or gauze, 

 which will not exclude the sun or air; and it is pro- 

 per also to protect them from the rain and dews, 

 till a swelling is perceived in the germ. 



By screening the plants from the sun, and by 

 frequent waterings, the maturity of the pollen and 

 the stigma may be retarded. 



When the process has been successful, the pol- 

 len which had been placed on the stigma, be- 

 comes so attached, that it cannot be removed with 

 a hair pencil; it changes form and color and soon 

 disappears, and the blossom will soon wither and 

 fade. But when the process has been imperfect, 

 the reverse, of all this is the case; the pollen is 

 easily detached from the stigma, its appearance is 

 unaltered, and it remains visible with the duration 

 of the flower, which will continue for a long 

 time. 



The fertilized seeds thus yielded, produce gene- 

 rally flowers which resemble in color, or fruits 

 which inherit mainly the qualities of the kind 

 which furnished the pollen; while the form of the 

 flower, or some of the constitutional qualities of 

 the fruit, will resemble those of the plant which 

 matured the seed. 



No cross fertilization can take place between 

 plants or fruits unless nearly related. None, for 

 instance, can take place between the pear, apple 

 or quince; or between the plum, peach or cherry, 

 &c. 



Wild plants or fruits while growing in their na- 

 tive wilds are generally perpetuated from genera- 

 tion to generation without change; but this is not 

 the case with the hynrids or cultivated varieties, 

 however isolated or far removed the tree may be, 

 which produces the seeds, from any other of sit 

 species. 



The most intelligent writers have asserted, and 

 it now appears to be admitted as an indisputatble 

 fact, that the original number of varieties of the 

 apple was very small, and that the numerous va- 

 rieties, differing in size, form and flavorand periods 

 of maturity, originated from the wild apple ox crab, 

 a small and very acid fruit. The pear, from a 

 small and very austere wild fruit, has been in like 

 manner wonderfully ameliorated. Mr. Knight 

 seems persuaded that their fine varieties of native 



